Orchestras Canada

Imagine Canada has opened registration for its 2nd annual Risk Management conference, scheduled for November 8, 2011 at the Delta Toronto East in Scarborough ON. The event, designed for not-for-profit staff and board members, covers relevant topics in governance, human resources, and finance – and it looks seriously interesting! For more information, and to register, please visit: www.riskconferenceimaginecanada.ca.

Imagine Canada has released its latest Sector Monitor report, providing results from the fourth in a series of ongoing surveys, first launched in late 2009. The program is designed to regularly monitor the state of charities across the country and their ability to deliver their missions.

Imagine Canada describes the results as “significant, as responses to this iteration of the survey indicate positive changes within Canada’s charitable environment as the sector continues its fragile recovery from the recent economic downturn…While demand for the products and services of sector organizations remains high, there are signs that sector leaders are beginning to see a slackening of the ever-increasing demand. The immediacy of financial challenges for some organizations has receded and organizational stress had declined significantly from the high seen just one year ago. However, this positive shift is not uniform across the sector. While foundations report increased revenues, operating charities continue to report stagnant revenues and ever-increasing expenditures.”

To download your own copy of the report, please visit Imagine Canada.

Business for the Arts is presenting a sponsorship skills workshop in Toronto in early June. Here’s what they have to say about it:

Based on what business is currently saying about sponsorship, the workshop reveals the kind of approach most likely to bring you success, what business wants to see and hear to increase your chances of partnership. As part of Business for the Arts’ artsPitch program, this workshop will increase your confidence that your future efforts will be on track to make sponsorship work for you. Led by Business for the Arts’ National Sponsorship Coach, Marian Ruston, the workshop will take place on June 1st, 2011 from 11am-1:30pm (lunch included). Only 30 seats are available for this workshop, so we highly encourage you to reserve your spot ASAP.

To register, please click here.

From May 31 to July 13, Imagine Canada is presenting 12 different 75-minute webinars of interest to all non-profit professionals and lead volunteers, on topics ranging from governance to finance to stress management to risk management. The price to participate in 1 webinar starts at $30 (for smaller charities and Imagine Canada members) and volume discounts are available for the entire series.

It’s a great line-up, and you can learn more about the topics and the presenters, here.

Tip O’Neill, the late U.S. speaker of the house, used to say that “all politics is local” – to which we say “huzzah! and never more so than during a federal election campaign!”

To help our members engage in meaningful conversations with candidates in their ridings, Orchestras Canada (in collaboration with our partners at the Canadian Arts Coalition and Imagine Canada) has prepared an on-line, rigorously non-partisan, election toolkit containing

• A downloadable message you can hand to candidates, summarizing key arguments for the arts and arts investment
• A downloadable fact sheet about Canadian orchestras
• Questions for candidates
• A social media primer
• Statistics on arts and culture
• Dos and don’ts for registered charities during an election campaign
• A widget for your website, with links to the Arts Vote toolkit on the Coalition website

Soon to be added: an analysis of the party platforms, from an arts and charities perspective.

We’re also promoting two other social media initiatives:

The Canadian Arts Coalition’s Facebook page at facebook.com/artscoalition
A Twitter hashtag – #artsvotecan – so that arts activists can connect on arts issues, and update one another on the progress of their work in ridings right across the country

To get connected, please visit: facebook.com/artscoalition

Imagine Canada, a national organization that works on behalf of Canadian charities and not-for-profits, maintains the Canadian Directory to Foundations & Corporations – a web-only resource that provides information about the 3000 Canadian foundations that make grants to other registered charities, with additional information on over 300 corporations that invest in the community and American foundations that give to Canadian organizations.

Annual subscriptions purchased by an individual organization can range in price from $375 (for an Imagine Canada member organization with annual revenues under $100,000) to $625 (for a non-member organization with annual revenues over $1 million). Discounts are also available for two-year subscriptions, if you’re prepared to pay up front.

www.imaginecanada.ca

Orchestras Canada has done some digging, and we’ve learned that we can unleash group buying power, if a sufficient number of member organizations are interested in accessing the Directory for themselves. Here’s how it plays out:

• 5+ charities under one umbrella: 20% discount (and note that this is additional to any discount that Imagine Canada members enjoy, and that the sliding scale based on budget size remains in effect)
• 20+ charities under one umbrella: 35% discount
• 35+ charities under one umbrella: 50% discount

We’ve already had six responses to the inquiry we sent out last week – but the savings increase as the group grows! Let Katherine Carleton know by email at katherine@oc.ca February 28 if your organization would be interested in benefiting.

1. Bill C-470

Our friends at Imagine Canada have been keeping Orchestras Canada in the loop as the discussion on Bill-C470 (a federal private member’s bill intended to make certain changes to the Income Tax Act that would affect both compensation and reporting on compensation at Canadian registered charities) continues at the Standing Committee on Finance.

The Committee will report on its findings by December 17; in the meantime, however, we’ve learned via Imagine that “Albina Guarnieri, the Bill’s author, appeared and proposed amendments that would eliminate the compensation cap and limit the effects on smaller charities by placing a $100,000 floor on compensation that would be publicly divulged. This is a significant development and reflects the strong, united, and measured messages that the sector has sent to Parliamentarians.”

You can learn more about Imagine’s work on this file, here and here.

2. Federal Pre-Budget Consultations

While we await formal release of the federal Standing Committee on Finance’s report on its pre-budget consultations, public discussion about one of the recommendations Orchestras Canada (in partnership with many other charities and umbrella organizations) put forward to the committee on the need for improved incentives for charitable giving, has been heating up.

In our brief to the Standing Committee, Orchestras Canada recommended that “the Government of Canada establish a “stretch” tax credit that would increase the federal charitable tax credit by an additional 10% on all new giving up to $10,000, in order to increase the flow of charitable gifts from Canadians., and ensure that charities can play their role in strengthening Canadian society.”

Last week, Statistics Canada published a report on the latest, somewhat alarming, trends in charitable giving by Canadians. You can find more on this on Imagine Canada’s blog, here.

On November 30, Thomas Mulcair, MP for Outremont (and member of the Standing Committee on Finance) introduced a private member’s bill that calls for the implementation of the “stretch” tax credit. You can review it, here.

On Friday, December 3, the Globe and Mail published a sobering and important article on these trends – which you can read here.

On December 6 – in response to the earlier article – the Globe published an editorial expressing support for the very tax measure we recommended – which you can read here.

We’ve got a pile of recommendations this week!

If you’ve spent any time at all thinking about ticket pricing, the people at Baker Richards (Europe) and The Pricing Institute (North America) have developed a resource just for you – a brand new website at thinkingaboutpricing.com According to them: “the website gathers together resources and the latest thinking on pricing in the cultural sector worldwide with the aim of helping organizations maximize sales and income. You can search for case studies, articles, academic papers, and book reviews on pricing, revenue management, dynamic pricing, sales promotion and more.” Highly recommended!

Is it me? Or is it the economy? Well, we don’t know either – but we can refer you to a pair of recent reports on the perceived impact of the economic downturn on Canadian performing arts and charitable organizations.

Orchestras Canada and our partners in the Performing Arts Alliance have recently released the third report in our Taking the Pulse surveys, intended to shed light on the state of the performing arts industry in Canada. You can read the report here.

Imagine Canada has released its second Sector Monitor report, comparing conditions from the first half of 2010 to the baseline established by the first survey. You can see that report here.

Bill C-470

In April 2010, Orchestra News reported on a private member’s bill that could, if adopted, affect the operations of registered charities in Canada. The bill – C-470 – was introduced by Mississauga Liberal MP Albina Guerrieri, passed second reading in the House of Commons in the spring, and has now been sent for review to the Standing Committee on Finance.

The bill calls for two changes to the Income Tax Act:

1. it would require all registered Canadian charities to divulge “the name, job title and annual compensation of the five executives or employees with the highest compensation”; and
2. it would provide the Minister of National Revenue with the ability to revoke the charitable status of Canadian charities that “pay to a single executive or employee annual compensation exceeding $250,000”.

While the intent of the bill is to improve transparency at Canadian charities, and to reduce incidents of “excessive compensation”, our partners at Imagine Canada have pointed out that it duplicates existing reporting requirements mandated in the Income Tax Act, and that “the most significant compensation issue that needs to be addressed in the sector is not high executive salaries but low salaries and poor benefits overall, including pensions. The sector is a significant driver of economic activity and employment across Canada – far larger than, for example, the automobile industry – but the vast majority of charities and nonprofits in Canada are smaller community-based organizations. Many have difficulty recruiting and retaining staff, the main reason being the lower salaries and fewer benefits they can offer given their limited financial resources”

Orchestras Canada is supporting Imagine Canada’s approach. Following the National Orchestras Meeting in Winnipeg in June, we wrote to the Clerk of the Standing Committee on Finance to express our concerns about the impact of this legislation as it is presently framed, and you can view a copy of our letter here.

If you’d like to learn more about the issue, we also recommend:
1. An op ed piece from September 6’s Globe and Mail, by author Dan Pallotta
2. The Canadian Bar Association’s brief to the Standing Committee on Finance on Bill C-470

Both Imagine Canada and the Canadian Conference of the Arts have written to Industry Minister Tony Clement to express their concern about the Government of Canada’s decision to replace the mandatory long form census with a voluntary household survey. You can read Imagine Canada’s letter here and the Canadian Conference of the Arts’ letter here.

The Canada Revenue Agency has launched its latest initiative to support Canada’s donors and charitable sector: the Giving to Registered Charities 101 videocast series. The goal of this series is to inform young Canadians about how charities are regulated in Canada and how to donate wisely.

“By educating donors, we build confidence in the charitable sector as well as an appreciation for the work they do,” said Minister Ashfield. “It is important that donors of all ages be able to access the information they need to make informed donation decisions in a format they can understand. I invite you to view these videocasts by visiting ourdonors Web site or the CRA’s YouTube channel.”

The videocast series includes three individual videos:
“What’s it all about?” introduces individuals to how charities become registered in Canada.
“What’s in it for me?” shows individuals the important role that charities play in Canada and the tax incentives available to taxpayers.
“Where do I begin?” gives individuals the basic information they should know before donating to registered charities.

You can view the videos here.

Imagine Canada is presenting three Charity Tax Tools webinars this spring, designed to provide charities with the information they need to meet Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requirements. The webinars are free, they deal with issues often raised by charities – and we highly recommend them to you! (Although they are in English only.)

Webinar 1 – Tuesday, June 1, 2010 1:00pm EST: Fundraising Activities and CRA Guidelines

Presented by Terrance Carter, Managing Partner, Carters Professional Corporation

This Webinar will provide an overview of CRA’s new Guidance on Fundraising (CPS-028) and highlight how it impacts fundraising by charitable organizations. This presentation will provide practical information for use by Boards and staff on:
Background to the Guidance
Definitions of fundraising and charitable purposes
An overview of prohibited conduct
Guidelines for the allocation of fundraising expenses on the T3010B
A framework for the evaluation of your fundraising activities

Webinar 2 – Tuesday, June 15, 2010 1:00pm EST: Reporting: Filing the T3010B

Registered Charity Information Return, presented by Theresa L.M. Man, Partner, Carters Professional Corporation

Every registered charity must file Form T3010B with the CRA within 6 months of its year-end. If your charity does not file the return on time you may lose your charitable registration and incur penalties upon reapplying. This session reviews the various filing requirements, the information to be included with the return and related considerations. This session, however, is not a line-by-line review of the form itself.

Webinar 3 – Tuesday, June 22, 2010 1:00pm EST: Tax Receipting: Special Events and Split-receipting

Presented by Loris Giusto and James Johnston, KPMG Nonprofit Practice

When a donor makes a gift to your charity and receives something in return (for example, attendance at an event, or a gift recognition item), you may not be able to issue a receipt for the full amount, but can sometimes provide what is known as a “split receipt”. This session reviews the rules around split receipting, with a special focus on their application to special events. A number of practical examples will be discussed to illustrate these rules and common issues.