Here are a number of topics that relate to Canadian charities. We invited volunteers to write articles on them. Anyone wishing to address one of these topics-or any other that may be of interest to the charitable sector-should get in touch with the Editor at the address shown on the inside front cover, or by fax at (416) 326-2503. We are happy to work with authors to help them develop ideas submitted as outlines or early drafts. Articles should be addressed to a knowledgeable and experienced audience. We do not as a rule publish material that has been published elsewhere, except papers delivered at conference and included in conference documents.
Legal:
• Foundations with a fixed expiry date-philosophy, administration-e.g., McLaughlin Foundation, Devonian Foundation
• Proxy fights-who “owns” a charity? e.g., hospitals? tactics? (establishing abortion committees, the merger battle over Women’s College Hospital (in Toronto), members’ right to control and “public benefit”
• Law firms’ funding pro bono work-Canada and the u.s.
• Charitable gaming
• U.K White Paper on charities
• U.S. Model Law on regulating fund raising
• Use of charities as flow-through finance centre in business transactions
• Use of charities to avoid Canadian ownership rules, e.g., dispute over Readers’ Digest
• Status of unregistered charities
• Directors’ insurance-necessary for legal risk?
• Trusts as basis for registration of charities
• Hospital foundations, pro and con • COMMENT: Standing to challenge Revenue Canada’s rulings on registration-Notre Dame de Grace case
• COMMENT: Rumack v. MNR-(winnings from a charitable lottery held free from income tax)
• COMMENT: Audrey Henson case in Ontario Court of Appeal (private vs state funding of disabled people, state-encouraged giving)
Accounting:
• Italian direct-your-taxes-to-charity program (equiva
lent in USA, elsewhere?)
• Reporting charities as “going concerns”-standards, politics, effects of the rating
• Provincial Auditor’s reports on transfer payments
(e.g., report on U of T, fall 1990)
• Standards on non-financial accountability
• Library leaseback schemes
Management:
• Japanese companies’ approaches to philanthropy
• New Directions-legal status, startup, lawyers’ role
• Organizations/projects that fail, nobly or otherwisea how to/not do it report?
• Models of organization for third world or indigenous communities
• Granting to third world/indigenous/immigrant communities
• Fund raising for disability causes
• Crisis management
• Women in non-profits’ management
• Conflict management in volunteer organizations
• Board retreats
• Fund raising for unpopular causes
General:
• Monitoring charities-who has the right?
• The Toronto Ballet-Opera House saga: elite charities?
• Employment equity and charities
• Resource Guide for those wishing to start charities:
law and organizational rules
• Tax treatment of charities: revenue vs social policy
• Politics of language in charities-what terms are acceptable, who decides?
• Women in philanthropy
• Women’s causes
• Ethical dimensions of fund raising
• International philanthropy
• Politics as charity: similarities and differences
• Multicultural/ethnocultural communities and charity
• Educational resources for philanthropy
• Study of individual philanthropists
• Media views of charities
• “Boundary disputes” between charities: who speaks for whom, avoiding duplication, etc.
• Comparative charities-in other societies, cultures
(overlaps some other ideas above)
• Innovative philanthropy-e.g., the Sander casedonation of real estate to charity (transaction has not been completed because of problems with Revenue Canada)
(Authors may also wish to consult “Advice to Authors” on our inside back cover.)
