PU BLISHER’S
NOTE
More Information
via the Internet
Anderson Charters
Welcome to the 24th edition of the
Canadian Donor’s Guide.
The purpose of the Guide remains the
same as it always has been: to provide an
authoritative annual directory to fundraising
organizations in Canada.
Scotia Private Client Group is back for a
sixth year as the Guide’s sponsor. This
means that we continue to deliver at least
17,000 copies of our publication to
key decision makers in Canada’s donor
community.
The Canadian Donor’s Guide is pub-
lished with the co-operation of the Canadian
Association of Gift Planners (CAGP), the
Canadian Bar Association, and Imagine
Canada.
It is a pleasure to introduce and to thank
the strong cast of contributors to our
editorial section. Returning are Malcolm
Burrows, whose Charity Checklist can be
found on page 12, and James Parks,
who writes for a seventh year, Charitable
Donations: A Summary of Tax
Considerations, starting on page 13.
Returning to our editorial board for a
second year is Sophia Dunkley, who writes
the article under the Gift Planning heading,
starting on page 20. Joining the above is
Kate Lazier, who contributes an article on
International Donations, which can be
found on page 23.
We continue the tradition of inviting a
leading figure in Canada’s charitable sector
to provide an Opinion column. This year I
am pleased to welcome back for a second
time, Donald K. Johnson, as the author of
this year’s Opinion on page 11.
For many years, Don Johnson, a promi-
nent Canadian businessman, lobbied the
federal government to eliminate the capital
gains tax on gifts of listed securities. In his
Opinion piece in the 2003 Canadian Donor’s
Guide, he argued that Ottawa should legis-
late a complete exemption of the capital
gains tax. Mr. Johnson saw his efforts
rewarded in 2006 when in that year’s federal
budget the government instituted the full
exemption.
Now Mr. Johnson, assisted by such
stalwarts in the sector as Malcolm Burrows,
is leading the effort to persuade the federal
government to expand the capital gains tax
exemption to include gifts of private
company shares and real estate. Don
Johnson makes the practical suggestion that
readers of his column write letters to their
Members of Parliament, pointing out why
these measures would benefit all charities in
their local ridings. Readers may wish simply
to enclose a photocopy of Mr. Johnson’s
column or a copy that they can obtain from
the Editorial section of the Canadian Donor’s
Guide website, www.donorsguide.ca.
The publication of this year’s Canadian
Donor’s Guide coincides with our first anni-
versary of a related endeavour: an internet-
based service called CharityCan. Located on
the Internet at www.charitycan.ca, this is a
fee-based site for in-depth information
about Canada’s 83,000-plus registered
Charitable
Organizations,
Private
Foundations, and Public Foundations.
Our company has a license agreement
with the Government of Canada that allows
it to aggregate information from the digi-
tized T3010 annual filings for all registered
charities.Th is means that users of www.
charitycan.ca can search for, analyse,
compare and rank Canada’s registered chari-
ties with the help of, among other things,
Publisher, Canadian Donor’s Guide
the most recent five years of financial
statements from data as captured from each
charity’s T3010 returns.
As anticipated, users of CharityCan are
drawn principally from organizations that
wish to access this in-depth information on
a regular basis. There is a growing appetite
in Canada for relevant analytical informa-
tion to help donors make informed
decisions about where to direct donations.
Donors seeking less analytical informa-
tion will be able to view, for a third year, the
Digital Edition of the 2009 Canadian
Donor’s Guide. This is an exact replica of the
print version of the Guide that you have in
your hands. But you will view it on a com-
puter screen by accessing it on the Internet
via our web site at www.donorsguide.ca.
The technology of digital editions allows
you to turn the pages with mouse clicks.
The pages you view are the same pages you
view now, ads and all, as you manually turn
the print pages. On the digital pages,
however, all web site and e-mail addresses
are highlighted, giving you instant access to
a charitable organization’s web site or to a
key contact in that organization via e-mail,
with a simple click on these addresses.
As the Canadian Donor’s Guide is
brought to you by the organizations that
purchase advertising and listings in the
Guide, it is in the interest of the charitable
organizations that advertise in the Guide
that we distribute it as widely as possible.
We therefore encourage professional
advisors and others who receive the print
edition of the Canadian Donor’s Guide, as
well as our advertisers and those employed
throughout the charitable sector, to use the
viral nature of the Internet to pass on the
Digital Edition as frequently as possible.
