Fundraising guidance

Questions and answers

The following consists of questions that were not answered during the English webinar and questions from the French Webinar. Additional questions, which were answered during the English webinar, can be found by viewing the High-speed version (FLV, 166.5 MB) or Dial-up version (FLV, 40.5 MB), or by reading the Transcript. 

If you would like to ask other questions, contact our Client Service Section at 1-800-267-2384.

1. Our charity hired a telemarketing firm to raise funds. However, when the firm contacted possible donors, it provided information that would raise awareness of our organization. We feel that this is part of our efforts to promote our charitable aims. Can we claim a portion of the telemarketing costs as a charitable expenditure?

No. All fundraising activities require a certain amount of communication regarding the cause for which the funds are being raised. Thus, if the purpose of the communication is to raise funds and convince donors to donate funds, then all costs must be reported as expenditures incurred for charitable activities. The Agency usually requires that all telemarketing costs for fundraising be reported as expenditures incurred for charitable activities.

2. Our fundraising staff spends part of their time on fundraising activities and part applying for grants from governments and foundations. How must we report their salary expenditures? 

Salary costs associated with the time spent by your staff on fundraising activities should be reported as expenditures incurred for fundraising activities, and the time spent on applying for grants is reported as an administrative expenditure. The Agency accepts reasonable estimates of the time spent on these two activities by each of your employees.

3. What if my charity has high costs because it is involved in a donor development drive in a particular fiscal period?

The Agency recognizes that revenues from donor development drive may not be realized in the same fiscal period as expenditures related to that drive. The Agency will therefore take this into consideration when examining a charity’s activities. However, note that the Agency would expect donor development costs to generally decline over time, as the charity may eventually raise more funds.

4. Regarding remuneration for commissioned fundraisers, does this mean that it is wrong to give X amount to the person selling tickets on a draw for each ticket they sell?

That could be acceptable, but it must then be considered a fundraising activity and the percentage given to the person selling the tickets must also be reasonable. Thus, you could not give 50% of the price of each ticket sold to the person who sold it. If the percentage is low, it can be done.