Political activities of Canadian charities: how much is ‘too much’?

Author Avanthika Anand
What are the rules for registered charities who want to engage in political activities?

Why It Matters

Historically, social purpose organizations have been denied charitable status in Canada with others being audited by the Canada Revenue Agency for exceeding a limit on ‘political activities’ or public policy advocacy. That rule has changed now — allowing charities to engage in more systemic work.

var TRINITY_TTS_WP_CONFIG = {"cleanText":"Political activities of Canadian charities: how much is \u2018too much\u2019?. Imagine a charitable organization wanted to build awareness around poverty in Canada and its impacts on marginalized communities.\u00a0 Now imagine that the same organization is trying to fight for Canadians\u2019 human rights to housing and basic living conditions \u2014 by creating awareness amongst a public that holds the democratic power to pressure the government to make better policy choices and changes that could actually help peoples\u2019 lives.\u00a0 Canada Without Poverty (CWP), a non-profit charitable organization, works to do exactly that: through conducting research to create further awareness, public policy development, and educational programming.\u00a0 CWP

Join a community of 2000+ impact-oriented professionals like you. Get full access to this story and all Future of Good content, including tickets to our digital events and networking, with a membership.