Should Our Canadian Business Establish a Corporate Foundation?
While corporate charitable foundations are in vogue there are many difficulties, disadvantages and pitfalls in creating a corporate foundation
Enroll in Course
This course, Should Our Canadian Business Establish a Corporate Foundation?. will discuss when it may be advantageous for a Canadian business to launch a corporate foundation. Whether you are a large bank, small construction company or global media company, if you have a strong desire to do corporate social responsibility or have a positive impact in society it may make sense in some cases to have a corporate foundation. Such a corporate foundation could be a non-profit or a registered charity.
Corporations are increasingly concerned with their impact on society and many are establishing corporate foundations. Many corporations are also trying to motivate younger employees or attract customers and having a corporate foundation can be a tool to achieve both. Certainly, the 1950’s concept of a corporation that only cares about maximizing profit is either dead or close to dead.
In this course we will discuss:
- Should we set up a corporate foundation?
- General Benefits of Having Another Entity
- Road Map
- Issues to Consider
- Advantages and Disadvantages of a Establishing Foundation as a Registered Charity?
- Some bad reasons to establish a corporate foundation
- Biggest Mistakes with Corporate Foundations
- How to set up a corporate foundation
- Incorporation and Organization of a Non-Profit Corporation
- How to Apply for Registered Charity Status in Canada
- CRA’s Application review process
- Why Charity Applications Fail according to the Charities Directorate?
This course will be of interest to those working in for-profit companies (including executives or employees running CSR or marketing programs, in-house counsel and board members). It will also be helpful to professional advisors such as lawyers, accountants and governance consultants who advise a corporation on structure and philanthropy. It will be of interest to corporations considering whether to establish a corporate foundation or in some cases to establish a further foundation for a different corporate brand or in some cases whether it still makes sense to maintain the corporate foundation that already exists.
Your Instructor
Mark Blumberg is a lawyer at the law firm Blumbergs Professional Corporation (Blumbergs) in Toronto and works almost exclusively advising non-profits and registered charities on their work in Canada and abroad. Mark has written numerous articles, is a frequent speaker on legal issues involving charity and not-for-profit law. He is the editor of a blog, www.CanadianCharityLaw.ca, and created the largest portal of data on the Canadian charity sector, www.CharityData.ca Mark also edits www.SmartGiving.ca, which provides information on due diligence when selecting charities.
Mark is particularly interested in the regulation of non-profits and charities in Canada, philanthropy, transparency requirements for the voluntary sector, providing accessible information on regulatory issues, and the use of data to make more informed decisions on the charity sector.
Mark is quoted regularly in print media and frequently appears on radio and television on topics relating to philanthropy and the regulation of charities in Canada. Mark has also appeared on a number of occasions in front of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance on topics such as charity regulation, transparency, accountability and tax incentives for philanthropy. Mark has testified at the Special Senate Committee on the Charitable Sector, the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance and the House Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.
Mark has also made presentations to the Charities Directorate Annual All Staff Meeting as well the Annual Divisional Staff Meeting of the Determinations Section of Charities Directorate. Mark presented to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) when the FATF conducted an evaluation of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism in Canada in 2015.
Mark sat for 4 years on the Charities Directorate Technical Issues Working Group, which is a bi-annual meeting between the Charities Directorate, the Department of Finance and the charity sector to discuss technical and policy issues pertaining to registered charities and the Income Tax Act (Canada). Mark is a member of the Exempt Organizations Committee of the American Bar Association. Mark spent 6 years on the Advisory Committee for the Master of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership (MPNL) at Carleton University. Mark is on the Board of the Canadian Charity Law Association.
Mark has co-authored 20 Questions Directors of Not-for-Profit Organizations Should Ask About Mergers (Published by CPA Canada) and co-wrote a chapter on International Trends in Government-Nonprofit Relations: Constancy, Change, and Contradictions in Non-profits and Government: Collaboration and Conflict in Non-profits and government: collaboration and conflict (Edited by Elizabeth T Boris and C Eugene Steuerle)
Mark frequently lectures to various industry and professional groups on charity compliance issues including the Chartered Professional Accountants Canada (CPA Canada), as well as CPA Ontario, BC and Alberta, the Canadian Bar Association, Ontario Bar Association, Canadian Association of Gift Planners, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Ontario Hospital Association, Ontario Non-profit Network, and many other organizations.
Mark has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Toronto, an LLB from the University of British Columbia and an LLM from Osgoode Hall Law School in Tax Law.