Charities react to proposed donation deadline extension

Ottawa is proposing a deadline extension to boost charitable donations before taxes are filed. Krista Simpson gets reaction from local organizations.

Charities could be getting a helping hand from the federal government.

Many organizations said they had fewer donations than expected over the holiday season due to the Canada Post strike.

Now, Ottawa is looking into extending the charitable donation tax deadline.

Enthusiasm for the move, however, is being overshadowed by the threat of American tariffs.

Charities in need

The weeks-long postal strike delayed millions of letters, including much-needed cheques for registered charities.

“This year, due to that postal strike, we were impacted significantly, up to 30 per cent less than what we would normally have seen at a given time,” explained Faune Lang, the executive director of Food4Kids Waterloo Region.

The Salvation Army said they are still tallying up holiday donations as their mail continues to trickle in. There were, however, worries about the financial impact.

“We were deeply concerned about our operations,” Lt.-Col. John P. Murray told CTV News. “More than 3.2 million Canadians came to the Salvation Army for assistance last year.”

Lang said it will Food4Kids awhile to catch up to the loss of holiday donations, which could impact the number of children they can feed this year and potentially the next.

“It’s a ripple,” she explained.

Donation deadline extension

The federal government announced Tuesday they were looking at extending the charitable deadline. If the legislation is passed, those who missed their chance to donate in December would get a second chance at giving back. The due date to donate to registered charities would be pushed back to Feb. 28 for those receipts to apply to their 2024 taxes.

At the moment, it is only proposed legislation and since parliament has been paused, March is the earliest it could pass.

Scott Hamilton, a Cambridge city councillor and the senior director of philanthropy for United Way Waterloo Region, is not bothered by the legislation delay.

“Charity is non-partisan,” he said, confident that it will get passed once MP’s return.

Plus, he added, any charitable receipts would still be eligible for 2025 returns.

Threat of American tariffs

Food4Kids expects potential tariffs to push the price of groceries up.

“We always shop where we can find the greatest savings because we have so many children to feed each week,” Lang explained.

Not only will it impact their operational budget but also the number of children on their waitlist – which already has 300 names on it.

“It’s a basic human right to be able to have those nourishing products,” she said, referring to the food her charity supplies to children.

“We think of, potentially, the deepening of poverty, increased food security and also individuals then needing to rely on organizations like the Salvation Army,” said Lt.-Col. Murray.

He worries an increased cost of living would push more Canadians to reach out for help.

“Tariffs, to be honest, are quite scary, I think, for every industry and especially for charities,” Hamilton added. “People stop donating to charities. And right now, it’s frightening because we’re seeing escalating needs in Waterloo Region.”

Lang said it will take a community and country-wide effort to address the issue.

“We really need to come together collectively to see how we can do something different.”