Government Relations

Chair: Ron Bailey, CFRE, Ron Bailey and Associates Inc.

The Government Relations Chair's role is to be a resource for members on government relations issues at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels and to be an advocate on issues that may impact members dealing with government officials and the public.

An ongoing initiative is to lobby the government to officially recognize National Philanthropy Day as a symbol of the importance of the voluntary sector, and to increase public awareness of charitable giving.

The federal cabinet has rejected a petition filed by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and Imagine Canada requesting that charities be exempted from the fees and registration process for Canada's new Do Not Call List. No reasons for the decision were given. Charities must comply with Do Not Call List regulations, which include registering with the Do Not Call operator, paying the appropriate fees to the Do Not Call List investigator, and maintaining a private do not call list within their own records. For more information, visit: www.afpnet.org.

Public Policy Update

Spring 2009

The Spring 2009 Public Policy Update includes a story about the proposal in the president's budget that would limit charitable deductions for the wealthy, a wrap-up of the nonprofit hospital provision in the economic stimulus package, a copy of the IRA Rollover fact sheet and a story of the IRA mandatory distribution rule that has been waived for 2009.

In addition, the update contains the latest news on the Canada Revenue Agency's fundraising policy; the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications telemarketing rules; posted advertisements submitted by a Canadian coalition, including AFP; and the reintroduced National Philanthropy Day legislation.

Follow this link for the udpate...