Finance and property

The following is a list of those financial and property matters which need to be addressed in an ecumenical shared ministry. It is important that these be discussed with all relevant judicatories.

  • A financial plan appropriate to the nature of the partnership
  • How assets such as buildings and memorials are to be shared
  • Means and handling of financial support for local and denominational funds (allocation, assessment, apportionment, benevolence, etc). – recording of offerings through envelopes or preauthorized remittance (PAR), issuing of charitable receipts, developing a sense of stewardship
  • How denominational records are kept
  • Annual Statistical Report (see Appendix)
  • Process for Applications for Financial Grants (see Appendix)
  • Charitable Number and accounting to CRA
  • Calculation of equity
  • Access to capital funds of denominations
  • Processes for dissolving an ecumenical shared ministry including property
  • Pay scales for personnel (normally the compensation standard of the denomination of the clergy person)
  • Appointment of trustees/signing officers
  • Incorporation – judicatories should be consulted to determine if ecumenical shared ministries need to do this to meet provincial or other requirements

Merging or Amalgamating Trusts

If there is a desire to merge or amalgamate two or more trusts (congregations) to form a new shared ministry with identical or substantially compatible charitable purposes, legal advice should be obtained. Provincial authorities may need to be consulted for their approval prior to the merger or amalgamations taking place.

Charity Registration Numbers

When two or more congregations with their own charitable registration numbers vote to form a shared ministry, the following should be considered in consultation with the judicatories:

    1. Select a new name for the ecumenical shared ministry and adopt a Constitution and Bylaws.
    2. Register the new ecumenical shared ministry as a charity by filing a Form T2050 application with the:Charities Directorate, Canada Revenue Agency
      Ottawa K1A 0L5
      1-800-267-2384
      fax (613) 954-8037
    3. Continue to track donations in the individual congregations and issue tax receipts until a new Charitable Registration is received for the new ecumenical shared ministry. In any case, it is probably wise to complete the calendar year.
    4. File the final Annual Charities Return, T3010A, for each congregation.
    5. Each congregation makes a grant of their property or transfers all assets to the new Charity.

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