On May 5, 2026, the Canada Revenue Agency (the “CRA”) released three new resources to help both current and prospective charities draft charitable purposes. These resources include:

The CRA released these resources after earlier announcing that it will no longer pre-approve or automatically review any changes that charities make to their purposes and activities.

In this article, we summarize these new resources, point out some key differences from the 2013 Guidance, and discuss the practical implications for charities.

Summary of resources

2026 Guidance

The 2026 Guidance replaces and significantly updates the 2013 Guidance. To enhance accessibility for charities, the CRA restructured the contents of the 2013 Guidance and presents the 2026 Guidance in a more streamlined and user-friendly format.

Under the 2026 Guidance, the CRA divides charitable purposes into two categories:

  1. purposes that are charitable at common law; and
  2. purposes to make qualifying disbursements.

For each type of charitable purpose, the 2026 Guidance sets out the applicable requirements and elements, and also gives examples. It reiterates that a charity must have exclusively charitable purposes and such purposes cannot be overly broad or vague. The 2026 Guidance also clarifies how the CRA determines whether a charity has exclusively charitable purposes.

Short Guide

The Short Guide focuses on how to apply the 2026 Guidance. It summarizes the general requirements for charitable purposes and explains that charities have three options when drafting their own charitable purposes:

  1. Copy: Charities may adopt one of the CRA’s model purposes as set out in the Example Purposes;
  2. Modify: Charities may adapt a model purpose to better reflect their specific activities; or
  3. Create: Charities may develop their own charitable purposes based on the structure outlined by the CRA.

The Short Guide also includes “helpful tips” and best practice recommendations for drafting charitable purposes. It also references several “special topics”, including drafting purposes for making gifts to qualified donees, making grants to non-qualified donees, and conducting public policy dialogue and development activities.

Example Purposes

The Example Purposes contains a list of 313 model purposes spanning the various charitable purpose categories and subcategories.

The Example Purposes functions as a real-time resource that we expect the CRA will update from time to time going forward. Since the time when the Example Purposes was released, at least two sample purposes have been removed, indicating that the CRA actively maintains the list and may make changes over time.[1]

As noted above, the CRA encourages charities to copy and adopt these vetted purposes directly from the Example Purposes or to adapt them to fit their needs.

What’s new: Comparison of 2013 Guidance and 2026 Guidance

1. Reframing purpose requirements – purposes charitable at common law

Under the 2013 Guidance, charitable purposes were required to include three elements:

  • the charitable purpose category;
  • the means of providing the charitable benefit; and
  • the eligible beneficiary group.

The 2026 Guidance largely preserves this three-element structure for purposes that are charitable at common law, but reframes the elements as follows:

  • the “What” – a purpose must identify, explicitly or implicitly, the category or subcategory of charity in which it fits;
  • the “How” – a purpose must define the scope of activities carried on by the charity to further such purpose; and
  • the “Who” – a purpose must identify, explicitly or implicitly, the eligible beneficiary group.

Apart from this reframing, the 2026 Guidance also introduces changes and adjustments in language that appear intended to improve clarity and ease of understanding. However, it is an open question whether certain aspects of this simplification fully capture the applicable legal principles governing charitable purposes.

For example, the second element now emphasizes the “scope of activities” that further a charitable purpose, rather than the “means” of providing a “charitable benefit,” as articulated in the 2013 Guidance. While this may not reflect a substantive change in the CRA’s expectations under the second element, the shift in emphasis could create some uncertainty or present an incomplete picture of the common law requirements applicable to charitable purposes. 

Also worth noting is that the 2026 Guidance no longer refers to “charitable benefit” or cautions charities against providing “private benefit.” The 2013 Guidance discussed both of these matters in greater detail. Instead, the 2026 Guidance simply says that the “public benefit requirement” applies differently depending on the relevant category or subcategory of charity, and directs readers to CPS-024, the CRA’s policy statement on meeting the public benefit test.

As a minor point, the CRA also notes that a purpose should identify only one category or subcategory of charity. This restriction did not appear in the 2013 Guidance and, to our knowledge, has not historically been an area of concern raised by the CRA.

2. Purposes to make qualifying disbursements

The 2026 Guidance introduces the new concept of “purposes to make qualifying disbursements,” reflecting amendments to the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the “ITA”) that came into force in 2022. It further distinguishes between the two types of purposes related to qualifying disbursements:

  1. purposes in respect of qualifying disbursements to qualified donees; and
  2. purposes in respect of qualifying disbursements to non-qualified donees (“grantee organizations”).

The 2026 Guidance clarifies that the definition of “charitable purposes” under the ITA expressly includes the making of qualifying disbursements. Making gifts or grants to qualified donees therefore remains a charitable purpose under the ITA, as was the case prior to the 2022 amendments and consistent with the CRA’s longstanding position.

By contrast, the definition of “qualifying disbursement” provides that disbursements to “grantee organizations” must further a charitable purpose, without reference to the statutory definition of “charitable purposes” under the ITA. Consistent with its comments in CG-032 “Registered charities making grants to non-qualified donees,” the CRA confirms that, in order for a charity to make qualifying disbursements to grantee organizations, the charity must have one or more purposes that are charitable at common law set out in its governing documents, and the disbursements must further those purposes.

What appears to be a new development is the CRA’s acknowledgement that a common law charitable purpose may expressly refer to the making of qualifying disbursements to grantee organizations. This represents a shift from earlier comments we received from the CRA, which suggested otherwise. The 2026 Guidance now confirms that each of the following purposes constitutes a common law charitable purpose that authorizes qualifying disbursements to grantee organizations:

  • To advance [specify religion] in developing countries by establishing and maintaining schools of religious instruction for children, youths, and adults.
  • To advance [specify religion] in developing countries by establishing and maintaining schools of religious instruction for children, youths, and adults by making qualifying disbursements to grantee organizations.
  • To make qualifying disbursements to grantee organizations in furtherance of the following purposes:
    • to promote health by operating a healthy-heart program; or
    • to address youth unemployment by providing employment-related skills programs.

3. Common law incidental purposes doctrine

The 2026 Guidance newly introduces the “common law incidental purposes doctrine” which was not a significant focus of the 2013 Guidance. This concept recognizes that, while a charity must be constituted “exclusively” for charitable purposes, there is a limited exception to this requirement.

Specifically, where a stated purpose, or part of a purpose, is not charitable in and of itself, a charity may nevertheless be regarded as having exclusively charitable purposes if such purpose is incidental to a charitable purpose. A purpose will be considered incidental where it serves only to support, facilitate, or contribute to the charity’s ability to further its other charitable purposes. In other words, where a purpose more closely resembles an activity that the charity carries out in furtherance of its charitable purposes, such purpose will be considered “incidental” and the CRA will not view the charity as having an impermissible non-charitable purpose.

Notwithstanding this flexibility, charities must continue to ensure that their activities do not suggest the existence of any unstated, non-charitable purposes. The CRA will examine a charity’s activities on an ongoing basis to determine whether it is operating exclusively for charitable purposes.

The 2026 Guidance provides the following examples of purposes that would be considered incidental, and therefore permissible, to a “promotion of welfare of animals” charitable purpose to operate an animal shelter and animal adoption program:

  • To promote the shelter [for stray, abandoned, abused, or surrendered animals] and its adoption program to the public.
  • To raise funds to support the operation of the shelter.

4. Appendix A – Subcategories under the fourth head of charity

The 2026 Guidance introduces a new Appendix A, which consolidates, in a single place, various recognized subcategories under the fourth head of charity (“other purposes beneficial to the community in a way the law regards as charitable”). Previously, charities had to consult multiple, separate CRA policy documents to determine whether a purpose could fall within the fourth head of charity.

It is important to note that Appendix A is not an exhaustive list. Several notable subcategories of charitable purposes appear to be absent, including purposes related to providing public amenities, improving socio-economic conditions, assisting ethnocultural communities, and relieving unemployment. Accordingly, charities should not assume that the omission of a particular category of purposes from Appendix A precludes that category from being charitable at law. It would still be necessary to consider broader common law principles and other CRA guidance products where a potential charitable purpose falls outside the listed subcategories.

Implications on charities

We commend the CRA’s efforts to improve accessibility in drafting charitable purposes through its new suite of guidance documents. However, when considered alongside the CRA’s recent decision to end its pre-approval and review process of charitable purposes, these collective changes place a greater onus on charities to ensure that their purposes are properly drafted and that their operations remain legally compliant.

Charities should exercise caution and keep in mind that the CRA guidance products do not constitute complete or definitive statements of the law. In particular, charities should avoid adopting model purposes that do not fully align with their actual activities. They should also ensure that any newly created or modified purposes remain exclusively charitable.

Although the Example Purposes guidance offers a helpful starting point, it may be amended by the CRA without notice. As such, charities cannot simply assume that adopting a model purpose from the Example Purposes will guarantee compliance, particularly if the CRA’s views evolve or if the CRA later identifies errors, as it did recently.

In addition, as noted previously on our article about CRA pre-approval, it remains unclear whether charities are required, or merely encouraged, to submit updated statements of activities when revising their purposes. This uncertainty adds a further layer of complexity to the process.

Charities are still advised to seek legal advice when updating their purposes, both to ensure compliance with applicable requirements and to determine whether, and to what extent, an updated statement of activities should be submitted to the CRA. The lawyers from our Miller Thomson Charities and Not-For-Profit Group would be pleased to assist if you have any questions.

[1] In its original release of the Example Purposes, the CRA included the following two purposes, which have since been removed:

“To promote greater efficiencies within the agriculture industry by helping entrepreneurs bring new and innovative ideas to the marketplace.”

“To promote greater efficiencies within the agriculture industry by providing mentorship programs to entrepreneurs.”

These purposes appear to have been included in error, as they contain language that the CRA does not recognize as charitable under guidance document CG-014 “Community economic development activities and charitable registration.”