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Tsunami Aid Details

January 5, 2005

Many charities and new media have misunderstandings about donations to the tsunami aid relief effort related to matching grants by the federal government and use of 2005 receipts for the 2004 taxation year. The following information has been provided to the Canadian Council of Christian Charities by the Canada Revenue Agency within the last hour. Please read carefully.

There are three important sections: 1) Matching Grants; 2) 2004 Eligibility; and 3) Receipting.

1. Matching Grants
As of January 5, 2005, only 9 charities are eligible to receive matching grants. The “Eligible Charities” are:

  • Canadian Red Cross
  • World Vision Canada
  • Doctors Without Borders
  • Oxfam Canada
  • Oxfam Quebec
  • CARE Canada
  • UNICEF Canada
  • Development and Peace
  • Save the Children

Other charities are invited to apply to be eligible for matching grants. There are stringent qualifications to be accepted. The following bulleted points are a direct quote from CIDA’s website. Some of the criteria are that the charity must:

  • Have in-house skills in at least one of the priority activity sectors of the IHA (International Humanitarian Aid - sic) program, and more specifically, in the priority sectors needed to respond to the Asia disaster.
  • Have three years of work experience in the delivery of humanitarian assistance in at least three different countries.
  • Be active before the disaster in the affected countries.
  • Have experience and proven capacity to achieve results directly relevant to humanitarian-assistance objectives.
  • Be able to submit credible reports showing a track record of achieving relevant results.
  • Be committed to networking, partnership, and coordination through strong existing relationships with local NGOs in developing countries and through experience in cooperation with UN organizations and local governments.

CIDA has sent the following information to applicant charities:

“Please note, in order to be matched by the Canadian government, donations must have been made by individual Canadians or groups of individual Canadians (e.g. as part of fund raising activities for the disaster by schools, faith-based organizations or registered charitable institutions) between December 26 and January 11, inclusive. To qualify, Canadian organizations need to apply by January 14, 2005 (inclusive).”

In other words, only new donations will be matched. If an “Eligible Charity” uses funds that have been set aside for emergency responses, it appears they will not be matched.

Details on the application process and eligibility criteria can be found on CIDA’s website by following the links from this page: http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/index-e.htm. Go to “Tsunami Disaster Response, then use the link in the red box that appears just below the map.

CIDA has promised applicants:

“Matching funds eligibility requests will be assessed on a case-by-case basis by a senior level committee. CIDA will respond to matching funds requests within 36 hours of an application.”

2. 2004 Eligibility
Despite what the news media is widely reporting, ONLY donations between January 1 and January 11, 2005 that are designated for the tsunami relief effort AND that are receipted directly by the “Eligible Charities” (currently only the nine charities listed above) can be used for the 2004 tax year. If a charity other than one of the “Eligible Charities” collects and forwards donations to one of the “Eligible Charities” AND IF the “Eligible Charity” issues the receipt (not the church or charity that collected it), then the donation made by January 11th, 2005 may be used in the 2004 tax year. If the church or charity collects and receipts the funds and then forwards it to one of the nine approved charities, the tax receipt cannot be used for the 2004 tax year.

3. Receipting
If a charity that is not currently approved by CIDA for matching grants applies and is subsequently accepted by CIDA, then tsunami donations received by that charity until January 11th will be accepted by CRA for the 2004 tax year. PLEASE NOTE YOU CAN MAKE NO PROMISES IN ADVANCE to your donors about either matching grants or use of receipts for 2004.

All donations for tsunami relief may be receipted by any charity for use in the 2005 tax year and may be spent either directly or indirectly by that charity for the designated purpose.

Conclusion
CCCC is well aware that a lot of fundraising has been done over the last few days with what we now know is inaccurate information being given to their donors. We are sympathetic to the awkward position many charities may find themselves in. While this news release will be a disappointment to many charities, it does reflect the official government position (at this time) and is being issued by CCCC within the hour of receiving the information.

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