Posts by Ted Hyland

Impact investing: What are charities able to do?

April 3rd, 2018 by Ted Hyland

This article was first published on rabble.ca

Are charities legally permitted to make impact investments with their funds? Yes, but, getting to “yes” is not straightforward, and depends on the circumstances.

Impact investing is the use (mainly, but not exclusively) of money to simultaneously realize a financial return and a public or social good. A 2016 survey published by the Responsible Investment Association in Canada reports that in 2015 more than $9.2 billion in assets under management were identified by the survey respondents as being impact investments. A 2017 report by the Global Impact Investing Network  reveals US$114 billion in impact investments worldwide in 2016. These investments are in sectors ranging from housing and energy to microfinance, education, and arts and culture. The investment instruments include debt (e.g., loans, bonds), equity (both private and public shareholdings or units in partnerships), and real assets (in other words, tangible assets such as real estate or commodities, rather than financial capital).

Increasingly, charities are looking at using their funds and other resources to contribute to positive social, economic, cultural and environmental change (“social impact”), as well as to obtain a financial return. But does the law permit them to do so? Continue reading “Impact investing: What are charities able to do?”

Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL): Federal government suspends the Private Right of Action provisions

June 13th, 2017 by Ted Hyland

Organizations – businesses, non‑profits and charities – are breathing a sigh of relief following the federal government’s decision to suspend indefinitely the coming into force of the provisions of Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) that give persons the right to seek monetary compensation from anyone who has breached the consent rules in CASL and the collection and use of personal information rules in PIPEDA.[1]

Colloquially known as the “private right of action” clauses of CASL, they were slated to come into force on July 1, 2017; the suspension of their coming into force was accomplished by a federal Order‑in‑Council (PC Number: 2017‑0580), which was issued on June 2, 2017.

Among the groups that had lobbied the federal government to put the brakes on the implementation of the private right of action provisions were Imagine Canada and the Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN). Imagine Canada and ONN sent a letter together to the federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Navdeep Bains. The letter, dated February 14, 2017, lays out a number of the principal concerns that the nonprofit and charitable sectors have with CASL generally and with the private right of action specifically.

[1] Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (S.C. 2000, c. 5)

Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation: July 1, 2017 on the horizon — are you ready?

April 10th, 2017 by Ted Hyland

Updated May 11, 2017: Corrections/clarifications to the 4th and 7th bullet points below.

If you were keeping close tabs three years ago on the advent of Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), you may be forgiven if you lost sight of it in the past three years. After all, you worked hard to ensure that your organization would be able to send commercial electronic messages (CEMs) once July 1, 2014 rolled around.

Well, it’s time to pay attention again, because July 1, 2017 marks the coming into force of a couple of important features to CASL. Continue reading “Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation: July 1, 2017 on the horizon — are you ready?”

Federal Non Profit Corporations: Deadline of July 31, 2017 to transition from Canada Corporations Act to Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act

March 21st, 2017 by Ted Hyland

If you’re involved in a non‑profit organization that was incorporated under the Canada Corporations Act and your organization has not completed the transition to the Canada Not‑for‑profit Corporations Act, then you have until July 31, 2017 to do so. Corporations Canada has issued a notice that if the transition is not completed by July 31st, the corporation will be dissolved. In other words, the corporation will cease to exist, legally, and if it’s a registered charity, it could lose its charitable registration.

To obtain more details about what’s involved in completing the transition, you can check out the “Transition Guide” on Corporations Canada’s website.

If you have any questions about the transition process, you can also contact one of our lawyers.

Corporations that Own an Interest in Land: New Record Keeping Requirements

March 9th, 2017 by Ted Hyland

In 2015, the Ontario legislature passed legislation called the Forfeited Corporate Property Act, 2015 (the FCPA). The FCPA came into effect on December 10, 2016.

One of the things that the FCPA does is to amend the Corporations Act (Ontario), the Business Corporations Act (Ontario), and the Not‑for‑Profit Corporations Act, 2010 (Ontario) to require corporations that are subject to these statutes to keep a register at their registered office of their ownership interests in land located in Ontario.

Given that the amendments were enacted in the FCPA, it seems that the provincial government intends for this to be a convenient mechanism to enable it to locate land that reverts to the Crown if a corporation is dissolved while still owning land.

What’s the new requirement?

Continue reading “Corporations that Own an Interest in Land: New Record Keeping Requirements”

Canada Revenue Agency’s Guidance: How to Draft Purposes for Charitable Registration (CG 019)

August 12th, 2013 by Ted Hyland

On July 25, 2013, the Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) issued policy guidance on how to draft purposes clauses for charitable registration. At the same time, CRA also issued revised Model Purposes clauses.

The Guidance will apply to new applicants for charitable registration, existing registered charities that are seeking to change their charitable purposes and, undoubtedly, will be used by CRA in auditing registered charities and assessing their eligibility for ongoing registration.

Continue reading “Canada Revenue Agency’s Guidance: How to Draft Purposes for Charitable Registration (CG 019)”