The law governing charities and not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) in Canada is increasingly complex and continues to undergo rapid change owing to pressure from various sources. The Federal government wants to use the tax structure to facilitate donor activity while preventing its abuse by a broad spectrum of individuals and entities aiming to avoid or evade taxation, launder money or facilitate terrorist-related activities. The media is holding the sector up to unprecedented public scrutiny. Donors – institutional and individual, large and small – don’t merely demand tax advantages. They want to know that their money is being used appropriately, by organizations that conduct themselves with a high degree of transparency, accountability, and integrity. In a time when a greater number of charities and NPOs are competing for a stable or even diminishing quantum of donor money, that’s a realistic expectation.

In such a climate, in-house and external counsel to charities and NPOs, directors and officers thereof, and professionals serving the not-for-profit sector need to understand the regulatory climate and the changes it continues to experience. Their knowledge needs to embrace not only traditional ‘charities law’, but aspects of other bodies of law and practice relevant to the sector, drawn from employment, corporate, estates, intellectual property, privacy and even criminal law.

This Osgoode Professional Development program has been designed to ensure that counsel and other key stakeholders have the benefit of comprehensive, up-to-date information. This program goes beyond-the-basics to provide the tools to ensure that your charity or NPO complies with all applicable laws and can implement policies to best maximize its goodwill, credibility and effectiveness – best enabling you to do good, and to do it well.

Plus! Don't miss the Optional Pre-Conference Workshop, The Regulation of Charities and NPOs – a focused introduction to the matters covered in the main conference and a valuable refresher on the legal context in which charities and NPOs operate.

Chairs
M. Elena Hoffstein, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
David P. Stevens, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP

OPD Program Lawyer

Paul Truster

ptruster@osgoode.yorku.ca