Charitable organization (Canada)

A charitable organization in Canada is regulated under the Canadian Income Tax Act through the Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

There are more than 85,600 registered charities in Canada.^[1] The charitable sector employs over 2 million people and accounts for about 7% of the GDP of Canada. Registered charities are registered under the Income Tax Act^[2] as either a "charitable organization", "public foundation" or "private foundation". Although these distinctions were more important in the past, there are now few practical differences between the three types of registered charities.