Fewer charitable donations in NB in ​​2024, Canada Post strike singled out

New Brunswick charities are seeing a significant drop in year-end donations due to the Canada Post workers’ strike.

For example, more than half of Lung NB’s annual income generally comes from holiday fundraising.

With 85% of donations received by mail, we were strongly impacted by the strikerecap Melanie Langille, the CEO of the provincial group for pulmonary health services.

Contributions, which generally arrive at the end of November, this time began to arrive at the beginning of January.

The Saint-Jean Regional Hospital Foundation is also feeling the effects of the strike.

The total amount of donations received between November 1 and December 31, all programs combined, decreased by 25% compared to the same period last yearadds communications director Sarah Fireplaces.

Revenue received by mail also decreased by 57% for the same period.

The annual Tree of Hope campaign missed its $1 million target due to donors’ inability to send checks.

The situation has also been observed elsewhere in the country. To offset this decline, federal Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced in December an extension of the deadline for reporting charitable donations in tax returns until the end of February.

He hopes to stimulate donations during this period.

Will the extension be effective?

Lung NB and the Saint-Jean Regional Hospital Foundation also hope that this extension will be synonymous with an increase in donations this winter.

Melanie Langille is optimistic. Income tax deductions encourage many people to donate to charitiesshe said.

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However, for organizations whose end of the financial year does not end on March 31, this extension may not have much impact.

Our financial year ends on December 31, regardless of the tax receipt issuance deadline.explains the general director of the organization Fredericton Homeless Shelters.

The lawyer Mark Blumberg specifies that the financial year of many charitable organizations ends on this date. According to him, a promotional campaign to encourage online donations to help charitable organizations would have been more effective than extending the deadline.

In any case, the prorogation of Parliament requested by Trudeau threatens the implementation of the deadline granted by Dominic LeBlanc since it has still not been presented in the chamber, notes Mr. Blumberg.

Although he believes the measure will likely pass, he advises charities not to count on it.

It’s definitely a tricky situationhe notes, since the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has not yet implemented the measure.

It has already happened that theARC makes tax policy changes before a law has been adopted, but these had already been presented in the House.

The lawyer nevertheless specifies that since this law affects millions of people, it is unlikely that a political party will turn around.

According to Jennifer’s report Sweetof CBC