Charitable purposes and activities
What are purposes
Purposes (also known as objects) are your aims, goals, or objectives. They are outlined in your governing documents.
To be considered charitable, purposes must:
- fit within one of the four categories of charity; and
- meet the public benefit test, which has two parts:
- benefit: the purpose must provide a benefit that is recognizable and socially useful
- public: the benefit must be provided to the community or a sufficient segment of it
Making gifts to qualified donees, such as other registered charities, is also a charitable purpose.
Learn more: How to write your charitable purposes
What are activities
Activities are what your organization does with its resources.
These activities are charitable if they further your charitable purposes for the public benefit.
All of your organization’s resources—funds, personnel, or property—must be used to further those purposes. This includes administrative costs, fundraising activities, and other similar expenses, as long as they remain ancillary and incidental to your purposes.
Charitable activities also include:
In addition to furthering charitable purposes, you must also use your organization’s resources in compliance with the Income Tax Act, including when working with other organizations.
Learn more: How to describe your activities
Categories of charity
Your purposes must fit within one of these four categories of charity:
Relief of poverty
To relieve poverty means providing a basic necessity of life and simple amenities that allow for a modest but adequate standard of living, or promoting social inclusion.
Beneficiaries must be restricted to people experiencing poverty.
Advancement of education
To advance education generally means to provide knowledge or develop abilities by deliberate teaching or training, or through research.
Advancement of religion
To advance religion generally means manifesting, promoting, or increasing belief in the specified religion. Under charity law, a religion must have a:
- doctrine that there is a God(s) or Supreme Being(s), such as a “divine, superhuman, all-powerful and controlling” power or entity
- a doctrine that requires adherents to worship the supreme being
- a particular and comprehensive system of faith and worship
Other purposes beneficial to the community
This category includes other purposes that the courts have recognized as charitable. This is not an exhaustive list.
Promotion of health
Description
To promote health generally means preventing or relieving a physical or mental health condition.
Example of activities
- Providing medical diagnostic services
- Operating vaccination clinics
- Providing physical or occupational therapy
- Psychological counselling
Any healthcare services or products must meet all relevant quality and safety standards.
Other resources
Promotion of animal welfare
Description
To promote animal welfare generally means preventing or relieving the suffering of animals and improving their well-being.
Example of activities
- operating an animal rescue
- providing spay and neuter clinics for domestic pets and feral or stray animals
- maintaining a sanctuary for aging, dangerous, displaced, or unhealthy animals
Other resources
Advancing the public’s appreciation of the arts
Description
To advance the public’s appreciation of the arts generally means exhibiting, presenting, or performing artistic works for the public.
Example of activities
- Producing or presenting high-quality dance performances
- Providing a public arts centre for the exhibition or presentation of visual arts productions or installations
- Managing a public art gallery
Other resources
Address and prevent specific problems faced by youth
Description
To address and prevent specific problems faced by youth generally means providing structured activities designed to target and help prevent those issues.
Example of activities
- Operating a youth group home
- Counselling youth on how to cope with issues such as bullying and peer pressure
- Mediating disputes between youth and their family members, or others
Other resources
Upholding human rights
Description
Upholding human rights generally means ensuring that legally protected human rights are respected, protected, implemented, and enforced.
Example of activities
- Monitoring compliance with human rights legislation and reporting on human rights violations in a particular field
- Providing training and advice to organizations on their legal responsibilities related to human rights
- Providing legal support or representation to individuals seeking remedies for alleged human rights violations
Other resources
Promotion of volunteerism
Description
Promoting volunteerism generally means encouraging and supporting broad public participation in voluntary activities to benefit the community at large.
Example of activities
- Providing publicly accessible volunteer recruitment and referral services
- Offering capacity-building programs that equip volunteers to serve on a board
Other resources
Addressing the needs of Indigenous peoples of Canada
Description
Addressing the needs of Indigenous peoples of Canada generally means carrying out activities that respond to the needs of Indigenous peoples and communities.
Example of activities
- Operating culturally appropriate wellness or support programs
- Delivering culturally relevant counselling or advocacy services addressing specific challenges
Other resources
Promoting the effectiveness and efficiency of other registered charities
Description
Promoting the effectiveness and efficiency of other registered charities generally means improving the delivery of their charitable programs, enhancing their efficient administration, or enabling them to realize economies of scale that they could not achieve on their own.
Example of activities
- Providing and maintaining facilities for registered charities
- Providing expertise on planning, structuring, and improving programs to better address the needs of beneficiaries
Other resources
Relieving conditions attributable to being aged and charitable registration
Description
Relieving conditions attributable to being aged means reducing or eliminating the negative effects of a condition that arise because of aging such as:
- frailty
- social isolation and loneliness
- decline in motor skills, flexibility, strength, speed of execution, or hand-eye co-ordination
- physical or mental health conditions attributable to being aged
Example of activities
- Providing housing with specially adapted facilities or services
- Helping with daily living tasks, meals or transportation to alleviate challenges related to aging
- Providing social or recreational programs to reduce social isolation and loneliness
Other resources
Promoting racial equality
Description
Promoting racial equality generally means taking action to end racial or ethnic discrimination and to support fair participation and positive race relations.
Example of activities
- Educating the public about racial prejudice and discrimination
- Organizing discussion groups to raise awareness of racism
- Conducting research about racism or ethnoracial disparities
Other resources
For more guidance products on other types of purposes and activities: Find guidance and policies
Public policy dialogue and development activities
Although you cannot have a political purpose, you can carry on public policy dialogue and development activities (PPDDA) that further your stated charitable purposes.
Example of PPDDA
If your charitable purpose is to relieve poverty by operating a food bank for people experiencing poverty, you may carry out PPDDAs such as:
- providing information to the public about the benefits of enhancing social assistance programs for people experiencing poverty
PPDDAs generally involve efforts to influence laws, policies, or decisions of a government in Canada or a foreign country.
There is no limit on the amount of resources your charity can devote to PPDDAs, as long as:
- the PPDDAs further your stated charitable purposes
- your charity does not directly or indirectly support or oppose any political party or candidate for public office
Other legislation, such as the Canada Elections Act, may also apply when your charity engages in PPDDAs.