Archived - Harper Government Supports Charitable organizations to Create Stronger Communities
March 26, 2014 – Ottawa, Ontario – Department of Finance
Minister of State (Finance) Kevin Sorenson and National Revenue Minister Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay today highlighted the Government's investment in stronger communities through support for the charitable sector. In order to reduce administrative costs associated with charitable lotteries and allow charities to modernize their lottery systems, Economic Action Plan 2014 proposes to amend the Criminal Code to allow charities to sell their lottery tickets online.
Each year, charities in Canada raise hundreds of millions of dollars to support worthy causes through lottery sales. However, outdated legislation forces registered charities across Canada that conduct lotteries as part of their fundraising to process and activate all sales manually, and then send customers their tickets by mail rather than electronically. The use of new technologies will allow charities to use modern e-commerce methods for the purchasing, processing and issuing of lottery tickets and issuing of receipts to donors.
Prominent Canadian charities, including the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Foundation and SickKids Foundation, report that allowing the use of new technologies could save millions of dollars each year in administrative costs for all Canadian charities that run lotteries. For example, the Heart and Stroke Foundation has identified significant savings in annual administrative costs related to the use of computers in its lottery alone. Charities will be able to use these savings to support their important work.
These actions build on a number of important steps the Government has taken since 2006 to support the charitable sector, including:
- Providing a complete exemption from the capital gains tax for donations of publicly listed securities, donations of ecologically sensitive land to public conservation charities, as well as certain donations of exchangeable shares;
- Introducing a temporary First-Time Donor’s Super Credit on cash donations of up to $1,000 made before 2018;
- Reducing the administrative burden on charities by greatly simplifying the disbursement quota requirements, allowing charities to focus more time and resources on their charitable activities; and
- Reassuring Canadians that their donations are used to support legitimate charities engaged in charitable activities by introducing several new measures that improve accountability and transparency in the charitable sector.
Meagan Murdoch
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of State (Finance)
613-996-7861
Jack Aubry
Media Relations
Department of Finance
613-996-8080
