We are not asking for money yet.

Most organisations put a donate button up on day one. We have decided not to, and you deserve the reasoning rather than a quiet blank page.

Please read this before giving us anything

We are not a registered charity, so we cannot issue official donation receipts for gifts of money or of goods. That is federal law rather than a choice of ours, and it applies to money and to goods. If a receipt matters to you at tax time, please give to an established registered charity doing similar work, and come back to us when we can offer you one.

Why the donate button is switched off

Two reasons, and both come down to the same thing: we would rather be able to account for a dollar before we ask anyone for one.

1
The controls are not finishedA bank account with two signatures on every payment, liability insurance, and a bookkeeping system. Those go in before we take money from anybody, not after.
2
Nothing is running yet to fundOur first two seva days are still being booked. Asking for money before there is a programme to spend it on is how new organisations end up with a balance and no story to attach to it.

What will happen when donations open

When our banking and insurance are in place we will open donations here, and we are committing now to how we will do it.

Every appeal will say plainly whether an official donation receipt can be issued.
We will use a platform that does not take a percentage of your gift, so more of it reaches the community.
Suggested amounts will be tied to something concrete, such as the number of meals it buys, not to a vague cause.
We will publish what came in and what it was spent on.
We will not claim that one hundred percent of a gift reaches the front line, because running an organisation honestly costs something and pretending otherwise is not transparency.

If you are determined to give now

Some people will want to help before all of this is finished, and we are grateful for it. Please call 604 750 1389 or email info@sevasangatfoundation.com and talk to us first. We will tell you honestly what it can be used for, we will confirm in writing what we received, and we will remind you again that we cannot issue a tax receipt.

Meanwhile

Four things worth more than money to us today.

Your time

Two hours a month from enough people is what turns a plan into a seva day.

Goods

Sealed food, hygiene items and warm clothing go straight into someone's hands.

A restaurant

We buy every meal we hand out. A restaurant willing to donate or discount an order changes what a night can do.

A blood donation

Book with Canadian Blood Services today. It costs nothing and it counts immediately.

See how to take part

Questions people ask

Straight answers about money.

Can you give me a tax receipt?

No. Under the Income Tax Act only a qualified donee may issue an official donation receipt. Registered charities are much the largest group of qualified donees, but not the only one: the list also takes in registered Canadian amateur athletic associations, registered journalism organisations, registered municipalities, certain universities outside Canada, and the federal and provincial Crown. We are a not for profit society and we are none of those things, so we cannot issue you a receipt. Society and charity are often confused, and the difference matters to your tax return.

If I give now, can you receipt it later?

Not exactly, and we would rather explain this properly than give you a simple no. We cannot issue any receipt today. If we are ever granted charitable registration, CRA policy would allow us to receipt cash gifts received during the calendar year in which registration takes effect, provided our purposes and activities were charitable throughout that year. Gifts of goods are stricter: a charity cannot receipt a gift in kind that it received before its effective date of registration. We cannot promise any of this will happen or when, so please do not give on the expectation of a receipt.

Is anyone being paid?

Not at the moment. Everyone involved today is a volunteer, including the people who run the foundation, and there are no employees. Out of pocket expenses can be reimbursed, which is not the same as a wage. As our programs grow we intend to hire for specific roles and pay properly for them, and any wages will appear in our accounts.

Where will donations go once they open?

Into the programs described on our What We Do page, and into the running costs that keep them safe and legal: meals bought from restaurants, hygiene and grocery supplies, insurance, criminal record checks and transport.

Can I pay for a meal night directly?

That is often the most useful thing. Rather than sending us money, some people prefer to pay a restaurant directly for an order we have placed, or to hand us gift cards for a grocery store. Call us and we will set it up so you can see exactly where it went.