CharityData.ca – An in-depth look at this important registered charity transparency tool
Learn how to use CharityData.ca to learn about charities and the Canadian Charity Sector
Blumbergs has created the largest Canadian registered charity information portal at CharityData.ca, with up to 19 years of data on every Canadian registered charity.
The portal is free, and it aims to increase transparency in the Canadian charity sector. Canadian charities have revenue of over $300 billion per year and millions of Canadian volunteer their time every year. Therefore, it is important that there is more transparency about the operations of charities.
CharityData.ca provides an easy-to-use interface that is far easier to use than the CRA's Charities Listing to analyse T3010 Registered Charity Information Return data on a particular charity. It also allows the user to sort charities under "Advanced Charity Search" by over 30 criteria.
The information on the CharityData.ca website is taken directly from the public portion of CRA‘s database of registered charities. CRA sends us the data on a monthly basis, and we upload it 2-3 times per year. We don’t make any changes to the information. You can read more details about the CharityData.ca website at the FAQs. www.CharityData.ca/faq/
We also note on CharityData.ca "For the most up-to-date information use the CRA’s own Charities Listing database. If you notice errors in the CRA information, let CRA know. A charity can file a T1240 (10) Registered Charity Adjustment Request."
The Director Search function of CharityData.ca also allows users to search over 500,000 directors by their first and last names, and it is the only publicly available and up-to-date tool for searching them.
You can use CharityData.ca to search or sort by the following:
Search by Name of Charity, BN, Program Descriptions, Designation, Category, Total Revenue, Total Assets, Total Expenses, Number of Employees, Province, City, and Postal Code.
You can also sort by over 33 different parameters listed below.
– Relevance
– Legal name
– Total assets (4200)
– Total liabilities (4350)
– Total revenue (4700)
– Total expenditures (5100)
– Total Cash, bank accounts and short-term investments (4100)
– Long-term investments (4140)
– Land and Buildings in Canada (4155)
– Other Capital Assets in Canada (4160)
– Receipted donations (4500)
– Total amount received from other charities (4510)
– Total amount of tax-receipted gifts-in-kind (580)
– Total non-receipted revenue from fundraising (4630)
– Revenue from sale of goods and services (4640)
– Total revenue received from the federal government (4540)
– Total revenue received from provincial/territorial governments (4550)
– Total revenue received from municipal/regional governments (4560)
– Total revenue from any level of government (4565)
– Total tax-receipted revenue from outside Canada (4571)
– Total non-tax-receipted revenue from outside Canada (4575)
– Total Advertising and promotion (4800)
– Occupancy costs (4850)
– Professional and consulting fees (4860)
– Total expenditures on charitable activities (5000)
– Total expenditures on management and administration (5010)
– Total expenditures on fundraising (5020)
– Total expenditures on political activities, inside or outside Canada (5030)
– Total other expenditures (5040)
– Total amounts paid to external fundraisers (5460)
– Total compensation expenditures (390)
– Total Expenditures Outside of Canada / Foreign Activities (200)
– Total Amounts of Gifts made to Qualified Donees (5050)
For the most up-to-date information on a particular charity, including whether a charity is still registered, you should use the CRA Charities Listing at apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/hacc/srch/pub/dsplyAdvncdSrch. However, for analyzing the past data of charities, CharityData.ca is much easier to use. Here is a detailed comparison of the CRA’s Charities Listing vs. Blumbergs’ CharityData.ca 2023.
CharityData.ca is part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project, which is in memory of my youngest brother Sean Blumberg. Sean was a sweet, kind person, a great brother who helped me on a number of occasions with many tasks including the time-consuming and arduous task of reviewing T3010 databases and making them into something useful. As part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project, Blumbergs has been releasing information on the Canadian charity sector to provide a better understanding of the size, scope, complexity, and challenges of the sector.
About Blumbergs Professional Corporation and Mark Blumberg
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 and is quoted extensively by the media. 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
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.