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Is There a Canadian Equivalent to the EFF?
javacowboy asks: "I'm a Canadian citizen who recently emailed the Electronic Frontier Foundation to ask about the tax-deductibility of donations to that organization. They replied telling me that they have no presence in Canada and that they can't issue a Canadian tax receipt. What I would like to know is if there is a similar organization in Canada, working towards the same goals, that I can donate to as well as writing off the donations on my tax form."
For legal purposes, the EFF is an org. of the U.S., and may (somebody want to look this up? where?) be organized elsewhere. However, it's not in Canada, so it can't legally issue a tax recipt, which has certain other legal ramifications.
Any foreign (non-Canadian) organisation such as EFF would be required to register in Canada as a non-profit organisation to be able to issue Canadian charitable donations receipts. This would require EFF to meet several guidlines to fulfill the (ass-backwards) Canadian requirements of a foreign controlled not-for-profit company.
Lordhern
So I concluded that they don't want my money.
But I'd like to extend that question above: Is there an organization in Germany (or Europe) similar to EFF?
- Stephan.
Not to sound like I have some sort of superiority complex about Canada (though I do), but...
:>
Does Canada need this sort of thing? Any censorship done by our government is done to keep peace with American companies (RIAA) and the American government. In order to maintain our trade with the US, we have to pretend to like their priorities.
If you really want to help, you have a few options.
You could start a group petitioning the Canadian government to stop following US policy. Canadian governmental policy regarding the internet is excellent, there's just a few little glitches now and then. In fact, there haven't been any big things - we don't have a DCMA-like law in Canada, and it would probably be overturned by the supreme court pretty soon if we did have one - so I don't know if we even need something like this right now.
If you really want to help the state of the world, help the US - donate to the EFF and pay taxes anyway. I think it's a lost cause, but if enough people donate, then it might cease to be one.
If you really want to get a tax break, donate to one of the many hundreds of other charities out there. Medical charities like the cancer foundation (or whatever), Heart and Stroke Foundation, Crohn's and Colitis, things like that, can all use our help. Or, if you think Canadians can buck it up, then donate to one of the foreign charities - personally, I wouldn't donate to any of the ones driven specifically by religion, but if you have no such qualms, then donate to the Christian Children's Fund of Canada, or check out the website of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation for a whole slew of interesting info.
If all that fails, you can always check yourself. The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, in their Tax/Charities section of their website, has a list of all registered charities in Canada. If you don't feel like searching, you can download it in zip file format.
I hope this helps you, and any other Canucks who feel like helping others. Lord knows the world needs more helping hands.
--Dan
Of course there is: Electronic Frontier Canada / La Frontière Électronique du Canada (http://www.efc.ca/)! And following great Canadian traditions, the site is bilingual.
Australia has one, too: Electronic Frontiers Australia (http://www.efa.org.au/).
I don't know if either is tax-deductible, but they do have interesting info on legislation in both countries. Cheers.
I almost forgot - here are the links to the french versions of those government pages.
L'Agence des douance et du revenu du Canada
la section de ce website au sujet des
impôts - Organismes de bienfaisance
La liste - rechercheable et downloadable (3,7 Mo délimité par des tabulations)
I would have translated the whole comment, but my French, quite frankly, sucks.
--Dan
IANA tax lawyer, but from my reading of the rules Canadians can claim taxable donations to US charities normally up to 75% of their US income. This might or might not help the original poster, but it might help any Canadians doing freelance work online.
Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
For God's sake, USE IT!
Google is your friend.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Its called the EFF-EH
I'm a former member. EFC always seemed pretty dead. Make a contribution to the EFF instead; it will probably be more effective. (Their web site is at least organized a bit better.)
BTW: It's a donation for bob's sake! If the lack of a deduction bothers you, factor that in and make a smaller donation. Or, if you're actually _charitable_, bite the bullet and go with the full amount.