B.C. groups push for more fiscal scrutiny of charities

While the federal Conservatives’ budget trigged a major backlash over its crackdown on charities’ political advocacy, various B.C. groups still want more value-for-money accountability in the charitable and non-profit sector.

Jordan Bateman, B.C. director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said taxpayers have no way of knowing what value they’re getting for the charity tax breaks they fund.

“You just take an average municipality, and they’ll have 35 or 40 different community groups get grants; they’ll have 25 or 30 different permissive tax exemptions [on property taxes] for buildings,” he said. “Unless you’re planning to have a dedicated staff person auditing and pushing all these different organizations, many fly under the radar.”

Niels Veldhuis, president of the Fraser Institute, contends that private-sector funders and philanthropists, not government, are best-placed to demand value-for-money accountability in the sector. Veldhuis noted that the Fraser Institute’s Donner Awards recognizes well-run charities. He said awards give charities additional credibility with private-sector funders.

William Hallett, vice-president of finance and operations for the Vancouver Foundation, said that, while any system can be improved, the Canada Revenue Agency(CRA) monitors registered charities. He said charities are required to file information publicly about their financial performance and salaries of top employees.

Hallett called the current system “adequate” and added that more regulatory scrutiny would come at a cost – and not just in bureaucrats’ time.

“There would be more time that would be spent in compliance-related activities as opposed to in the actual charitable work,” he said. “So it’s trying to find the right balance.”

The federal budget limits charities’ spending on political advocacy to 10% of their budget. It adds an extra $8 million over the next two years to fund additional scrutiny of charities. •