Registering a charity

Getting registered as a charity or other qualified donee from the Canada Revenue Agency ("CRA") can be a long journey made easier with experienced help. The decisions you make early on can shape your organization's structure, tax status, and long-term flexibility.

To help organizations determine whether to apply to become a registered charity, here is some relevant information the CRA has published:

• Determine if you should apply for charitable registration

  Interactive tool to help you decide if applying for registration is right for you

  
  

• Differences between a registered charity and a non-profit organization

  Definitions and examples of the differences between registered charities and non-profit organizations

  
  

• Impact of terminating your charitable registration

  Find out how requesting voluntary revocation will affect your organization

  
  

• Advantages and obligations of becoming a registered charity

  Learn the advantages and obligations of becoming registered

  
  

• Consequences of not meeting the obligations for registration (non-compliance)

  Sanctions and revocation

  
  

• Check CRA processing times

  The CRA updates its goals for processing charity applications periodically. These published estimates can be helpful, but they are only meant to apply to certain kinds of applications. Closer to the date of submission, our experienced Charity & NPO Group can give you an estimate based on the complexity of your application and our familiarity with CRA's future capacity. 
  

• CRA has identified several common reasons for failed charity registrations, including:

  • Lack of information provided on proposed activities

  • Carrying on non-charitable activities

  • Acting as a conduit

  • Lack of direction and control over the use of resources

  • Private benefit  / private benevolence / personal benefits

  • Non-resident organizations

  • Purposes that are not charitable at law

  • Gifting to organizations that are not qualified donees

  • Activities that support or oppose a political party or candidate

  • Business activities

  • Activities that are illegal or contrary to Canadian public policy

    
    

Interested in applying for charitable registration? Book a free chat with our Charity & NPO Group. Our team of experienced lawyers and paraprofessionals can work with you to plan ahead and develop your application for charitable registration with the CRA, including issue spotting, updating your governance documents (if needed), and preparing a detailed statement of the organization's charitable activities; fundraising activities; and financial projections for operating as a charity.