Top Resources: Administration and Finance
Helping you establish your policies and financial practices.
To continue creating an impact in your communities, community foundations need to ensure their own financial records are kept up to date and administration remains tidy. These resources will support you and your organization while you support community organizations.
The following fact sheet summarizes the amendments to the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the “ITA”) that have been enacted by the Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1 (the “BIA”), as well as the amendments that have been proposed in the Federal Budget 2022.
The impact of Covid 19 has made many foundations rethink their need for a physical office space. Advances in technology, group meeting apps, co-working spaces, off-site document storage and back-up, and an increase in working from home are changing the way organizations think about setting up and maintaining their central office.
Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing. Risk is like fire: if controlled, it will help you; if uncontrolled, it will rise up and destroy you.
Producing an annual report provides foundations with the opportunity to celebrate their success in meeting these needs while also providing reassurance to the community as to the financial and organizational capacity to accomplish its vision and mission.
Prior to the pandemic and its impact on in-person interactions, foundations were only marginally using virtual technology to organize their meetings, usually only when the distance between meeting participants was a factor. However, the “new normal” has impacted foundation operations and interpersonal communications in ways that weren’t experienced in the past.
A community foundation’s charitable activity is primarily in making grants to qualified donees and its community leadership work. However, a community foundation may also be able to engage in direct program and service delivery, enabling it to provide funding directly to an individual or to an organization that is not a registered charity.
This suggested chart of accounts has been designed to create a balance between providing useful management information and streamlining reporting on the T3010 Charity Return annually.
The collective, collaborative impact of community foundations is growing, as we aspire to deepen relationships, ask the hard questions, and adapt. Following the leadership of Indigenous peoples, we are building reconciliation into our efforts and working to decolonize philanthropic structures.
It is the board’s responsibility to monitor the financial management of the community foundation through the development and approval of financial policies and an ongoing monitoring process. IT is critical to get professional assistance as soon as possible in setting up your financial management systems.
Despite notable accomplishments and donors who care a great deal about serving historically underserved populations, philanthropy continues to struggle to achieve social change for the communities and populations that need it most. Can greater cultural competency help funders better align their resources with their community’s needs?
Developing a manageable records management system is critical to your community foundation’s success. Traceable records help you stay accountable to the public, your funders and the CRA, and also keep you on your toes in the event of an audit or a request for information.
Join us to explore ESG developments and the relevance of ESG for building a resilient portfolio, with comments on ESG research coming out of the economic downturn earlier this year, then going deeper to explore how investors can incorporate a climate-resilient SDG 13 approach to their portfolio.
This screencast is an updated version of what hat you need to know to successfully complete your foundation’s charitable tax return.