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"AGO, ROM, OCAD ask Gov't to Make More Donations Tax Exempt"

4 Comments -

1 – 4 of 4
Blogger Gabby said...

This is an interesting development that's been a long time coming, in my mind. It's something we talked about a lot in a class I took in Arts and Media Management at Schulich last year. I often think it's weird that contributing to a Canadian film or television production gets one major tax credits, but donations to galleries, museums and non-profit arts organizations does not.

Oh, and as for limiting spending the charity's resources on fundraising or social events, I think there are a lot of ways around that. Endowment funds, for instance, are totally separate from charitable donations (as far I remember). Also, many charities establish separate foundations, which operate under a different set of laws than the charity, which can administer their funds to things like fund raising parties or building renovations. There's some complicated legal distinction between charities and foundations that I don't totally remember, but can dig up.

January 13, 2009 at 11:33 AM

Blogger Leah Sandals said...

Hmmmm. Thanks for the info Gabby. I knew there must be some accounting means of getting around the fundraising regulations but I didn't previously know they existed.

I think donations to "charities" of any kind do get tax receipts, don't they? I always thought of those as tax credits. Though what the museums here are asking for is that they not have to pay taxes on donations of shares... a bit of a different thing.

I agree this must have been a long time coming and these institutions simply gauged, given the economy and the coming budget, that it could be a good time to press for saving taxes on their part.

January 13, 2009 at 6:03 PM

Blogger Gabby said...

Sorry, I should have been clearer: donations to charities to get tax receipts, but they're not as good or as large as the tax credits that people donating to film/television get. Charity donations max out at a certain level, whereas donations to film/television entirely pay for themselves, in any amount (this is all a little hazy and might not be entirely right, but I know they're not equal and that arts organizations have been complaining about it for a while now).

January 14, 2009 at 9:18 AM

Blogger Leah Sandals said...

Huh, interesting... I never caught the film-museum differences before. So unfair... movie people are more famous and glamourous than museum workers and art profs... and get more tax credits to boot!

I await justice.

January 14, 2009 at 9:49 PM

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