The political activities of Canadian charities 2000 to 2017

This study describes the political activities of Canadian charities. Using charities’ tax data, we analyze the types of charities engaging in political activities, the proportion of resources dedicated to them, changes to expenditures on activities, the specific activities utilized, the factors that associate the nature of these activities, and responses to changing regulations. The study relies on a panel of tax data from 2000 to 2017.

There has been a long-standing interest in the political influence of the nonprofit sector (Berry, 2007; Lu, 2018; MacIndoe & Whalen, 2013; Mason, 2015; Prentice, 2018; Vegter, Talyor, & Haider-Markel, 2020). This includes an “advocacy explosion” among US charities (Jenkins, 2006) over the past twenty years. We have comparatively little scholarship on charities’ political activities in other nations (existing examples are: ACPNS, 2019; Alcock, 2009, 2012; Ljubownikow & Crotty, 2016; Pedercini, 2015; Statsch & Berkhout, 2020; Waardenburg, 2020; Zhang & Guo, 2020). In Canada, survey results (Lasby & Vodarek, 2011) have provided essential information on political activities, but most existing research (DeSantis, 2010; DeSantis 2013; Laforest, 2014; Laforest & Orsini, 2005; Lavasseur, 2016; Mule & DeSantis, 2017; Phillips, 1991) has not focused on the entire population of organizations engaging in these activities, particularly over an extended period, instead focusing on organizational case studies and descriptions of sub-sector responses to either neo-liberal policies or antagonistic relationships with specific governments.

This paper examines the political activities of Canadian charities from 2000 to 2017. Beyond describing these activities and changes over time, we examine the determinants of political activities. We include size (Mosely, 2010; Donaldson, 2007; and Leroux & Goerdel, 2009), management capacity (Donaldson, 2007), exchange relationships (Leroux & Goerdel, 2009), staffing levels (Donaldson, 2007), expert staff, funding patterns (Mosely, 2010; Donaldson, 2007), subsector, organizational type, and geographical proximity to political institutions (Suarez & Hwang, 2008).

In addition, we examine how charities respond to the regulation of their political activities (Grasse, Ward, & Miller-Stevens, 2021). Regulations have shifted dramatically in Canada (Carter & Mann, 2010), so there is a need to assess the impact of these changes on charities’ political activities. This analysis examines charities’ responses to the 10% rule (CRA, 2003; Carter & Mann, 2010) that limited Canadian charities until 2019, including whether small charities (under 200K CAD) were reluctant to exceed the limits of the 10% rule despite specific exceptions created for small organizations. Canadian policy on political activities changed dramatically in 2019 (Canada Without Poverty v. AG Canada; CRA, 2020; Lorinc, 2020), so this study will establish an important baseline for future comparison.