Confusion reigns among Canada’s charitable sector.
Seven days after the federal government announced the deadline would be extended — recognizing the impacts of the prolonged Canadian postal strike — so that non-profit donations would be eligible for 2024 tax support until Feb. 28, Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament on Jan. 6.
One day later, the Canadian Centre for Christian Charities (CCCC) shared it received confirmation the finance department intends to honour the extension and “legislation to extend the deadline will be introduced at the first available opportunity.”
The Catholic Register reached out to the Department of Finance to seek verification about CCCC’s post and was informed by its media relations department on Jan. 10 that it passed this message along to the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA). On Jan. 13, a CRA communications staffer wrote that the agency had no update to share at this time as “we are still looking into this matter.”
Questions would understandably arise about how legislation could be introduced to aid charities during prorogation.
Bruce MacDonald, the president and CEO of Imagine Canada, a non-profit that helps bolster Canadian charities through its programming and resources, said that historical precedent suggests that a bill can be tabled retroactively.
“If we look to history in 1997, when there was a holiday season postal disruption (from Nov. 19 to Dec. 5), the government extended the tax exemption or the tax deadline into the end of January 1998,” said MacDonald. “The actual legislation that enacted that didn’t come in until 1999.
“Our thinking is that none of the parties have indicated any opposition to this,” continued MacDonald, “so whether it’s this (next) session of Parliament or the (following) session of Parliament, we expect that’ll be done.”
It would indeed be a welcomed development. Though there is work yet to be done over the next weeks and months to fully quantify the negative impacts wrought on Canada’s registered non-profits by the Nov. 15 to Dec. 17 postal strike, already some unsettling percentage drops in charitable giving have emerged.
Consider Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Canada. Mario Bard, the head of information for this international pastoral aid organization’s Canadian chapter in Montreal, said “in November, the strike had a devastating impact” as ACN “experienced a 64-per-cent loss” in donations.
Bard said that ACN Canada is still calculating its December donation haul but stated “we anticipate the loss will be smaller since Canada Post has resumed operations.”
November and December have always been “the most critical months of the year” for the ACN Canada annual fundraising campaign. Bard noted that while there was a surge in online donations, “mail remains the preferred method for most of our benefactors.” In December, the Register reported that “ACN receives 86 per cent of donations by mail, which represents 90 per cent of its income.”
Meanwhile, the Newmarket, Ont.-based Rose of Sharon Services for Young Mothers, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2025, experienced an estimated 30-per-cent drop compared to usual donation levels as a result of the strike. The Rose of Sharon team works to provide nutritious food, clothing and other essential items to young mothers and their babies.
Deanne Kukulewich, Rose of Sharon’s executive director, wrote that “many of our individual and corporate donors typically send their contributions by mail. Unfortunately, the funding we rely on to purchase essential items for the Christmas baskets didn’t arrive, forcing us to find alternative ways to manage.”
While Kukulewich noted that some of the delayed contributions are starting to arrive, she stated “it will take time before we fully feel the effects of the holiday season’s momentum.”
Amid the postal strike, Development and Peace – Caritas Canada decided to extend the closing of its traditional Christmas collection from Jan. 5 to Jan. 15. Additionally, an email was disseminated encouraging members and donors to give online rather than sending a cheque.
Despite these measures, “there was a 22.4-per-cent decrease in our Christmas campaign collection, compared to last year,” wrote Joan Gauthier, the philanthropic development director of D&P – Caritas Canada, adding that the final numbers are still being analyzed.
“Our ability to support important projects in the Global South is affected by any drop in our collections,” stated Gauthier. “Nonetheless, we remain very grateful to our donors and supporters. Their generosity makes a genuine difference in the lives of some of the most impoverished people in the world.”
Adrienne Harrop, the communications and marketing director for Mary’s Meals Canada, which works to provide school meals for chronically hungry children, did not have any specific metrics at this time to share regarding the effects of the postal strike, but she said it was substantial.
“The strike significantly impacted our ability to connect with donors, affecting our staff resources during the critical pre-Christmas period,” wrote Harrop. “Our annual printed mailer, originally scheduled for nationwide delivery in early November to Canadian households, was delayed by four weeks, ultimately arriving after Christmas and missing the peak giving season.”
Harrop added that Mary’s Meals Canada staff worked to counteract the disruption with multiple calling campaigns in November and December. She stated that “this shift placed considerable pressure on our small team as we worked to reach out to our supporters.”
Joe Gennaro, the stewardship officer for Catholic Missions In Canada, said the strike interrupted the momentum of a strong year for the group that sustains missionaries, aids in religious formation and helps rebuild places of worship in Canada’s far north.
“It happened at the worst possible time,” said Gennaro. “As you know, a huge amount of our donations come in for the Christmas season. We clearly were not getting as many donations in the mail. The strike has affected our winter magazine delivery, which is usually responsible for a good amount of, I won’t tell you how much, but we’ve only received 10 per cent of what we received last year through our winter magazine appeal.”
Gennaro said as a result of this experience, “we’re going to definitely change things to push more online donating and calling in with a credit card.”
Catholic Children’s Aid Foundation’s (CCAF) experience of the strike was different. Executive director James K. Gilligan noted that because the CCAF was founded in 2021, and thus is “a brand not fully socialized among our potential donors, the biggest effect for us was our inability to operationalize some key marketing initiatives which would have supported our brand objectives.”
Killigan is referring to an “Adopt-a-Family” Christmas program that had to be postponed.
One organization that appeared to deftly navigate through this postal disruption was ShareLife, the charitable fundraising arm of the Archdiocese of Toronto.
Arthur Peters, ShareLife’s executive director and the director of development for the Archdiocese, said his team did “a very broad social media campaign and sent out e-blasts and so far, it appears that people are responding to these requests to support ShareLife.”
ShareLife set an ambitious goal of $14 million for its parish campaign. The money raised through this drive provides aid to over 40 social service agencies operating in the Greater Toronto Area. In 2023, this appeal accrued a record haul of $14.2 million. The final outcome for 2024 is expected to be announced within the next several weeks.
Peters, awaits to hear how a charitable tax deadline extension will not only “help the 2024 campaign, but also impact the 2025 campaign” that ShareLife will launch in the spring.