Political Activities 

Under the Income Tax Act and as a general rule, a registered charity must devote all of its resources to charitable purposes and activities. It is important to understand the types of activities that are allowed in the charitable sector and those that are prohibited. The overall result is a required element for our annual charities return.

EXPLANATION OF ACTIVITIES

Charitable Activities : Activities do not need to be reported if the information presented is objective and rational and there is no explicit call to action as they are not considered political for CRA purposes. Examples include:

• Distributing the charity’s research to all election candidates in a particular election
• Presenting the charity’s research to a parliamentary committee
• Giving an interview about the charity’s research or presentation to a Parliamentary Committee
• Distributing the charity’s research to all members of parliament
• Participating in a policy development working group where public officials also participate Making a representation to an elected representative or public official (if issue is connected to the charity’s purpose.) Engaging in this activity may require registration
• as an in-house lobbyist under the Lobbyist Registration Act .

Political Activities: As a way to further its charitable purpose(s), a charity may take part in political activities provided that these activities are non-partisan and connected and subordinate to the charity’s purpose. Charities must restrict such activities to no more than 10% of their expenditures. Canada Revenue Agency requires that all charities monitor, track and report on political activities undertaken in its programming. These activities would include:

• An explicit call to political action (encouraging the public to contact elected officials).
• Communication to the public that the law, policy, or decision of any level of government in Canada or a foreign country should be retained, opposed, or changed.
• Any activity or materials that seek to put pressure on an elected representative or public official to retain, oppose or change law, policy or decisions of any level of government in Canada or a foreign country.

Examples include:

• Buying a newspaper advertisement to pressure the government on a particular issue
• Organizing a march to Parliament Hill to put pressure on the government to change its policy on an issue
• Organizing a conference to support the charity’s position on an issue
• Conducting a media campaign with respect to an issue (explicit communication to the public that the law, policy or decision at any level of government should be retained, opposed or changed)
• Conducting a mail or media campaign to urge supporters to contact the government on an issue

Note : A charity may be allowed to overspend in one year if it has unclaimed portion of resources it was allowed to spend but did not spend on political activities from up to

Prohibited Activities: A charity may not participate or conduct illegal activity or partisan political activity. Partisan political activity means direct or indirect support of, or opposition to, any political party or candidate for public office. Examples include:

• Indicating support for a municipal/provincial/federal election candidate or party on a website or other communication media
• Indicating that a specific Member of Parliament/Member of the Legislative Assembly/City Councilor should not be supported for re-election because of the manner in which he/she voted on a particular issue;
• Distributing leaflets, purchasing advertisements (including billboards), and/or creating, linking to and/or publicizing a website which highlights the lack of municipal/provincial/federal government support for a particular issue;
• Holding or promoting an event for a candidate for public office