This article is the fifth in a series on Canadian Charities Working Internationally. Canadians like to think of themselves as both internationally minded people and as coming from a tradition of humanitarian action. However, few stop to ask why global charities are never headquartered in Canada. There is no major international charity with affiliated entities…
Issue Area: International Development
This article is the fourth in a series on Canadian Charities Working Internationally. SUMMARY: Julia Sanchez, president and CEO of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, outlines the three basic elements of an enabling environment for international charities: dialogue to include organizations in designing and implementing development processes; funding to allow them to play diverse…
This article is the third in a series on Canadian Charities Working Internationally. SUMMARY : The principal type of grantmaking charity in the United States is the private foundation. When these foundations make international grants, they must comply with certain rules under the IRS tax code or face a penalty. In 1972, Treasury Department issued regulations…
This article is the second in a series on Canadian Charities Working Internationally. ABSTRACT: Canadian charities working internationally are subject to regulations that are intended to boost accountability and ensure that charitable dollars flow to genuinely charitable activity. Recently the Canada Revenue Agency has stepped up audits of these same charities. Increased accountability demands are…
This article is the first in a series on Canadian Charities Working Internationally. A regulatory system, and the laws that underpin it, is ideally enabling but by necessity limiting. It’s true in business, and it should be equally true with charities. What is, however, the right balance between support and limits? When working across borders,…
This article looks at the growing integration of skills and knowledge by members of diaspora communities in international development programs. Moving from the major role of financial support through remittances, the diaspora now seeks a more active role in strengthening the social and economic development of their home countries. The first part of this article…
Summary this article describes a lobbying campaign by women in zimbabwe to ensure gender sensitivity in a new constitution—a campaign being conducted in very difficult circumstances. The description of this campaign is a further illustration of how rights set out in international agreements can be applied in domestic public policy processes. While the ultimate goal…
Abstract: The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) has, in its 37 year history, become one of the largest, most diverse and most effective NGOs in the world. Its micro-lending in Bangladesh topped a billion dollars last year, but that is only a small part of a story that includes 36,000 primary schools, nation-wide health programs,…
Canadian charities that operate abroad are in the forefront of dealing with many of the most difficult global problems, including HIV/AIDS, human rights, access to education, and clean water and sanitation, to name a few. Many donors have lived abroad and have a substantial attachment to causes and communities outside of Canada, and many consider…
Introduction International philanthropy usually brings to mind famine relief or using Canadian dollars and expertise to build wells and irrigation systems in Third World countries; however Canadian expertise can be used to protect lives and improve living conditions in another way-by sending Canadians to observe and report back on murders, disappearances and torture in other…