Charity Intelligence released the Top 10 Impact Charities for 2021. These charities are making the greatest impact on Canadians they work with.

The 2021 Top 10 Impact Charities include charities providing social services in Canada as well as international programs. Many of these charities bring clean water and education to developing countries and produce high impact per dollar. Six of this year’s Top 10 Impact Charities work overseas in developing countries.

Here is the list

Charity                                                 Location                           Sector
Against Malaria Foundation Canada    Montreal, QC                     International – Health
Canadian Foodgrains Bank                  Winnipeg, MB                    International – Food Bank
The Citizens’ Foundation                      Oakville, ON                      International – Education
East York Learning Experience             Toronto, ON                      Education
Effect Hope                                           Markham, ON                   International – Health
Fresh Start Recovery                            Calgary, AB                       Addiction Recovery
Indspire                                                 Ohsweken, ON                 First Nations – Education
JUMP Math                                           Toronto, ON                      National – Education
Lifewater Canada                                 Thunder Bay, ON              International – Water
Operation Eyesight Universal              Calgary, AB                        International – Health

Click here to read Charity Intelligence report https://www.charityintelligence.ca/charity-profiles/top-10-impact-charities

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An interesting article by Rivan V. Stinson on October 28, 2021 in the Kiplinger.

When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act nearly doubled the standard deduction starting with the 2018 tax year, charities and tax experts expected donations to drop. Nearly one-third of taxpayers itemized deductions—including charitable giving—before the tax law overhaul, and the number of itemizers fell to 11% in 2018. Because charitable givers would no longer have the same tax-deduction incentive, the thinking went, charitable giving would suffer.

Indeed, giving by individual donors dipped 4.2% in 2018 from the previous year, according to Giving USA Foundation and the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. But in 2019, donations bounced back 4.7%. And charitable giving kept rising dramatically as Americans responded to the pandemic and a variety of natural disasters. In a recent Fidelity Charitable study, 27% of donors said they gave more in 2020 than the year before.

The pandemic also changed how some people give. Individual donors, corporations and family foundations gifted more money to general need funds or to a charity’s general operating fund instead of writing a check for a specific project. Some projects—such as after-school programs—were on hiatus due to local shutdowns, and donors became more concerned about addressing pressing needs, particularly food and housing.

Click here to continue reading the article.

_{Legal Notice: Opinions in this blog post do not reflect the opinion or endorsement of Charity Exchange or its affiliates. The opinions in this post should not be used as legal or financial advice for any financial decision. The advice or opinions shared in this blog post are solely those of the author and are not the opinion of Charity Exchange or its affiliates. For legal or financial advice, always consult with your financial advisor or legal council.}

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The “disbursement quota” for charities is under review by the CRA. The “disbursement quota” rule, contained in the Income Tax Act, has been applied since 1976 to the assets of charities not used for charitable activities or administration, which are most often endowments. It requires charities to spend a minimum amount each year on their own charitable programs or on gifts to qualified recipients.

The purpose of the quota is to prevent undue accumulation of these assets and to ensure that assets are disbursed for charitable purposes and activities. The current quota applies mostly to charities that are foundations, which follow a model of annual distribution of grants to other charities, in amounts ranging from the mandated minimum 3.5 per cent of capital assets set by the disbursement quota to four per cent or more, depending on a foundation’s approach. The current minimum was set in 2004 and has not been reviewed publicly since then. Most foundations, both private and public, have met or exceeded the minimum and the flow of charitable giving has steadily increased over the last 15 years as more donors create foundations or donor-advised funds.

Finance Canada stated, in a background paper released this summer, that an “effective disbursement quota should also ensure that adequate funding is available to support the current needs of the charitable sector”.

_{Legal Notice: Opinions in this blog post do not reflect the opinion or endorsement of Charity Exchange or its affiliates. The opinions in this post should not be used as legal or financial advice for any financial decision. The advice or opinions shared in this blog post are solely those of the author and are not the opinion of Charity Exchange or its affiliates. For legal or financial advice, always consult with your financial advisor or legal council.}

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