How many foundations in Canada are there? If you take the CRA at its word, there are 7,132 private foundations and 4,653 public foundations. This number is based on their administrative data which records who was designated as a foundation at the time they applied or applied for or has been redesignated as a foundation along the way.
But under the Income Tax Act, a registered charity is a foundation automatically if it meets the definition of a foundation. Designation by the CRA is just a policy approach to keep track of these qualifications. So what happens if instead we asked the questions, among those charities not designated as a foundation (in 2024):
- How many registered charities granted more than 50% of their revenue to other qualified donees? (a strong indicator of a foundation) 7923
- How many registered charities report having majority non-arm’s length directors? (which would make the charity a foundation) 6951
It’s possible to explain away number 1 by saying that 2024 may have been an anomaly (although whether or not an organization is a foundation is a point-in-time analysis), and so a multi-year analysis would be necessary (which is beyond what the app can do right now). But the number of charities not designated as private foundations who report a majority non-arm’s length directors, which if true would almost double the number of private foundations in Canada, seems more likely attributable to filers no understanding the question.
Conclusion
It appears likely that the statistics we have on foundations is at least somewhat off and that some significant minority of filers may have trouble answering questions about non-arm’s length directors.