Uncovering Research Potential of Administrative Data on Charitable Foundations in Canada

Abstract

ASTRACTThis is the first study of its kind to assess the untapped research capacity of administrative data on Canadian foundations. More than twenty years of records collected by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for the entire population of foundations is publicly accessible to researchers. Canadian data offers greater opportunity for nuanced analysis of the charitable foundation sector than information from the comparatively small sample available for U.S. foundations. Despite the richness of Canadian data and the potential it has to inform grantmaking and administrative practices of foundations, the academic community has paid little attention to this wealth of statistical information. This article explores some of the questions that this data can potentially answer. Consultations with foundation representatives help illuminate the directions that the foundation sector would like researchers to pursue with this data. RÉSUMÉCeci est la première étude de son genre à évaluer comment certaines données administratives pourraient contribuer à la recherche sur les fondations caritatives canadiennes. En effet, plus de vingt ans de données accumulées par l'Agence du revenu du Canada pour la population entière des fondations sont maintenant accessibles aux chercheurs. Ces données canadiennes représentent une occasion exceptionnelle pour effectuer une analyse nuancée du secteur des fondations caritatives, occasion qui est meilleure qu'aux États-Unis, où l'échantillon est relativement petit. Malgré la richesse des données canadiennes et leur potentiel d'améliorer l'octroi de bourses et l'administration des fondations canadiennes, la communauté académique a porté peu d'attention jusqu'à présent à cette manne de statistiques. Cet article-ci en revanche explore quelques-unes des questions auxquelles ces données pourraient porter des réponses. En outre, des consultations faites auprès des représentants de certaines fondations aident à signaler les directions que le secteur pourrait prendre grâce à ces données.

What Constitutes a New Nonprofit? Investigating Nonprofit Organizational Founding Dates

“…… Thus, using the IRS ruling date seems to be a reasonable proxy for formation of a new organization" (p. 123). As a result, a widespread approach to capture new nonprofit entry is to look to public administrative records, such as those from the IRS or the Canada Revenue Agency, and consider the entry/appearance in such records by a new nonprofit organization as the core criterion and timestamp of founding (see Cordes et al, 2004;Khovenrenkov, 2016;Khovrenkov & Gidluck, 2017;Lecy et al, 2016;Saxton & Benson, 2005;Sharpe, 1994;Twombly, 2003). As Eric C. Twombly (2003) states, "[n]onprofit entry occurs when an organization gains tax-exempt status from the IRS" (p. 220).…”

Charitable Activities and ‘Wellbeing’ in Indigenous Communities

“…One limitation of the use of T3010 data is that registered charities account for only about one half of the Canadian total nonpro t sector (Khovrenkov, 2017). Other, non-registered nonpro t organizations, such as recreational clubs and sports associations, are not captured by the data set and are hence ignored in this study.…”