What Objects
and Purposes are Acceptable for Charitable Status?
The Charities
Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency and grants charitable status to
organizations where the (a) the applicant's purposes and activities fall within
the legal concept of charity as recognized by the courts; and (b) the
organization meets the other requirements of the Income Tax Act.
Please note
that there are organizations in the community with worthwhile purposes that are
not considered "charitable" by the courts. For example, organizations
like non-profit social clubs and advocacy groups fall in this category. These
groups do not qualify for registration.
What are charitable purposes?
The courts have
identified four general categories of charitable purposes. For an organization
to be registered, its purposes have to fall within one or more of the following
categories:
the relief of poverty;
the advancement of
education;
the advancement of
religion; or
certain other purposes
that benefit the community in a way the courts have said are charitable.
The relief of poverty
Organizations
established for the relief of poverty include food banks, soup kitchens, as
well as enterprises that supply low-cost rental housing, clothing, furniture,
and appliances to the poor.
The advancement of education
The courts
recognize a purpose or activity as advancing education in the charitable sense
if it involves formal training of the mind or formal instruction, or if it
prepares a person for a career, or if it improves a useful branch of human
knowledge. Only providing information is not accepted by the courts as
educational; training or instruction also have to be offered. The advancement
of education includes:
establishing and
operating schools, colleges, universities, and other similar institutions;
establishing academic
chairs and lectureships;
providing
scholarships, bursaries, and prizes for scholastic achievement;
undertaking research
in a recognized field of knowledge (The research must be carried out for
educational purposes and the results must be made available to the
public.);
advancing science and
scientific institutions, including maintaining learned societies
(Professional associations or other societies that primarily provide
benefits to members are not considered charitable.); and
providing and
maintaining museums and public art galleries.
The courts have
ruled that an activity which advances education should involve a full and fair
presentation of the facts so people can draw their own conclusions. If an
organization intends to influence the opinion or actions of the public toward
one side of a controversial issue, it is not advancing education in the
charitable sense. For this reason, an advocacy group would not qualify as a
charity.
The advancement of religion
This category
refers to promoting the spiritual teachings of a religious body, and
maintaining the doctrines and spiritual observances on which those teachings
are based. There has to be an element of theistic worship, which means the
worship of a deity or deities in the spiritual sense. To foster a belief in
proper morals or ethics alone is not enough to qualify as a charity under this
category. A religious body is considered charitable when its activities serve
religious purposes for the public good. The beliefs and practices cannot be
what the courts consider subversive or immoral.
Other
activities that advance religion include:
organizing and
providing religious instruction, and performing pastoral and missionary
work; and
establishing and
maintaining buildings for worship and other religious use.
Purposes beneficial to the community
This category
includes various purposes that do not fall within the other categories, but
which the courts have decided are charitable. However, not all purposes that
benefit the public are charitable. For example, a property-owners' association
or community association might not qualify. Organizations that normally qualify
as charitable include those with the following purposes:
providing immediate
relief to victims of natural disasters or sudden catastrophes (e.g.,
floods, earthquakes, and tornadoes);
relieving suffering or
disability caused by old age, which includes providing facilities for the
care, maintenance, and rehabilitation of the elderly;
preventing and
relieving sickness and disability, both physical and mental (e.g.,
services performed by hospitals, clinics, nursing and convalescent homes,
the provision of home care services and the establishment of workshops or
other centres for disabled people);
providing rental
housing and related facilities for people with special needs (e.g., homes
for disabled people);
preserving the
environment;
protecting the welfare
of children (e.g., societies for the prevention of child abuse);
providing counselling
services for people in distress;
rehabilitating victims
of substance abuse and preventing substance abuse;
providing certain
public amenities to benefit the community;
establishing safety
rescue operations or a volunteer fire department; and
establishing humane societies, animal shelters, and similar institutions
to prevent cruelty to animals.