Background
What is the Treasurer’s Chest?
The Treasurer’s Chest provides templates, tools and resources for a charity’s Treasurer as well as the Finance Committee.
What are the responsibilities of the Treasurer of a registered charity?
The Treasurer of a charitable organization in Canada has a number of responsibilities associated with reporting to the Canada Revenue Agency on revenues and expenditures. These include, but are not limited to:
Appropriately inform and involve the Board in decision making processes related to finances
Accurate and timely completion of the financial components of the T3010 Information Return
Ensure that records verify all official receipts
Identify all income and expenditures
Maintain records to prove that activities of the organization are charitable
Know and adhere to all charitable receipting processes
For more information, click here to order a free CD of resources developed by The Charities File.
Tools and resources
Self-guided training
A PowerPoint presentation provides information on the key obligations of the Treasurer. Topics covered include receipting practices, the T3010 information return, maintaining books and records and developing financial statements for the fiscal period.
A video on issues affecting the Treasurer and Finance Committee
A video on books and records
Information sheets
The Treasurers Chest Info Sheet provides a one page summary of the roles and responsibilities of the Treasurer, important CRA guidelines, and general compliance requirements for the charity.
To be charitable at common law, an organization must have exclusively charitable purposes and carry on exclusively charitable activities that further these purposes. The Description of Charitable Purpose and Activities provides more information.
Role Description for a Charity Treasurer provides more information on the specific roles and responsibilities of the Treasurer, including overseeing the financial matters of the charity, assuming a leadership role on board committee or initiatives related to financial matters, and ensuring the financial components of the T3010 are completed in an accurate and timely manner.
FAQs from a Treasurers Perspective provides basic information about concepts that are relevant for a treasurer of a registered charity.
An information sheet provides guidance on determining which expenses go to which category by describing expense categories and how they relate to lines on the T3010 form.
Expenses Related to Charitable Activities vs Management Activities describes specific expenses in these two categories. This resource provides a reference for consideration to ensure that the expenditures in the administrative and management category are reasonable.
Transferring Financial Information provides an example of the allocation of expenditures in either the Charitable Activities category or the Management and Administration/Fundraising categories.
An information sheet on charity revocation statistics highlights the challenge many registered charities have in filing timely, accurate, and complete T3010 returns, using 2006 filing data.