Canadian charities don’t like to admit to political activity… directly….
It seems to be the kiss of death! When you look through open data on the T3010 charity tax return (Canada’s Form 990, for you US charity nerds) there are zero Canadian charities that will even admit to receiving money from outside of Canada for political purposes. Fat chance! So instead, I decided to go through the documentation on charity categories and flag those categories that were political. My categorization is below (feel free to scroll right past!):
| Category Code | Sub-Code | Sub-Category – English | Pol? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | Pro-bono legal services | 1 |
| 1 | 15 | Refugee (support and settlement assistance) | 1 |
| 110 | 3 | Family planning / birth control / pregnancy crisis counseling | 1 |
| 160 | 8 | Immigrant services (jobs / language / etc.) | 1 |
| 160 | 9 | Legal assistance and services (mediation) | 1 |
| 160 | 11 | Missing children organization | 1 |
| 160 | 12 | Rape / sexual assault / abuse support | 1 |
| 160 | 13 | Rehabilitation of offenders | 1 |
| 170 | 1 | Conservation of nature / habitat group / ecosystem preservation etc. | 1 |
| 170 | 3 | Environmental development solutions and technologies | 1 |
| 170 | 2 | Pollution Reduction | 1 |
| 170 | 4 | Upholding environmental law | 1 |
| 180 | 3 | Wildlife protection organization | 1 |
| 1 | 2 | Humanitarian assistance (outside of Canada) | |
| 1 | 1 | Facilitator organization supporting, improving, and enhancing the work of groups involved in the relief of poverty | |
| 1 | 3 | Medical services not otherwise covered by basic health care (dental / optometry / counselling) | |
| 1 | 4 | Operating a food bank | |
| 1 | 5 | Operating a micro-lending program | |
| 1 | 6 | Operating a shelter | |
| 1 | 7 | Orphanage | |
| 1 | 99 | Other | |
| 1 | 12 | Providing household items (furniture / appliances) | |
| 1 | 9 | Providing low-cost housing | |
| 1 | 13 | Providing material assistance (clothing / computers / equipment) | |
| 1 | 10 | Providing meals (including breakfast programs) | |
| 1 | 11 | Providing medical equipment and supplies | |
| 1 | 14 | Providing work related clothing / career development tools / work integration (resume writing / interview tips) | |
| 2 | 1 | Foundations for specified poverty charities | |
| 2 | 2 | Foundations funding poverty QDs in general | |
| 10 | 10 | Catholic district / separate school board (all grades) | |
| 10 | 14 | College (includes religious) | |
| 10 | 16 | Educational camps | |
| 10 | 4 | Independent elementary schools (includes religious) | |
| 10 | 6 | Independent middle school (including religious) | |
| 10 | 8 | Independent secondary school (including religious) | |
| 10 | 2 | Kindergarten | |
| 10 | 99 | Other | |
| 10 | 1 | Preschool (early-childhood education / junior kindergarten) | |
| 10 | 9 | Public district board (all grades) | |
| 10 | 3 | Public elementary school | |
| 10 | 5 | Public middle school | |
| 10 | 7 | Public secondary school | |
| 10 | 11 | School association / board / district | |
| 10 | 12 | Schools for students with intellectual disabilities (physical / communicative / mental or social learning difficulties) | |
| 10 | 15 | University (includes religious) | |
| 10 | 13 | Vocational / technical school | |
| 11 | 6 | Construction of schools / Renovations / building supplies | |
| 11 | 7 | Educational aids / school supplies | |
| 11 | 9 | Facilitator organization supporting and enhancing the work of groups involved in the advancement of education | |
| 11 | 8 | Fund for specific college / university / school | |
| 11 | 5 | Literacy groups | |
| 11 | 4 | Literary / debating society | |
| 11 | 99 | Other | |
| 11 | 3 | Scholarships / bursaries / awards (scholastic achievement) | |
| 11 | 1 | School councils (parent-teacher associations) | |
| 11 | 2 | Tutoring programs or services | |
| 12 | 1 | Art school (painting / sculpture / drawing / forms of visual arts) | |
| 12 | 2 | Music conservatory / school / society | |
| 12 | 99 | Other | |
| 12 | 4 | Scholarships / bursaries / awards (studying performance arts) | |
| 12 | 3 | Theatre / film / drama school / society / company | |
| 13 | 1 | Cadets | |
| 13 | 2 | Guides | |
| 13 | 99 | Other | |
| 13 | 3 | Scouts | |
| 14 | 2 | Environmental research (ecosystem / conservation / wildlife) | |
| 14 | 1 | Medical research (health sciences / disease) | |
| 14 | 99 | Other | |
| 14 | 4 | Public policy research institutes economic / social policy | |
| 14 | 5 | Scholarships / bursaries / awards (for conducting research) | |
| 14 | 6 | Sciences / physics / chemistry | |
| 14 | 3 | Social sciences / humanities research (politics / law / linguistics / economics / psychology) | |
| 15 | 1 | Foundations for specified educational charities | |
| 15 | 2 | Foundations funding educational QDs in general | |
| 30 | 1 | Adventist | |
| 30 | 2 | Anglican | |
| 30 | 3 | Apostolic | |
| 30 | 4 | Baptist | |
| 30 | 5 | Catholic | |
| 30 | 6 | Church of Christ | |
| 30 | 7 | Gospel | |
| 30 | 8 | Jehovah’s Witnesses | |
| 30 | 9 | Mennonite / Brethren / Hutterite | |
| 30 | 10 | Orthodox | |
| 30 | 99 | Other | |
| 30 | 11 | Pentecostal | |
| 30 | 12 | Presbyterian | |
| 30 | 13 | Protestant | |
| 30 | 14 | Salvation Army Temples | |
| 30 | 15 | United | |
| 40 | 1 | Ahmadi | |
| 40 | 2 | Alevi | |
| 40 | 3 | Ismaili | |
| 40 | 99 | Other | |
| 40 | 4 | Salafi / Wahhabi | |
| 40 | 5 | Shia | |
| 40 | 6 | Sufi | |
| 40 | 7 | Sunni | |
| 50 | 1 | Conservative | |
| 50 | 2 | Kabbalah | |
| 50 | 3 | Orthodox | |
| 50 | 99 | Other | |
| 50 | 4 | Reform | |
| 60 | 1 | Baha’i | |
| 60 | 2 | Buddhism | |
| 60 | 3 | Hinduism | |
| 60 | 4 | Jainism | |
| 60 | 99 | Other | |
| 60 | 5 | Sikhism | |
| 60 | 6 | Zoroastrianism | |
| 70 | 1 | Cemeteries (religious) | |
| 70 | 2 | Convents and Monasteries | |
| 70 | 3 | Counselling (faith based) | |
| 70 | 4 | Crusade – one-time event | |
| 70 | 18 | Facilitator organization supporting and enhancing the work of groups involved in the advancement of religion | |
| 70 | 6 | Fund / endowment for specific faith based organization | |
| 70 | 8 | Language translation – enable the reading of sacred text | |
| 70 | 9 | Library – spiritual and educational resources | |
| 70 | 5 | Mission / Missionary organization | |
| 70 | 7 | Music – ministries / religious festivals | |
| 70 | 99 | Other | |
| 70 | 10 | Pastoral care – hospice / hospital / prison | |
| 70 | 11 | Pilgrimages | |
| 70 | 12 | Prayer fellowships / ministries / circles | |
| 70 | 13 | Providing and maintaining facilities / title-holding entities | |
| 70 | 14 | Religious education classes (bible study) | |
| 70 | 15 | Retirement / nursing / rehabilitation etc. | |
| 70 | 16 | Retreats – marriage encounter / spiritual / youth | |
| 70 | 17 | Scholarships / bursaries / awards (religious courses) | |
| 70 | 19 | Youth ministries / camps | |
| 80 | 1 | Supporting/enhancing the work of religious groups / Collaborating with other denominations / Discussing theological topics | |
| 90 | 1 | Foundations for specified religious charities | |
| 90 | 2 | Foundations funding religious QDs in general | |
| 100 | 1 | Addiction recovery programs and centres | |
| 100 | 2 | Community health centre / medical clinic | |
| 100 | 4 | Counselling or support group programs | |
| 100 | 3 | Dental Clinic | |
| 100 | 5 | First aid services | |
| 100 | 7 | Hospice | |
| 100 | 6 | Hospitals (diagnosing and treating health conditions) | |
| 100 | 99 | Other | |
| 100 | 12 | Providing physical, occupational, speech or massage therapy | |
| 100 | 8 | Providing home health care | |
| 100 | 9 | Providing palliative care service | |
| 100 | 10 | Providing preventative care | |
| 100 | 11 | Providing psychological counselling | |
| 100 | 13 | Rehabilitation programs and centres | |
| 100 | 14 | Treatment / preventative care for specific disease / health condition | |
| 110 | 2 | Accommodation for hospital patients’ visit | |
| 110 | 1 | Accompanying individuals to medical appointment / translate / interpret | |
| 110 | 9 | Health / medical conference / seminars | |
| 110 | 5 | Health Boards – established by province | |
| 110 | 8 | Health Councils – established by province | |
| 110 | 7 | Health counselling and group support programs | |
| 110 | 10 | Hospital auxiliaries | |
| 110 | 6 | Independent living skills (peer support / referrals) | |
| 110 | 99 | Other | |
| 110 | 4 | pregnancy crisis counseling | |
| 110 | 11 | Providing comfort items (cope with hospitalization / health condition) | |
| 110 | 12 | Respite for caregivers of persons with serious health conditions | |
| 110 | 14 | Services for adults and children with developmental disabilities | |
| 110 | 13 | Services that facilitate the delivery of health care | |
| 110 | 15 | Transportation to medical appointments | |
| 110 | 16 | Voluntary Association for specific hospital / home | |
| 120 | 1 | Ambulance or paramedic services | |
| 120 | 2 | Disaster relief | |
| 120 | 99 | Other | |
| 120 | 4 | Regulating / governing health care service providers and standards | |
| 120 | 5 | Safety council / society | |
| 120 | 6 | Search and rescue / lifesaving services | |
| 120 | 3 | Voluntary Fire-fighting services | |
| 130 | 1 | Drugs (radiopharmaceutical / biologics / medicines / vaccines) | |
| 130 | 2 | Medical equipment / supplies (for use inside or outside Canada) | |
| 130 | 99 | Other | |
| 130 | 3 | Providing natural health products | |
| 140 | 1 | Alternative medical services / products (dietary / herbal supplements) | |
| 140 | 2 | Energy-based systems (spiritual healing) | |
| 140 | 3 | Manipulative body-based therapy (osteopathy / massage therapy) | |
| 140 | 4 | Mind-body techniques (meditation / acupuncture) | |
| 140 | 99 | Other | |
| 140 | 7 | Providing physical fitness and wellness facilities / programs | |
| 140 | 5 | Therapeutic programs for persons with disabilities | |
| 140 | 6 | Traditional programs / whole medicine (Chinese / Ayurvedic) | |
| 150 | 1 | Adapting residential accommodation | |
| 150 | 2 | Home support/services (personal care / meals / housekeeping / shopping assistance / laundry / home repair) | |
| 150 | 3 | Nursing home / senior’s home with care | |
| 150 | 99 | Other | |
| 150 | 4 | Relieving isolation (companionship / accompaniment to social outings) | |
| 150 | 5 | Seniors’ outreach programs (housekeeping / tax preparation, etc.) | |
| 150 | 6 | Support services to victims of elder abuse / counselling | |
| 150 | 7 | Transportation for seniors | |
| 160 | 1 | Aboriginal programs and services (includes friendship centres) | |
| 160 | 2 | Battered women’s centre | |
| 160 | 4 | Community land trust | |
| 160 | 3 | Crime prevention / preservation of law & order | |
| 160 | 5 | Crisis / distress phone line | |
| 160 | 6 | Daycare / Nursery / After school care | |
| 160 | 7 | Employment / Job training for people with physical and mental disabilities | |
| 160 | 16 | Employment counselling / guidance (career) | |
| 160 | 17 | Employment training / rehabilitation | |
| 160 | 15 | Facilitator organization supporting and enhancing the work of groups involved in the delivery of charitable programs | |
| 160 | 10 | Military / family / veterans’ support | |
| 160 | 99 | Other | |
| 160 | 14 | Suicide prevention | |
| 160 | 18 | Volunteerism | |
| 160 | 19 | Youth programs and services | |
| 170 | 99 | Other | |
| 170 | 5 | Waste management reduction / recycling | |
| 175 | 1 | Agriculture / farm society or aid / safety | |
| 175 | 2 | Horticultural society | |
| 175 | 99 | Other | |
| 180 | 1 | Animal hospital | |
| 180 | 2 | Animal shelter / neuter / adoption | |
| 180 | 99 | Other | |
| 180 | 4 | Rescuing domestic / holding stray / abandoned / surrendered animals | |
| 190 | 1 | Arts council (promoting the industry) | |
| 190 | 2 | Arts festival | |
| 190 | 3 | Crafts (beadwork / ceramics / furniture / glass / metal / wood / etc.) | |
| 190 | 4 | Dance (ballet / classical / jazz / modern / tap / etc.) | |
| 190 | 5 | Literature (novels / playwriting / poetry / short stories / etc.) | |
| 190 | 6 | Media arts (animation / film / screenwriting / etc.) | |
| 190 | 7 | Music (band / choral / gospel / jazz / opera / orchestral / etc.) | |
| 190 | 8 | Music Festival | |
| 190 | 99 | Other | |
| 190 | 9 | Theatre / performing arts (drama / comedy / musical / puppetry / etc.) | |
| 190 | 10 | Visual arts (drawing and illustration / painting / photography / etc.) | |
| 200 | 1 | Aquarium | |
| 200 | 2 | Archives | |
| 200 | 3 | Art gallery | |
| 200 | 4 | Botanical garden | |
| 200 | 5 | Camps / recreation | |
| 200 | 6 | Cemetery (secular) | |
| 200 | 7 | Community Centre / hall | |
| 200 | 8 | Hall of fame | |
| 200 | 9 | Heritage / Historical site | |
| 200 | 10 | Library | |
| 200 | 11 | Memorial | |
| 200 | 12 | Museum | |
| 200 | 13 | National and provincial parks | |
| 200 | 14 | Nature centre / society / trails | |
| 200 | 99 | Other | |
| 200 | 15 | Performing arts centre / facility | |
| 200 | 16 | Public recreation / arenas / parks / playgrounds / pools | |
| 200 | 17 | Zoo / zoological society | |
| 210 | 1 | Foundations for specified community benefit | |
| 210 | 2 | Foundations funding community benefit QDs in general | |
| 215 | 1 | NASO |
In the above table (if it’s displaying for you) the column titled “Pol?” is a simple column that I meant for flagging categories based on whether or not I think it is inherently political. Let me know if you think I missed a valuable category, and I’ll re-run the analysis!
Based on the charities that specified their own categorization, as well as my own breakdown, there were only 24 charities that seem to be of a political nature. Well, better than zero, I guess!
In the first graph below, you can see that the most popular political category of charity was “Conservation of nature…”. I’ve further broken down charities based on whether they said they get employees to carry out their work, volunteers, or both.
Accordingly, the Conservation category had the most charities saying that they only had employees carrying out their work, with those saying they only had volunteers carrying out their work in second place
The below graph breaks down the same charities as above, but instead of presenting raw numbers of charities, it uses the ratio of revenue to expenditures. Because the sample sizes are so incredibly low, I opted to show each value as a dot, rather than present them as averages. One thing that becomes apparent is that those charities that have outstripped their expenditures by a ratio of at least 1.5 to 1 are employee driven, rather than volunteer driven. I’m sure there’s a lesson in there somewhere!
If you’re curious about who these charities are, have a look at the table below:
| Account Name | Sub-Category – English | Revenue | Expenditures | Rev to Exp Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R.E.S.T. Relationship Foundation | Rape / sexual assault / abuse support | $33,748 | $7,452 | 4.5 |
| Nature United/ Nature Unie | Conservation of nature / habitat group / ecosystem preservation etc. | $22,973,629 | $9,670,488 | 2.4 |
| Oceana Canada | Conservation of nature / habitat group / ecosystem preservation etc. | $4,478,045 | $2,568,638 | 1.7 |
| Meriscope | Wildlife protection organization | $54,726 | $15,194 | 3.6 |
| Finca Cantaros Environmental Association | Conservation of nature / habitat group / ecosystem preservation etc. | $591,117 | $382,055 | 1.5 |