Prime Time Crime |
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Non-profit Industry
NOTE:
There
were an
estimated
161,000
non-profit and voluntary organizations
operated
in Canada in 2003, posting
$112 billion
in
revenues. |
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Greed and
Corruption |
Corporate Scandals
|
Greed and
Corruption UN |
Charity Intelligence Canada
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Fair Questions |
Charity Navigator |
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Promoting hate and intolerance
OTTAWA - The CRA has revoked the charitable
status of the Ottawa Islamic Centre and Assalam
Mosque over allegations it promoted
'hate and intolerance.'
The tax agency also identified
problems with the organization's books and its failure to file an
information return. (CBC)
Charity audit
VANCOUVER - The CRA audit of the
Islamic Society of BC
alleged the charity was 'controlled or influenced' by a Qatar
organization accused of supporting terrorism, although that did not
result in a penalty.
The Islamic Society operates the
Masjid
Al-Hidayah and Islamic Cultural Centre
in Port Coquitlam, BC, and was formerly headed by Saadeldin Bahr, who
is now serving a 3-1/2-year prison sentence for a 2013
sexual assault at the mosque.
(Global)
Donated clothing
For anyone who doesn't want their old
shirts, pants or dresses to end up in a landfill, clothing donation
bins sound like a win-win-win solution: the donor gets to declutter,
the charity operating the bin gets to resell the clothing to fund good
deeds, and a shopper on a budget gets to buy affordable clothes.
But in reality, the path your
worn-out jeans take isn't so straight, and doesn't always benefit the
people you may think. (CBC)
ONE charity shame
Workers at a charity founded by U2 singer
Bono
have been subjected to a 'toxic' culture of bullying and abuse.
Bosses at the
ONE
charity have covered up the horrific allegations for years, but a
major Mail on Sunday investigation has exposed a catalogue of
humiliating incidents that has now sparked a multi-million-pound
lawsuit.
(Daily Mail)
Charity status revoked
OTTAWA - ISNA Islamic Services of Canada was
stripped of its charitable status.
Authorities also revoked a related
charity, the Canadian Islamic Trust Foundation.
Both are former affiliates of the
Islamic Society of North
America-Canada (ISNA-Canada), and shared
its Mississauga, ON address.
(Global)
Internal memo leaked
TORONTO - An internal memo from the ousted
Toronto Community Housing boss to city
staff warns of the risk of hundreds of millions of dollars in costs,
financial losses and a lack of information with the developing plans
to remake the corporation.
(Toronto Star)
Sunshine on non-profit exec pay
TORONTO - Many of the biggest charitable
organizations headquartered in Ontario pay their top executives more
than $250,000 a year.
(CBC)
Aid groups suspend UN cooperation
DAMASCUS - More than 70 aid groups have
suspended cooperation with the UN in Syria and have demanded an
immediate and transparent investigation into its operations in the
country because of concerns the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has
gained 'significant and substantial' influence over the relief effort.
(Guardian UK)
UN pays aid money to Assad's regime
War on Terror
Bashar
al-Assad
MSF rejects EU funds
BRUSSELS - In protest at the EU's deal with
Turkey aimed at stemming the flow of migrants and refugees,
MSF
says it will
reject all funding from the EU and its member states.
Under the agreement Turkey pledged to
halt illegal migration through its territory in return for financial
and political rewards.
(Euro News)
Accused
GAZA
- Israeli security forces have arrested a senior official of one of
the world's largest Christian charities, accusing him of funneling
tens of millions of dollars to
Hamas.
Mohammad El Halabi, director of the
Gaza branch of
World Vision, is alleged to have led a
double life as a senior figure in the Islamist organization and used
his position 'to divert the humanitarian organization's funds and
resources from the needy to benefit of Hamas's terrorist and military
activities'.
(Guardian UK)
Resignations
OTTAWA -
Lifeline Syria announced that executive
director Sheona McGraw and 5 board members resigned in protest over
how the non-profit was run. Some of the now-resigned board members
said they decided to walk away following a deadlock over governance of
the organization.
(Globe & Mail)
Fraud charges
BRANTFORD - The man who helped build
Brantford's St
Leonard's Community Services into one of
Canada's largest such agencies is facing multiple fraud-related
charges.
(Sun Media) MORE:
Former director faces charges
Bill Sanderson retires
False claims
WASHINGTON - Big Brothers Big Sisters of
America Corporation (Big
Brothers) has agreed to pay the US $1.6M
to resolve allegations of false claims for funds under Department of
Justice grants awarded to help children at risk. (USDoJ) |
Charities can be political
Canadian charities can now spend as many
resources as they deem necessary criticizing government policies and
decisions without worrying they may lose charitable status.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice
said the 10% cap infringed on a charity's right to freedom of
expression and ordered the CRA to immediately stop interpreting the
Income Tax Act in such a way.
(Global)
Non-profit v non-profit
The
Canadian Civil Liberties Association
posting solicits applications from 'law students and law graduates'
interested in a chance to 'engage in substantive legal work relating
to CCLA's ongoing advocacy efforts in civil liberties and human
rights.' 'As
you likely know, calling an employee a 'volunteer' or an 'intern' does
not allow organizations to avoid their obligations to pay workers
minimum wage, provide overtime pay, provide vacation pay, etc.' said
the Canadian
Intern Association.
(Toronto Star)
Refugee numbers faked
LONDON - An investigation has uncovered
rampant corruption, theft of aid, manipulation of statistics and
sexual abuse of refugees in
Uganda,
a country hailed as a model in its response to the catastrophic
crisis.
(Daily Mail)
MORE:
Government is frustrating probe
UN found only 7,000
Call for investigation into aid to Rwanda
Church lawsuit
TORONTO - The board of directors for the
Greek Community of Toronto (GCT), a non-profit charity representing
more than 150,000 Greek Canadians, filed
the lawsuit against the Greek Orthodox
Metropolis of Toronto, as well as four priests, several members of one
priest's family, and other individuals connected with the church
community.
(CBC)
Sotirios
Athanassoulas
Jailed
REGINA -
Debra House, 64, the former executive
director of the Regina Sexual Assault Centre has received a 3-year
jail sentence for bilking hundreds of thousands of dollars from the
non-profit group.
(CTV)
MORE:
3 years
Facing charges
RED DEER - The investigation started in
2016, after the non-profit Christian Motorcycle Association reported
irregularities in their finances and banking activity.
Police said the accused worked as an
office administrator for the organization from Sept 2013 to June 2015.
It's estimated more than $100,000 was stolen.
As a result of the investigation,
Kenneth Van Someren, 53, is facing a number of charges.
(CTV)
Jail for tax fraud
VANCOUVER - Fareed Mohammed Raza, 42, and
Saheem Mohammed Raza, 35, have been sentenced to 51 months each after
being found guilty of using a real charity as a vehicle to help their
clients avoid paying nearly $5M in taxes.
(CBC) MORE:
Brothers get 4 years
Issues of accountability
TORONTO - The Centre for Addiction and
Mental Health (CAMH)
has lost a $1M donation due to 'issues of accountability.'
(Toronto Star)
Failure was anything but sudden
TORONTO - While the organization's closing
was abrupt, a Globe and Mail analysis of Goodwill's operations shows
that its decline was long in the making.
(Globe & Mail) MORE:
Workers will get their pay
Rent, union blamed for closing
Goodwill Toronto shutdown
Big bucks in tax credits
TORONTO - A private members' bill that seeks
to extend more generous tax credits to charitable donations would cost
the government an extra $1.7B this fiscal year, a new report has
found.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer
released the results of its cost assessment
on the proposed changes finding that extending the same tax credits
that exist for political donations to charitable ones would set
federal coffers back significantly.
(Global)
Suing
MONTREAL - Montreal Impact striker Didier
Drogba is suing England's Daily Mail newspaper.
A
report in the Daily Mail says that that
Didier Drogba's charitable foundation provides very little money to
its intended beneficiaries.
(CTV)
MORE:
Drogba faces probe
Didier
Drogba
Grand jury indicts activists
HOUSTON - A Texas grand jury indicted David
Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for tampering with a governmental record.
Daleiden is the founder of the group, the
Center for Medical Progress - that
filmed and released a
series of sting videos edited so they
appeared to show
Planned
Parenthood employees selling fetal
tissue.
(Guardian UK)
Charities, aren't
LONDON - A report, released today the True
and Fair Foundation, alleges a fifth of Britain's best-known charities
are putting less than 50% of income toward 'charitable activities'.
(Daily Mail)
REPORT:
Review of charitable spending by UK charities
.pdf
MORE:
Charities spending
Charity accused
HAMILTON -
Gospel for
Asia Canada's filings with the CRA show
$93.5M was transferred to India between 2007 and 2014, but Indian
government documents show that no money from Canada was received by
the charity's Indian affiliates during the same period.
(Toronto Star)
KP Yohannan
Gospel for Asia
KP
Yohannan |
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Funding murky
VANCOUVER -
Pull Together, a project of the Sierra Club of BC, the Raven Trust and
First Nations against Enbridge, begins its 'Week to End Enbridge.'
This is the latest move in The Tar Sands Campaign, the funding
juggernaut behind the scenes of the movement against pipelines and
tankers. (Vivian Krause)
US oil interest
Anti-pipeline
legal fund growing
Next
for pipeline opponents
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
|
Pembina Foundation
CRA audits
charitable status
Who gets the most foreign cash
Wealthy foundations wary
Charities laundering
Vivian Krause rethink campaigns
Charity questioned
Northern Gateway Pipeline
The George Soros philosophy and its fatal flaw
George Soros
Open
Society Foundations
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Raincoast Conservation Society
Government
stifling dissent
Dismantling
Democracy
.pdf
Sinopec files
Sinopec
'Radical' federal
remarks boost support
Report damns the pipeline
Money for 'studies'
CEAA
Canada's quiet pipeline to the West
Benefits vs concerns
Hearing could be 'hijacked'
Canadian power plant database |
Billionaire takes aim at Harper
Tom
Steyer
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
Environmental Defence
US Environmental Defense Fund
Coast Opportunity
Funds
Pipe dreams
Campaign against Keystone by foundation
Keystone Pipeline
Charities and false prophets
Hearings move on
Who funds environmentalists
Mayor claims campaign to 'besmirch' Tides
Tides Center
Tides Canada
Joel Solomon
Gregor Robertson
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Push back against audits
OTTAWA - Some 54 charities were caught by CRA's political-activities
audits, and 5 were given notice they would lose their charitable
registrations. Current
rules allow charities to devote up to 10% of their resources to
political activities.
(CBC)
Charity challenges audits
Canada Without Poverty
UN Human Rights Committee
Warning to keep opinionated scientists on tight leash
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Lobbying
Non-profit organization
Charitable organization
Transparency
Politics of charity
Targeting under scrutiny
Charities join forces
CRA says probe even handed
'Preventing poverty' not a valid goal
Support amid political audit
PEN Canada
Pen Canada under investigation
Some CRA charity audits
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CIDA exec broke rules
OTTAWA - An
investigation into wrongdoing at the agency responsible for billions in
overseas aid has found a senior executive was using taxpayers' time and
money to conduct private business. The public integrity commissioner
says the director general at the Canadian International Development
Agency also had civil servants doing personal work.
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Not perpetuating aid agencies
NGOs
Aid agency not getting into mining
Building markets, not reliance
CIDA
Ex-leader on theft charges
Malawian
Bakili Muluzi
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More revelations
GENEVA - The International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC)
says 21 members of staff have left their jobs for sexual misconduct in
the last 3 years.
Plan
International, a children's aid agency, confirmed 6 cases of
sexual abuse and child exploitation by staff or associates. On Friday,
22 aid organizations
said they were 'truly sorry' for the sector's failings in the wake of
allegations of sexual misconduct by workers.
(BBC)
Oxfam announced new measures
Deputy CEO quits
A full on Caligula orgy
Chief accuses critics of gunning for Oxfam
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UN Aids accused
Staff intimidated witnesses
Oxfam
Oxfam releases internal 2011 report
Failed in moral
leadership
New allegation from South Sudan
Resigns
Justin Forsyth
Charity hushed up sex abuse
International Rescue Committee
David Miliband
Department for International Development
Charity faces food for sex scandal
World Vision
World
Food Programme
World Vision denies claims
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Union embezzlement
DETROIT - As the UAW, Fiat Chrysler and federal
investigators unravel a scandal over the misappropriation of millions
of dollars meant for worker training, federal records show that
embezzling from union offices is endemic around the country.
(Detroit Free Press)
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Mob nabbed in scheme to rip off NYC union
Fraud guilty plea
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Charity to close
LONDON - Kids
Company, the London youth work charity, is said to have told ministers
it will be shutting its services in the light of new concerns about
its financial management.
The charity, which received $4.7M in a government rescue package a
week ago, used part of its government grant to pay overdue staff
wages. (Guardian UK)
|
Kids Company
Charity in closing warning
Founder
blames everyone but herself
Chair of
trustees loses cool
Camila
Batmanghelidjh
Alan Yentob
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Charity begins with us
LONDON, ON
- Nearly $8M raised for hungry school kids and to fight HIV/AIDs
went into the pockets of London Mayor Joe Fontana and fellow
directors of his charity, the tax man says. (London Free Press)
|
Joe Fontana
Agency
head floored by claim
Mayor's integrity takes another blow
Successful charity
$1.4B tax scams nail donors |
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Toys-for-profit
TORONTO - The overwhelming
generosity of Salvation Army donors was evident in the warehouses.
Except these donations weren't going to the shelters, food
banks and needy children supported by the Salvation Army. They were
being sold for profit.
The scheme to siphon off and sell 'vast amounts' of donations
was masterminded by
David Rennie,
the former executive director of the Salvation Army donation storage
and distribution centre, according to a court decision.
(Toronto Star) |
2nd arrest
Surrenders to police
Man at centre
Kick in the gut
Toy theft
$2M in toys stolen
Charity director fired
Missing money |
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Campaign backlash
SAN DIEGO - A group aimed at bringing elusive African
rebel leader Joseph Kony to justice is being praised for its ability
to spread its message so quickly and effectively, but it's also
being harshly criticized for misleading the public. The KONY 2012
campaign, orchestrated by non-profit group Invisible Children, calls
for the arrest of Joseph Kony.
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KONY 2012
Hit video
Non-profit defends spending practices
Joseph Kony
Lord's Resistance Army
Invisible Children Inc
Charity Navigator rating
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Canadians giving less
TORONTO - Fewer
Canadians are donating to registered charities - and those who do are
giving less. According to the
2013 Generosity Index
compiled by the
Fraser Institute, 23% of
Canadian tax filers claimed a charitable donation in 2011 compared to
25% who donated in 2005, Canada’s peak charitable year. (Global) |
No better off financially in 2013
Bad idea
Canadian Cancer Society
Funding shifted from research
Financial reports
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AU raises $351M
MOGADISHU -
A much-delayed
African Union
summit held to raise money to tackle famine in Somalia
and drought in the Horn of Africa raised $351M
officials said, but activists questioned the figure. (Reuters) |
East Africa drought
2011 Horn of Africa famine
Famine in a failed state
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What
does Haiti have to show?
PORT-AU-PRINCE - The UN said that in total
$13.34B has been earmarked for the crisis through 2020, though 2 years
after the quake, less than half of that amount had actually been
released.
(NBC)
USAID
Haiti cholera
outbreak
UN 'immune'
from lawsuit
'Republic of NGOs'
Aid review
Aid money frozen
'Saddened' by Ottawa's aid review
Where did the money go
How aid increased poverty and corruption
CIDA
Julian Fantino
Death toll tops 4,000
Report on transparency
Haiti: 1 year later
Anti-fraud boss jailed
Oxfam
Sexual violence on the rise
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Impossible to follow the money
Aid for Haiti earthquake
Center for Economic and Policy Research
Caretaker agreement
Slipping into unrest
Haitian presidential election
Breaking open the black box
500,000+ need Immediate Food Assistance
Canada's aid money graphic
Are we nuts?
'Baby Doc' returns
Jean-Claude Duvalier
Haitian general election
Who let 'Baby Doc' back?
'Bill & Hillary Fund'
Rene St Fort
Haiti cholera outbreak
Mobs lynch 40+ people
2010 Haiti earthquake
Shell Game of Haiti's Reconstruction
$100M a seat
Response by for-profit organizations
Response by NGOs
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Aid
wasted
BRUSSELS - More than half of EU projects
aimed at bringing stability to the
DRC
have failed to deliver any results, spending watchdogs say. (Daily
Mail)
EU
support for governance in the DRC
.pdf
Aid
to stolen by Islamist
Shabaab
Department
for International Development
Harper stresses accountability
|
Aid spending rethink
World Bank
Efficient use of funding
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
How to help without getting scammed
Are charities taking advantage of urge to help?
SWEDOW = Stuff we don't want
Global
fund being investigated
18th annual AIDS conference
Conference ends with call for more resources
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No charges
TORONTO - Yes, Ontario
overpaid $4.77M for Italian helicopters and that money flowed
back to a Chris Mazza-controlled private company. The Star exposed
that in 2012, which prompted the Liberal government to call in the
cops.
No, the OPP would not be
laying charges against Mazza or anyone else. (Toronto Star)
Investigation is over
Labour code charges
4 dead in helicopter crash
Recommendations
Review of Ornge transport related deaths
Review of agreement
Tom Stewart
An eye on their creations
Former chair surprises inquiry
Testimony 'pure nonsense'
'Smoky back rooms'
Not a rogue organization
Secret of ORNGE oversight
|
Money tree was good to me
Arrested execs' visit to Toronto
Expense documents
'First class Chris'
Whistle-blower suspended
Whistleblowers threatened
Mazza declared unfit to testify
'Utterly tone deaf'
Web of questionable financial deals
Taxpayer funds
Execs refuse to cooperate with AG
Value of head office inflated
$11M to lawyers
Mysterious payment
Non-profit has been good to me
Makeover
Premier's office ignored red flags
ORNGE
ON investigating 26
deaths
'This is
nuts'
Ron McKerlie
McGuinty promises action
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Charities sever ties with group
LONDON -
Charities have agreed to no longer fund the controversial advocacy
group
Cage, which has faced questions over its links to Mohammed Emwazi,
the Briton identified as Islamic State killer 'Jihadi John'.
(Guardian UK)
Charity
Commission
Trust funds
fanatics
Aid group labeled terrorist group
Charity funded terror group
Cutting funding not a breach
Canadian Arab Federation
Group loses bid for cash
Charity going to terror groups
Protecting charities from harm
Big
Brother
|
Accusations of terror links
Audit
'clears Islamic Relief' of terror funding
Charity funded terror
Hizbul Mujahideen
Funding terror
Charity loses licence
Islamic Society of North America
Charity squandered money
ISNA
Canada
Golden Chain
Holy Land Foundation for Relief
Islamic Association of Palestine
International Islamic Relief
Organization
Terror for tots
UNICEF
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COC to implement changes
An independent review of the
Canadian Olympic Committee's workplace
has found that the majority of staff interviewed 'experienced or
witnessed harassment both sexual and personal' during
former president Marcel Aubut's tenure.
(Toronto Star)
MORE:
Staff exposed to harassment
Marcel
Aubut
|
Where the money goes
TORONTO -
Indigo's Love
of Reading Foundation,
which is registered as a charity with the CRA, gives about $1.5M to
Canadian schools each year in the form of grants to help libraries buy
books.
Selected schools receive grants in
the form of credit, which they must spend at
Indigo
and other stores in the Indigo chain, which includes Chapters and
Coles.
(CBC)
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Tax free status
TORONTO - Michael
O'Sullivan has raised millions of dollars from animal-loving Canadians
for his Toronto-based animal welfare charity.
Though O'Sullivan has vowed to spend
donors' hard-earned money to save animals and nature, he has at times
used charity coffers as a personal piggy bank.
(Toronto Star)
PREVIOUS:
2015 FCA 178
Human Society of Canada
Ark Angel
Fund
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Need for clearer rules
TORONTO - Any non-profit organization that
is launching a capital campaign needs clear policies about how it will
recognize donors and what it will do if donors fail to pay pledges.
The
Royal Ontario
Museum
is still owed $23M in unpaid pledges left over from its 2003-2010
capital campaign to renovate its historic building and erect the
Michael Lee-Chin Crystal.
(Globe & Mail)
MORE:
Behind the
ROM's philanthropic facade
Minister
believes ROM will pay off loan by 2027
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Global crackdown
Human rights organizations and campaign
groups are facing their biggest crackdown in a generation as a wave of
countries pass restrictive laws and curtail activity. Almost half the
world's states have implemented controls that affect tens of thousands
of organizations across the globe.
(Guardian UK)
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Charity sales for profit
You've seen them in shopping malls and
retail outlets across Canada - young people selling toys, cosmetics
and other products to raise money for charity.
The sellers work for private,
for-profit companies who keep the lion's share of the proceeds for
themselves, something the customers and host retailers may be unaware
of.
(CBC)
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Misused donor cash
TORONTO - Steven Sokolowski, 65, was living
large.
Problem is, Sokolowski was not using
his own money.
Sokolowski is one of the founders of
Coast to Coast Against Cancer, a
registered Toronto foundation that aims to raise money to support
childhood cancer charities and hosts several cycling and other
activities every year.
(Toronto Star) |
Shrinkage
EDMONTON -
Northlands
issued a statement, alleging several of the cashiers in its parking
booths engaged in systemic theft. Northlands said it would cost too
much money - more than $400,000 - 'to accurately find the sources of
the theft.'
(Edmonton Journal)
MORE:
Cashiers
fired
$1M annually
stolen
Reputations
Tim
Reid |
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Charity award
The
radiator awards recognize the best in foreign aid videos, and poke fun
at celebrity-driven campaigns.
(Toronto Star)
MORE: 2017
winners
|
Charitable giving 2013
In 2013, the total amount of donations that
Canadians made to charitable and non-profit organizations was $12.8B,
an increase of 23% over 2004.
(Stat Can)
MORE:
Where the donations go
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Non-profit disbands
NEW YORK - A non-profit funded by the
Coca-Cola Co. to combat obesity is disbanding following revelations
about the beverage maker's involvement with the group.
(CP) |
Little spent on charitable works
TORONTO - Much of the
$30M the
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada
raised in this time period through walks, runs and bottle drives
covered fundraising and administrative costs.
(Toronto Star)
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Church finances overseen by monitor
EDMONTON - The finances of the
ABC district
of
Lutheran
Church-Canada
are now being overseen by a court-appointed monitor.
The district was granted an order
from under the federal Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.
(CBC) |
Review of financials
TORONTO - The
Housing
Services Corporation
will be investigated after a number of questionable expenses were
flagged.
Lindsey Reed resigned as the head of
HSC in April 2013. The chair of HSC's board, Roger Maloney,
suddenly resigned.
(CTV)
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Defrauding charity
TORONTO - A 50-year-old property manager for
March of Dimes has been charged with defrauding the charity of
$800,000.
Toronto police say Karima Manji was a
longstanding employee of the non-profit housing corporation and
defrauded March of Dimes through 'various means.'
(CBC) |
Tough fundraising rules
LONDON - Britain's top charities have
pledged support for proposed tough new rules aimed at preventing the
use of aggressive fundraising techniques to target vulnerable and
elderly donors after a series of scandals over the summer.
(Guardian UK) MORE:
Victory over
cold-calling sharks
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Banks sitting on charity money
LONDON - Charities working in crisis-hit
regions are failing to receive millions of pounds in funding because
of banks' fears of incurring tough penalties for failing to stop the
flow of terrorist funds and money laundering, according to a report.
(Guardian UK)
|
Stripped of charitable status
OTTAWA - The federal government is stripping
Dying with Dignity
Canada of its charitable tax status
following a political activity audit by the CRA.
Dying with Dignity says its
conversion to a non-profit agency will allow it to conduct political
advocacy without constraints.
(CP)
MORE:
'Registered in error'
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Funding misuse claims
LONDON - An investigation has begun into the
use of taxpayer-funded grants by the charity set up to lead David
Cameron's
Big Society initiative.
(Guardian UK)
MORE:
Misuse allegations
Investigation into grants from Big Lottery Fund
.pdf
|
Non-profit loses federal funding
WINNIPEG - The
Manitoba Association of Native Firefighters is in default of their
agreement and 'has not proven they can competently deliver the
services Manitoba First Nations deserve.'
(CBC)
Canadians want nonprofit transparency
.pdf
|
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Charity on strike
TORONTO - More than 500 workers in Toronto planned to launch a
strike to support wage and benefits demands.
WoodGreen Community Services
has 32 locations in the city employing childcare staff, housing
workers, ESL instructors and others.
(CTV)
PREVIOUS:
Charity
Intelligence: Woodgreen Community Services
|
Crowdfunding raises new questions
TORONTO - Within 24 hours of Elijah Marsh’s
distressing death, $120,000 had been given to an online fundraiser
launched by a stranger to pay for his funeral. Within days, thousands
of donors had pushed the total to more than $173,000.
(Toronto Star)
PREVIOUS:
Missing boy found dead
Boy dies
Death a reminder of unpredictability of children
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Blair's charity rich list
LONDON -
A
trawl of documents reveals how Tony Blair used donations from wealthy
friends - as well as the US taxpayer and the Swedish lottery - to
bankroll his charities.
(Telegraph UK)
MORE:
IMDB Middle
Eastern connections
Cherie
&
Tony Blair
|
Research charities
To help people choose, the BBB Wise
Giving Alliance, the national charity monitoring association, has
developed a set of 20 Standards for
Charity Accountability.
(CTV) PREVIOUS:
Less
trustful
World
of giving
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Profit for non-profit
ST JOSEPH
- When patients receive care at
Mosaic Life Care and don't or can't pay,
their bills often end up at
Northwest Financial Services.
And if those patients don't meet
Northwest's demands, their debts can make another, final stop: the
Buchanan County Courthouse.
(Epoch Times)
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Overhead fees
THUNDER BAY
- The inaugural Run or Dye, which took place last Saturday at Boulevard
Lake, raised $5,000 for the Children’s Centre Foundation. However, more
than 2,000 people signed up for the event and each paid at least $30,
which meant the organization received 12 times more than it gave to the
charity. (CBC)
|
|
|
Non-profit goes over the line
WASHINGTON - Greenpeace is warning
children the world over Santa Claus might not be bringing gifts to them
because of global warming. (CBS) COMMENT:
Bah!
Humbug
|
Audit handed to police
HALIFAX - NS's education minister says preliminary results of a
financial audit of the
Council on
African Canadian Education
have been referred to Halifax police.
(CP) |
|
|
Children's aid sued
TORONTO - A quarter of a century later,
Marinela Piedrahita managed to return to Canada, her birthplace, and is
now suing the
Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto
for negligence in removing her and her brother to Colombia and for
causing them hardship living in conflict and warfare in their parents’
homeland. (Toronto Star)
|
Charity questioned
ATLANTA - Though Jane
Fonda’s private foundation has nearly $800,000 in assets, the group has
not made a charitable contribution during the last 5 years for which
it has filed federal tax returns, an apparent violation of Internal
Revenue Service rules. (Smoking Gun) MORE:
Fonda hits back over claim
Jane Fonda
|
|
|
Protection appeal
LONDON, ON - The Ontario Court of Appeal left it open
for the cash-strapped
Children's Aid Society of London and Middlesex
to ask to appeal the $1.4M legal tab slapped against it after a mammoth trial
that ran for 154 days.
(QMI)
|
Security non-profit reviewed
OTTAWA - The
Commissionaires work force on federal
contracts must be 60% veterans - which can include former RCMP members
- but it also provides guards to the private sector, which has no such
requirement.
(Globe & Mail)
|
|
|
Charity runs out of money
TORONTO - For the
Canadian Centre for Diversity,
the end came around a board table. The directors of the
body formerly known as the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews,
created in 1947 to fight anti-Semitism, decided it was time to wind down
their programs in diversity education. (Globe & Mail) PREVIOUS:
Why Toronto is saying goodbye to galas
|
Inside the hidden world
WASHINGTON - A Washington Post analysis of
filings from 2008 to 2012 found that
American Legacy Foundation is one of
more than 1,000 nonprofit organizations that checked the box
indicating that they had discovered a “significant diversion” of
assets, disclosing losses attributed to theft, investment fraud,
embezzlement and other unauthorized uses of funds. (Washington
Post)
|
|
|
Leaked memo
TORONTO - Ontario
officials are in talks with the
Peel Children's Aid Society
after a leaked memo suggested staff not close ongoing files to inflate
the number of child protection cases during the month of March.
(Toronto Star) MORE:
Funding model set to change
|
Charity faces questions
A Newfoundland charity is facing
questions about its corporate governance and financial oversight as it
continues to take donations from the public 18 months after closing its
flagship horse sanctuary. (CBC)
|
|
|
Shake-up continues
GENEVA - The
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria said it had sacked its chief auditor after finding his
performance "unsatisfactory", in the latest in a series of leadership
changes at the Geneva-based organization. (Reuters)
|
Crackdown on charity pay
LONDON - Trustees of Britain’s hundreds
of thousands of charities are to be issued with new code of conduct
about setting appropriate levels of pay. (Telegraph UK) PREVIOUS:
Charity has been good to us
Disasters Emergency Committee
Charities defend salaries
NCVO
|
|
|
Criminal code stance
TORONTO - The Alcohol and
Gaming Commission of Ontario won’t allow the use of electronic devices
for charitable 50/50 draws held at Toronto Maple Leafs games and in
arenas across the province on the advice of the crown agency’s legal
counsel. (Toronto Star)
|
Charged
TORONTO - A City of Toronto accounting
services employee responsible for raising money for a United Way
campaign at city hall has been charged with pocketing “tens of
thousands” of donation dollars. (Toronto Star)
|
|
|
Worst
US charities
TAMPA BAY - Across the nation, hundreds
of charities take your donations in the name of cancer patients, dying
children and homeless veterans. But the real beneficiaries are the
charity founders themselves and the for-profit companies they pay to run
boiler rooms that dial for dollars. (Tampa Bay Times)
|
Government
funding
OTTAWA
- The government is providing $544,813 in funding for
Crossroads Christian Communications
- an Ontario-based evangelical group that produces television
programming - to help dig wells, build latrines and promote hygiene
awareness in Uganda through 2014. (CP) MORE:
Review
of funding Aid
group rejects allegations
Uganda Anti-Homosexuality
|
|
|
Bank accounts seized
VICTORIA - The
Land Conservancy of BC holds the title
to 300 properties worth an estimated $32M across the province The
charity's financial problems came to light 3 years ago, when it was
revealed it took out second mortgages for
operating costs and to finance more land
purchases. (CBC)
|
Charity status revoked
TORONTO - The Latitude Foundation is losing its
designation for not using its resources exclusively for charitable
activities. Toronto-based Universal Community Help is having its
status revoked for improper bookkeeping, the CRA said. (Toronto Star)
MORE:
Charity loses status
Entertainment One |
|
|
Audit recommended
HALIFAX - Nova Scotia's Ombudsman has
called for a forensic audit of the Cumberland Regional Development
Authority in a draft report, and for that audit to be handed over to
police. (CBC) MORE:
NS AG to probe crown corps |
Accountant
charged
VANCOUVER - An
accountant has been charged with embezzling more than $1M from a
Vancouver non-profit organization that promotes justice and democratic
principles. Janet Mercedes Bayda worked on a contract basis for 18
years for the
ICCLR. (CTV) |
|
|
Flood
money investigation
WINNIPEG - The agency in charge of
disbursing federal money to 2011 flood evacuees paid thousands of
dollars in overtime and mileage expenses - in some cases, to a senior
official or the children of senior officials. (CBC) |
Aid going to private companies
A new report by the European
Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad)
has examined around $30B of private sector investments in the world’s
poorest countries. (BIJ) REPORT:
Private profit for public good
.pdf
Somalia has not accounted for funds |
|
|
'Chuggers'
= charity muggers
LONDON - High street charity
fundraisers, known as "Chuggers", are facing questions over their use of
increasingly aggressive, intimidatory and potentially unlawful tactics. (Telegraph UK) |
5150 hold
SAN
DIEGO - One of the creators of the viral "Kony
2012" video campaign has been detained for allegedly vandalizing
cars and masturbating in public. (CTV) MORE:
Naked meltdown
|
|
|
Charity must be repaid
HELENA - 60 Minutes questioned the accuracy of some of
the most dramatic tales in Mortenson's book,
Three Cups of Tea
which has helped him raise millions for his charity and attain a
cult-like status on the lucrative lecture circuit. (CBC)
Greg
Mortenson CAI
Findings
of investigation
.pdf |
Watchdog loses charitable
status
TORONTO - A Toronto-based charity watchdog has lost its charitable
status after failing to file an annual financial report with the CRA.
Charity Intelligence, a foundation that
rates Canadian charities and provides advice on where to donate, blamed
the problem on “a series of unfortunate events” that led to an
administrative oversight. (Toronto Star) |
|
|
Cops called
in
TORONTO - One of
Ontario's big hospital charities has fired its CEO and called in the
police after forensic accountants turned up serious money and charity
management problems. (Toronto Star) PREVIOUS:
Boss hires own firm
|
Fraud fugitive
VAUGHAN - Doreen Tennina is a fugitive without a face.
It’s a face that authorities would rather we didn’t see, even though a
judge has asked them to step up efforts to find the Vaughan tax preparer
charged with masterminding a multi-million dollar fraud involving
charities. (Toronto Star) |
|
|
Charity
clothing bins
TORONTO - The business of collecting donated clothes,
selling them in local thrift stores and shipping them overseas has
become so lucrative it has created a cut-throat turf war in Ontario
(CBC) |
Charities' records 'falsified'
TORONTO -
The Canada Revenue Agency revoked the status of
Daniel Mokwe's charities,
Revival Time Ministries International
and Operation Save Canada's Teenagers. (CBC) MORE:
Charities have status revoked |
|
|
Canadians continue to give
The level of charitable giving in Canada remained steady
through the uneven economic recovery, with about 84% of the population
donating to a charity or non-profit organization. (Globe & Mail)
REPORT:
Caring Canadians 2010 |
Christian
charity probed
VANCOUVER -
Concerns that a Surrey sexual health centre mixed questionable science
about abortion with its advice to young women will be probed by a
national organization of pregnancy counselling services.
(CTV) MORE:
Schools suspend centre's
sex ed classes
Dangerous abortions 'on
the rise' |
|
|
Moment of
opportunity
Philanthropy in Canada
is in the midst of unprecedented upheaval. (Globe & Mail) MORE:
Special interest groups
Corporate giving coming with more strings attached
Globe life: giving
Rewriting rules
|
Phony cancer charity
NEW YORK - The Coalition
Against Breast Cancer (CABC) solicited $9.1M from the public over the
past 5 years. Almost all of it was spent on fundraiser fees, salaries
and benefits packages and personal purchases. (Fox) |
|
|
Foreign aid needs clarity
While a new report praises
Canada for its international aid program, it also says Canada should
boost its overall aid allotment and offer greater transparency in
schemes to match funds raised by registered charities for major crises.
The compliments and criticism came in a peer review paper released by
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
(Toronto Star) |
Audit encounters
resistance
19 of Canada’s 100 largest
charities do not release their full audited financial statements to the
public and refused to provide them to an independent agency that
evaluates charities. The website,
charityintelligence, breaks down
revenue, program costs and fundraising expenses in reports on each of
Canada’s 100 richest charities, measured by annual revenue. (Toronto
Star) MORE:
Charity goes from $0 to $60M in a year
|
|
|
Health aid
funding crisis
GENEVA - The global economic
crisis has claimed a new victim: a $22B health fund that has saved
millions of lives in low-income regions during the past
decade. Wealthy donors in Europe and elsewhere are drastically cutting
back on contributions to the
Global Fund. (Globe & Mail) MORE:
Global Fund halts funding |
New charity
MONCTON - Beverly Lumsden, who now goes
by Beverly Mitchell, is wanted on fraud charges in Alberta in connection
with the Canadian Progress Club and the Rotary Club. Moncton-area
police have not received any complaints about Mitchell or the charity
she founded in Riverview in May, called The Grasshopper Foundation.
(CBC) |
|
|
Charity boss hires own firm
The
Oshawa Hospital Foundation's
chief executive officer is using his own company to run fundraising
events for the foundation, including lotteries and gala concerts. Jim
Szeman, the supercharged, quick-talking boss of the foundation, said his
company
Uncommon Results
- registered in BC but doing work in Oshawa - provides great service for
the foundation he runs. (Toronto Star) |
Program loses funding
REGINA - The Kids First program was being administered by
the Regina Circle Project, but at the end of this month it is losing
over $400,000 in funding. Low income parents will still have access to
supports, just not at the Circle Project. The numbers show that the
program was receiving $442,000 a year, yet providing support for only 32
families. That works out to just under $14,000 per family. (CTV) |
|
|
Wholesale 'charitable
donations'
According to CRA, more than 65,000 Canadians had
been reassessed as of December 2008. As a matter of policy, CRA reviews
all donation arrangements where donors receive tax receipts in an amount
greater than the amount actually paid.(QMI) PREVIOUS:
Giving
|
Charity abuse
The CRA documents reveal that the charity, Canadian Ptach Society Inc.,
was "endeavouring to make peoples’ illnesses fit the criteria” of a
special tax credit intended for disabled Canadians with taxable income.
DOCUMENT:
National Benefit Authority |
|
|
Aid suspended
LUSAKA -
More than $300M of health funding to
Zambia
is being suspended by the
Global Fund
to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It said it was
concerned about alleged corruption in connection with one or more grants
to the health ministry. (BBC) MORE:
Zambia dismisses fears of health crisis
|
Missing money
CHARLOTTETOWN -
A 38-year-old Charlottetown woman faces four charges in
connection with money missing from two non-profit groups - the PEI
Federation of Agriculture and the PEI Agriculture Sector Council.
(CBC) |
|
|
High cost of sports charities
More
than half the money raised in the name of charity by Maple Leaf Sports
and Entertainment was spent on fundraising and administration last year.
And the story is much the same at many professional sports foundations
across Canada. (Toronto Star) MORE:
High costs trip up sports charities |
Legal Aid fraud
WASHINGTON - When the poor need legal services but cannot afford them,
they turn to Legal Services Corp. (LSC),
a federally funded program that provides the poor with legal services
(AP) REPORT:
Federal Legal Aid vulnerable to fraud |
|
|
Charity closed
TORONTO -
A bogus AIDS charity that claimed it was curing disease in Africa with
more than $200M in life-saving drugs has been shut down by the CRA. The Orion Foundation, whose boss had a sideline
business involving high class escort agencies, was operated for the
“private gain” of the boss and fellow directors, a federal audit
concluded. (Toronto Star) |
Non-profit is sorry
VICTORIA - An
environmental group that released half a dozen chickens in MLA
Ida Chong's constituency office earlier this
week has apologized for its actions. Will Horter, executive director of
Victoria-based
Dogwood Initiative, says his group didn't
technically hatch the plan, but the activists who carried it out are
associated with Dogwood. (CTV) |
|
|
Boys & Girls have been good for us
WASHINGTON - A group of Republican senators is
questioning high salaries and expensive travel bills for executives at
the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA),
raising issues that could jeopardize millions in federal funding for the
national charity. The four senators said they were concerned that the
chief executive
of a charity that has been closing local clubs for lack of funding was
compensated nearly $1M in 2008. (AP) |
Appointed pension board members flee
LOS ANGELES - The president of Los Angeles'
largest employee retirement system has resigned, becoming the 6th
pension appointee to quit over the last six months. Eric Holoman
stepped down last week from the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement
System board
after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law placing new limits on
private financial work performed by publicly appointed pension board
members. (LA Times) |
|
|
Charity
stripped of licence
TORONTO - A Canadian charity
has lost its licence after auditors found most
of the $184M it recorded during one year as charitable donations had
gone offshore to a Bermuda company. (Toronto Star) MORE:
CRA revokes status of 2 charities |
Insider theft a big problem
While people worry about fraud or wasteful spending at big charities,
abuse often occurs much closer to home - at the trusted local PTA or
soccer club. (MSNBC) REPORT:
An investigation of fraud in non-profit organizations
.pdf |
|
|
Non-profit has been good for us
LOS ANGELES -
Theirs
is a classic tale of entrepreneurial success - except
their wealth comes from running a non-profit that is sustained by
taxpayer dollars. Federal law says that executive pay must be
"reasonable" - a vague standard that regulators and watchdogs say
essentially allows nonprofits to set their own limits. (LA Times) |
Ottawa
targets rogue charities
OTTAWA -
Charities that use the bulk of their donations on high-priced
fundraisers, or lie to donors to get money, face tough new rules making
it easier for the government to suspend or revoke their charitable
status. MORE:
Recession hurting charities across Canada |
|
|
SickKids send off
TORONTO - The
SickKids Foundation gave former
president Michael O'Mahoney a $2.7M golden parachute when they showed
him the door early this year, documents reveal. . (Toronto Star)
MORE:
SickKids loses top-paid fundraisers
|
Charity fundraising
CALGARY - The battle over Parkinson's disease
is more than a race to find a cure: it is also a jurisdictional spat
that has pitted Parkinson Canada against Parkinson Alberta over
revenue sharing and a possible trademark infringement.
(Globe & Mail)
|
|
|
Pink
ribbon overkill
Walk into
almost any store this month, and you'll be hit with a wash of pink
products - pink clogs, pink vegetable peelers, pink cleaning products,
even pink food - sold in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
MORE: Think before you pink
Buying pink
Pink ribbon
Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation
Shop for the Cure
|
Non-profit lobbying
group political force
WASHINGTON - The US Chamber of Commerce (USCC)
is building a large-scale grass-roots political operation that has begun
to rival those of the major political parties, funded by record-setting
amounts of money raised from corporations and wealthy individuals.
(LA Times) |
|
|
Student loan charity under fire
WASHINGTON - For 20
years,
Catherine Reynolds
has guided the non-profit student loan charity Educap as it's lent
billions of dollars to hundreds of thousands of college students. (CBS) |
Loan charity's high-flying guests
exposed
Who is Catherine Reynolds?
|
|
|
Kids' charity has licence yanked
TORONTO - The Children's Emergency Foundation
was exposed by the
Toronto Star
in 2007 as one of
six health charities that raised tens of millions of dollars in Canada
but spent 70% of the money on telemarketers and other expenses.
(Toronto Star) PREVIOUS:
Charitable empire has high costs |
No
church cash in alleged scheme
TORONTO - The Canadian
ministry behind
100 Huntley Street said that church
money was not misappropriated by two of the TV show's hosts who have
been suspended over alleged links to a $14.1M Ponzi scheme. (CP)
|
|
|
Aid for
Swat refugees
MARDAN -
A banned jihadi charity accused of links to November's
Mumbai attacks has resurfaced
in north-western Pakistan, where it is running an extensive aid
programme for people fleeing
fighting in Swat.
(Guardian UK) MORE:
Displacement camps: a study in contrasts |
Sex and charity
TORONTO - Want to have sex with a high-priced call
girl without your wife or boss knowing? Or, how about actually
earning money by making charitable donations? James Arion, formerly
James Aryan, formerly Eleftherios "Terry"
Kambouris, is your man. (Toronto Star) |
|
|
High-flying charity grounded
NANAIMO - The
employees of a charity that said it was sending boatloads of medical
supplies and other aid overseas have been caught using donations to fly
between their summer home on a BC island and their winter getaway in
Nice, France. The audit of the
Universal Aide Society also slammed the
charity's relief shipment brokering scheme and it named other charities
that participated but are still operating. (Toronto Star) |
Charity stripped of its status
OTTAWA - A
charity has been stripped of its status after issuing more than $169
million in income tax receipts, but paying out just $2,200 to a
qualified cause. The Canada Revenue Agency stripped The Millennium
Charitable Foundation of its charitable status, saying the group was
operating for the private benefit of tax shelter promoters.
PREVIOUS:
Charity suspension
|
|
|
Next chapter in battle of the non-profits
TORONTO - A
prominent animal cruelty investigator with the Toronto Humane
Society was arrested and paraded out in handcuffs before the media, and
another
OSCPA agent was fired from his job
and arrested for allegedly tipping off the THS that they'd be
targeted for investigation. |
'Bad blood' between non-profits
THS warned by province
OSPCA probe into THS
THS closed indefinitely
THS workers speak of threats |
|
|
Fraud charges
WATERLOO - Waterloo Regional Police and the RCMP say
Imagine Adoption agency founder Susan Hayhow and general manager Rick
Hayhow were arrested. (CP) |
2 charged with fraud
Adoption
agency's bankruptcy
|
|
|
Corruption has doubled
KABUL -
Corruption in Afghanistan has doubled in the 2 years
since 2007, according to a survey by anti-corruption charity Integrity
Watch. Afghans paid nearly $1B in bribes in 2009, with almost a third
of those surveyed saying they had had to pay a bribe to obtain a public
service. More than half said state corruption was fuelling the
Taliban's growth. (BBC)
|
$1B in bribes for public services
Aid not getting to Afghans
Integrity Watch Afghanistan
|
|
|
Fund's charitable status revoked
TORONTO - Just $1 out
of every $100 donated to the Choson Kallah Fund of Toronto in certain
years went to relieve poverty, an audit by the federal charity regulator
concluded. (Toronto Star) RELATED:
Fewer, but larger, donations in 2007:
StatsCan
|
Tsunami funds diverted to tourism
KERALA
- According to a report by the London-based
Tourism Concern,
the Kerala state government has allocated almost £10 million of the
central government’s Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme money to the state
tourism board, Kerala Tourism. (Telegraph UK) |
|
|
Orphans' Fund sale harpooned by red tape
VANCOUVER - CKNW
planned to hold its annual Orphans' Fund herring sale in New Westminster
on Sunday. But last week Department of Fisheries and Oceans officials
canned the event because of a 2006 ruling in the federal Court of
Appeal. MORE:
Noah's Ark
Retold: 2007 Canadian version |
Nonprofit spends $0 on its charitable purpose
LOS ANGELES - The
charity, launched by a scandal-ridden
Los Angeles chapter
of the
Service Employees
International Union,
had total expenses of about $165,000 for 2005 and 2006, and all of the
money went to consulting fees, insurance costs and other overhead,
according to its Internal Revenue Service filings.
(Los Angeles Times) |
|
|
Charity's license revoked
The International
Charity Association Network
embellished the amount of donations it received over a three-year period
as well as the amount of good work it did in the community, says the
federal charity regulator. (Toronto Star) |
Job training: taxpayers taken for a ride
VICTORIA -
At least one company that helps people on welfare find
jobs was billing the government for services it never provided, billed
more than once when it did provide services and charged an
administration fee of as much as $18 to distribute a $6.40 bus ticket.
(Tyee) |
|
|
Charitable foundations
NEW YORK - US president-elect Donald Trump said he will dissolve his
charitable foundation (Donald
J Trump Foundation), amid efforts to eliminate any conflicts of
interest before he takes office next month. More than half the
people outside the government who met with Clinton while she was
secretary of state gave money - either personally or through
companies or groups - to the Clinton Foundation.
Former official shot
FAES
Petrocaribe
Clinton Foundation witness dead
Can't
dissolve foundation
Illegal fundraiser fearing for his life
Clinton fundraising group gets fine for Gala |
Bill Clinton
Hillary
Clinton
Foundation tax filings
Clinton
Foundation
Clinton Foundation 2014
.pdf
Clinton Foundation 2013
.pdf
FBI investigating donations
Charity overhead
Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership
Fundraising
208,000
contributors on 2,922 pages
Clinton record
Clinton money
Clinton raises more than $8B
UNITAID
Vetting Bill Clinton
Clinton undermined Saudi bombing probe
|
|
|
Charities being held to account
TORONTO - A
total of 120 charities have signed a new code of ethics that promises
donors honesty and more bang for their buck. "These charities are
aspiring to be the best in the way they conduct fundraising. They want
to be ethical and they want to be known to be ethical," said Georgina
Steinsky-Schwartz, president of
Imagine Canada.
(Toronto Star) PREVIOUS:
Watchdog sets charity rules
List of 'ethical' charities
Learning from Madoff |
3
years
WINNIPEG - The former
head of a Manitoba addictions treatment centre was sentenced to three
years in prison for an elaborate fraud scheme that robbed the federal
government of several million dollars. Perry Fontaine was also ordered
to pay a restitution order of $2.36M, which is the amount he personally
received through the scam. MORE:
Virginia Fontaine Memorial Treatment Centre Controversy
|
|
|
Fundraiser dogged by controversy
TORONTO - Red
Fridays
Foundation is a registered business
founded by Brian Muntz, but it accepts - and, indeed, solicits -
donations. Muntz has not applied to the Canada Revenue Agency to be a
registered charity, but says he intends to. (Toronto Star)
|
BBC sorry for keeping charity cash
LONDON -
The BBC today apologized for
keeping £106,000 made from premium-rate phone calls on about two dozen
shows that should have been given to charity. The issue involved the
BBC Worldwide subsidiary
Audiocall,
which provides premium-rate phone lines to many BBC shows. (Guardian
UK) |
|
|
Hard to see which programs help
Ottawa and Ontario
have implemented myriad programs from language training to mentoring to
help newcomers integrate into the Canadian labour market, but are they
working? (Toronto Star) |
ICAN
suspended
TORONTO - The federal
charity regulator has taken the rare step of suspending a Toronto
charity that claims to have given $244M in aid to the poor - but
hasn't provided the proof to back that up. (Toronto Star) |
|
|
Sikh Temple terror links alleged
VANCOUVER - More than
5 years after a Surrey Sikh temple was denied charitable status for
alleged terrorist links, it is still raising funds, holding weekly
prayer services and hosting community events. The groups running the temple are both registered non-profit societies in BC, despite a
secret Canada Revenue Agency report that said they "may be functioning
as part of a support network" for the terrorist International Sikh Youth
Federation. PREVIOUS:
Sikh
Terrorists |
Charitable empire has
high costs
The pleas for cash are
delivered by charities whose names alone could soften even the most
callous into making a donation.
Cancer Recovery Foundation.
Childhood Asthma Foundation. Children's Emergency Foundation.
Starting from addresses around Toronto and now from his new,
three-storey lakefront house in Muskoka, 57-year-old fundraising
consultant
Craig Copland has
helped create an empire of health charities that has taken tens of
millions of dollars from Canadians. (Toronto Star) |
|
|
Charity status revoked
OTTAWA - The
North American Missing Children's
Association, a national
organization that solicits donations door to door, has had its
registered charity status revoked after an investigation by the Citizen
into the group's finances. |
United Way chair fined for Livent misconduct
TORONTO - The head of
the United Way in Canada and two other auditors face fines and legal
costs totalling $1.55M for professional misconduct in the Livent
Inc. accounting scandal. (Toronto Star) |
|
|
UN turns
blind eye to aid fraud
UN - Tsunami
reconstruction funds worth $500 million (US) are being lost to fraud and
corruption because of the failure by the UN to implement its
own anti-fraud measures. (SMH) |
$1.4B tax scams nail
donors
Canada's coffers have
been cheated of more than $1.4 billion by scams that provided taxpayers
with inflated charitable receipts they used to reduce their income tax. (Toronto Star) |
|
|
Few
Canadian charities audited
OTTAWA -
Fewer than 1% of charities are audited in
Canada, despite a post-9/11 crackdown on terrorist financing, the Air
India inquiry heard Thursday. University of Toronto law professor
David Duff testified that the Canada Revenue Agency was auditing more
charities in the mid-1990s when concerns arose because the terrorist
Babbar Khalsa had been given tax-exempt status.
|
Money sleuths kept in dark
Tracking the funding of terror
Air India Flight 182
Aid not reaching Afghan hospital
|
|
|
Funding scandal claims minister
TORONTO A scandal over $32 million in
grants to multicultural groups has cost Ontario Immigration and
Citizenship Minister
Michael Colle
his job and jolted Premier
Dalton McGuinty’s
government. (Toronto Star)
Colle resigns over auditor's report
Six arrests in kickback probe
The million dollar surprise
|
Charity's ploy' horrifying'
Colle aide's group tied to
'slush funds'
Daycare parents triumph
Website exposes dodgy daycares
Dirty little secrets: abuse in daycare
Childcare troubles: documents
Mega church launches an audit
Toronto man faces charges in charity
scam
Charity won't tap war chest
Heart-stroke
charity builds war chest
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Guilty until proven innocent
VICTORIA - BC drivers who have their
licences suspended under new drunk-driving prohibitions can't return
to the road while they appeal their penalties. Even if an appeal is
successful through the 21-day process - say, because a blood-alcohol
reader malfunctioned or the police officer made a mistake - the
driver would have lost his or her licence for that time, with no way
to reverse the penalty.
Toughest rules in Canada
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Blood alcohol content
When failure to police yourself is a crime
MADD
Canada
MADD disputes donations
charge
MADD
suspends fundraising
MADD's outspoken founder
punished
MADD's costs' anger charity's
volunteers
MADD rejects 'disgruntled'
critics
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Poverty
porn
MISSISSAUGA - For
30 minutes, a World Vision Canada TV program shifts between
destitute children - their wide eyes glassy, their faces and hair
dirty and matted - as host
Fred Penner
coaxes viewers to reach for their wallets.
(Toronto Star)
World Vision
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Charities admit fundraising mess
Great
charities can be found
Why do we fund NGOs?
Charitable sector needs policing
US donations to Africa outstrip Europe
Nigeria to get $18B debt relief
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Charity Navigator: World Vision rating
Charity tax dodge
entangles parish
25,000 per day die of hunger
Charities sue OPM over
exclusion
Tsunami aid 'went to the
richest'
International
Monetary Fund
African
Development Fund
UN agrees to cap spending
Corruption's take: $148
Billion
$425M for tsunami
victims never arrived
The tsunami of rip-offs
Tsunami millions
unspent
Following
the Katrina money trail
Canadian OXFAM cited for rank
hypocrisy
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Africa's economy
Managing Compassion
Mark Steyn: Action stations
EU reveals increase in aid
fraud
G8 reaches deal for world's
poor
Aid groups wearing out
welcome
Charity's bingo licence on ice
For small donors, charity a matter of
trust
Federal fund gives millions to charity tax
cheats
Asian Tsunami:
Where's the Canadian Aid?
Charities exert political
influence
Charities not always what they
portray
Congress probes tax-exempt group
actions
Some officers steer assets to
selves
Foundations' tax returns left
unchecked
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Non-profit political activity
WASHINGTON - President Trump signed an executive order aimed at making
it easier for churches to participate in politics.
The order, Trump said, removes the financial threat faced by
tax-exempt churches from the IRS when pastors speak out on behalf of
political candidates. The
provision is written in the tax code and would require an act of
Congress to repeal fully.
(Washington Post)
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Johnson Amendment
As mistrust grows, loyalty goes
National Center for Charitable Statistics
Outcome
indicators project
Studies fault charities for veterans
American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP)
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Non-profit assets seized
TORONTO - A pair of Canadian non-profit organizations the RCMP says
raised millions of dollars for Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers rebels have been
ordered to forfeit all their belongings to the federal government.
Assets from the World Tamil Movement
World Tamil Movement
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Status revoked
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Tamil Tigers
Canada brands Tamil group as terrorist front
Canada
seizes Tamil-owned buildings
Outlawed group fights back
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How Sharpton gets paid
NEW YORK - Want to influence a casino bid?
Polish your corporate image? Not be labeled a racist?
Then you need to pay Al Sharpton.
(NY Post)
Prescription found during probe
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Al Sharpton
National Action Network
Rev. Al soaks
up boycott bucks
Videotape shows Sharpton
Subpoenas for Al Sharpton's aides
Rev. under at-tax |
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Ask your non-profit
organization if they spend more than 20% of their income on their
own care and feeding. If yes then they are a business and not
a non-profit no matter what the Canadian laws and the volunteers
assume is taking place. – Chris |
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NGO monitor |
List of some non-profits in Canada |
Capital Research
Center
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US Charity
Navigator |
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