Over the past few years, I’ve had canvassers coming to my home in Toronto on behalf of a wide range of non-profits - including hospitals and mental health and homeless support organizations.
Charity Intelligence Canada (charityintelligence.ca) applies financial analysis to a large number of charities - notably (for me) what percentage of a donation actually makes it to the intended beneficiaries. There are many good causes where 85%+ gets to the recipients. It's not perfect's but at least they will report when insufficient information is made available to them, which helps me avoid opaque charities. I've been using them for years to help me decide where my bigger annual donations go, and they go directly to the organization, never via canvassers.
As a rule of thumb if you want the most bang for your buck always forward your donations directly to the primary source. Never do business with a someone at you door since you don't know 100% if they are legitimate.
As for having access to financial records from non-for profit charitable organizations if they are available. Most legitimate charitable organizations will have what is called Directors and Officers Liability coverage (Management Liability). In order to keep this coverage active the organization has to keep up to date annual financial statements from an accounting firm. These update financial statements are required to renew their annual Director and Officer Liability insurance policy from the insurance company. So in theory the financial breakdown for these companies might be available.
It’s quite simple to say no to door to door solicitors as an easy solution. If you desire to give to charities then I’d suggest you do a little homework, identify one or two or more causes that are aligned with your personal beliefs and donate directly to them. Personally I never do the monthly contribution as I prefer one annual gift in the form of a cheque.
I have beef with these same folks, as they routinely ignore the "no soliciting" sign on my door and give the exact same "I noticed the sign right after I rang your bell" bullshit. One of them actually went off script and tried to argue that by some sort of convoluted and ridiculous reasoning he technically wasn't soliciting. 🤦♂️
I wonder if donations received from third party for-profit third-party fundraisers like Globalfaces are received and booked by the charities net of commissions. I'm thinking of loopholes to avoid recording a payment to the fundraiser, showing those commissions as fundraising expenses, and drawing the attention of CRA.
I suspect that the charities have to report the full donation - since donors receive receipts for the full amount directly from the charity. But that doesn't mean there aren't other opportunities to play with the books.
Charity Intelligence Canada (charityintelligence.ca) applies financial analysis to a large number of charities - notably (for me) what percentage of a donation actually makes it to the intended beneficiaries. There are many good causes where 85%+ gets to the recipients. It's not perfect's but at least they will report when insufficient information is made available to them, which helps me avoid opaque charities. I've been using them for years to help me decide where my bigger annual donations go, and they go directly to the organization, never via canvassers.
As a rule of thumb if you want the most bang for your buck always forward your donations directly to the primary source. Never do business with a someone at you door since you don't know 100% if they are legitimate.
As for having access to financial records from non-for profit charitable organizations if they are available. Most legitimate charitable organizations will have what is called Directors and Officers Liability coverage (Management Liability). In order to keep this coverage active the organization has to keep up to date annual financial statements from an accounting firm. These update financial statements are required to renew their annual Director and Officer Liability insurance policy from the insurance company. So in theory the financial breakdown for these companies might be available.
It’s quite simple to say no to door to door solicitors as an easy solution. If you desire to give to charities then I’d suggest you do a little homework, identify one or two or more causes that are aligned with your personal beliefs and donate directly to them. Personally I never do the monthly contribution as I prefer one annual gift in the form of a cheque.
I have beef with these same folks, as they routinely ignore the "no soliciting" sign on my door and give the exact same "I noticed the sign right after I rang your bell" bullshit. One of them actually went off script and tried to argue that by some sort of convoluted and ridiculous reasoning he technically wasn't soliciting. 🤦♂️
I wonder if donations received from third party for-profit third-party fundraisers like Globalfaces are received and booked by the charities net of commissions. I'm thinking of loopholes to avoid recording a payment to the fundraiser, showing those commissions as fundraising expenses, and drawing the attention of CRA.
I suspect that the charities have to report the full donation - since donors receive receipts for the full amount directly from the charity. But that doesn't mean there aren't other opportunities to play with the books.
I consider EVERYONE who goes door-to-door as a scammer, regardless of who they say they are or who they claim to represent. No exceptions.