Last week, the Northern Manitoba Food Culture and Community Collaborative (NMFCCC) hosted a webinar to share learnings about qualified donee status, how to register with the CRA, and creating pathways to access charitable dollars.
In 2014, the Government of Canada changed some of their guidelines regulating how charitable organizations could deliver money. Under the new regulations, if a community is not registered as a qualified donee performing a function of government, a charitable organization cannot grant to them.
“2014 happened to be the first year that the NMFCCC was working together with communities in Northern Manitoba,” said NMFCCC’s Coordinator, Julie Price. “What we found was of all the communities that we were trying to work with, we could only grant directly to about two of them.
We commit to never leaving anyone behind and never saying no because of the absence of charitable pathways. We will always find a legal way to get the work done. And I’m happy to say that since 2014 we have been able to support about 20 community councils, and over a dozen First Nations in Manitoba to become registered as qualified donees.”
Julie was joined by Richard Bridge, a charity lawyer with 20 years’ experience in non-profit law, who explained that as a qualified donee, a community organization, band council, or First Nation can issue tax receipts, receive grants from registered charities, and are exempt from income tax.
It is incredibly inequitable to require First Nations to register to be recognized as a qualified donee while other bodies of government – municipalities for example – were automatically registered by the CRA when this program was established. Systemic barriers such as this keep Indigenous peoples from accessing philanthropic services and supports.
“This is an extremely important topic in terms of creating pathways and making good supporting resources available to Indigenous communities across the country,” added Julie. “Without working on pathways to flow charitable dollars, we can’t support all the amazing things that communities are doing.”
To learn more about qualified donee status and how to apply, watch the full webinar recording. Visit NMFCCC’s website to learn more about the incredible community work they are supporting across Northern Manitoba. You can also access the registration letter template referenced in the webinar here.
The Northern Manitoba Food, Culture and Community Collaborative is a community-advised funding collaborative hosted at MakeWay. It is made up of community members, northern advisors, funders, and local organizations. The Collaborative works to support community-led action towards a world where northern communities are healthier and more resilient, and our relationships are mutually transformative.
