Jan 2019 Charity & NFP Law Update
On November 28, 2018, the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench released its Final Order involving the allocation of the funds raised through the GoFundMe online crowdfunding campaign for the benefit of the victims of the April 6, 2018 accident involving twenty-nine individuals, including members of the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team (the “Campaign”). As discussed in the October 2018 Charity and NFP Law Update, the application by the Humboldt Broncos Memorial Fund Inc. (“HBMFI”) was made pursuant to Saskatchewan’s The Informal Public Appeals Act (“IPAA”) and the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (“CNCA”).
In its Final Order, the Court accepted the report of the Advisory Committee previously appointed on August 15, 2018 and whose recommendation the HBMFI also accepted. Taking note of the survivors’ wishes that they all benefit equally regardless of their medical condition, the report from the Advisory Committee recommended that the funds be allocated among three different groups of beneficiaries: a) the families of the 16 persons who died in the accident; b) the 13 surviving claimants, and c) “any remaining funds in trust to the 13 surviving claimants in equal shares, share and share alike.”
As more online crowdfunding campaigns continue to be used for raising funds for both charitable and non-charitable objects, and even though the IPAA is unique legislation only applicable in Saskatchewan and does not apply to qualified donees as defined under the ITA, this case provides an interesting precedent for the distribution of funds raised through crowdfunding campaigns. Charities and not-for-profits in other parts of Canada will also want to monitor whether, in the coming years, other provinces decide to adopt comparable legislation to that currently in place in Saskatchewan.