This is the exact embedded text of the captured official document.
Snapshot a97c78a07685 · verified 2026-06-05 ·
original document ·
archived snapshot ·
unofficial consolidation, the official version is held by the municipal clerk.
POLICY REGION OF WINDSOR AND WEST HANTS MUNICIPALITY RCOFN-007.00
ACCEPTANCE OF DONATIONS POLICY
Region of Windsor and West Hants Municipality
Page 1 of 7
Acceptance of Donations Policy, RCOFN-007.00
1. PURPOSE
The Region of Windsor and West Hants Municipality recognizes donations are,
at times, necessary and legitimate in supporting the effective conduct of
government business. The acceptance of donations will be done in such a
manner as to respect the generosity of the public and their donations.
The purpose of this Policy is to define the:
-
Framework for the acceptance of donations by the Municipality,
-
Administration of donations,
-
Issuance of tax receipts, and
-
Appropriate use of donated funds.
2. DEFINITIONS
For the purposes of this Policy, the following definitions are provided:
a. "CAO" refers to the Chief Administrative Officer of the Municipality.
b. "Cash" refers to any common currency, cheques, money orders, or
credit cards normally accepted by the Municipality.
c. "Council" refers to the Council for the Municipality.
d. "Donation" refers to a gift by a donor at arm's length of the
Municipality. No advantage can accrue to a donor or to any person not
dealing at arm's length to the donor as a result of a donation. A
donation may be in the form of cash or in kind, meaning a security, a
tangible capital asset, a cultural asset, or real property. Donated
services are not eligible for consideration under the Income Tax Act.
e. "Donation Fund" refers to a pool of donated assets established for a
specified purpose by Council.
f. "Elected Municipal Official" refers to a Council member and includes
the Mayor and Deputy Mayor unless the context indicates otherwise.
g. "Employee" refers to any person directly employed by the Municipality.
POLICY REGION OF WINDSOR AND WEST HANTS MUNICIPALITY RCOFN-007.00
ACCEPTANCE OF DONATIONS POLICY
Region of Windsor and West Hants Municipality
Page 2 of 7
Acceptance of Donations Policy, RCOFN-007.00
h. "Gift" refers to a contribution of cash or property to the Municipality,
for which the donor received no consideration in return. Consideration
may include, event tickets, use of the property, or dinner and/or
performance at a fundraising event.
i. "In-Kind Donation" refers to the donation of goods and services that
are received in place of cash donations/gifts.
j. "Municipality" refers to the Region of Windsor and West Hants
Municipality (or the name of the Regional Municipality given as per
Section 11 of the Region of Windsor and West Hants Municipal Act),
effective April 1, 2020.
3. ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF DONATIONS
a. Donations must only be accepted and used for purposes outlined in the
Municipal Government Act, Section 65 - "Power to Expend Money".
b. Donations must be for purposes consistent with the Municipality's
mandate, programs, services, and activities, and must be deemed to
be in the public interest.
c. The Municipality may elect to accept or decline any donation. If a gift
is not accepted, the donor will be advised of the reason.
d. The Municipality may decline donations, with approval from Council,
from any donor who represents a reputational risk to the Municipality,
through involvement in activities that are contrary to the values of the
Municipality.
e. The Municipality cannot accept donations from individuals or
organizations, whom are currently in litigation against the Municipality.
f. Donations greater than $500 must be reviewed by the Director,
Financial Services or designated individual, before being accepted by
the Municipality.
g. In-kind donations and donations for which a Donation Fund has not
been established by Council can only be accepted if the Municipality
has the capability to meet the initial and ongoing costs associated with
the gift. This will be decided on a case by case basis by Council.
h. Council may retain any in-kind donation or, sell the asset and use the
proceeds as necessary, unless donated for a designated purpose. In
instances where in-kind donations are designated for a specific
purpose, donor consent will be required before sale.
POLICY REGION OF WINDSOR AND WEST HANTS MUNICIPALITY RCOFN-007.00
ACCEPTANCE OF DONATIONS POLICY
Region of Windsor and West Hants Municipality
Page 3 of 7
Acceptance of Donations Policy, RCOFN-007.00
4. VALUATION OF IN-KIND DONATIONS
a. Should Council accept and retain an in-kind donation, the donation will
be assessed at its fair market value.
-
Should this in-kind donation be Real Property, Acquisition of
Real Property Policy will be followed.
b. A donation of inventory by a business is valued at its normal retail
price.
c. Where a public market does not exist to establish a fair market value
of an in-kind donation (e.g. TSE, NYSE, etc.); an independent
appraisal will be required.
d. A donor may be asked by Council to make a cash donation to cover
the costs of an appraisal.
5. DONATION FUNDS
a. Council may establish Donation Funds for the collection and use of
donations.
b. All cash donations without a specific purpose will be deposited in the
General Donations Reserve Fund.
c. Donations of cash designated for specific purposes will only be
accepted by the Municipality where Council has authorized the specific
purpose or a fundraising campaign and where the necessary Donation
Fund has been established.
d. Contributions from a Donation Fund to an organization or individual is
considered a grant and must be reported as such.
6. USE OF DONATED FUNDS
a. The Municipality cannot facilitate a "conduit" relationship between
donors and an organization which is independent of the Municipality.
This means that the Municipality's authority to issue tax receipts
cannot be used to provide an unrelated organization with the ability to
provide contributors with a tax benefit.
b. The Municipality must retain active control over the use of donated
funds, meaning it must actively oversee the use of donated funds.
Guidelines are provided in Section 5, Item c of this Policy.
c. Council may authorize the grant of a tangible capital asset or of real
property financed with donations to an unrelated organization.
d. The Municipality may grant funds to organizations over which it exerts
significant financial influence, or which are considered municipal
POLICY REGION OF WINDSOR AND WEST HANTS MUNICIPALITY RCOFN-007.00
ACCEPTANCE OF DONATIONS POLICY
Region of Windsor and West Hants Municipality
Page 4 of 7
Acceptance of Donations Policy, RCOFN-007.00
service organizations. Examples of such organizations include, but are
not limited to, Libraries or Fire Departments.
7. INDEPENDENCE FROM UNDUE INFLUENCE
a. To ensure that the Municipality retains an arm's length relationship
with the donor and as such, is not subject to undue influence;
donations cannot be solicited or accepted from the following:
-
A party subject to an application for an approval, license, or
permit; or
-
A bidder, proponent, or applicant, or any party not acting at
arm's length from a bidder, proponent, or applicant to an open
procurement.
b. Prior to accepting a gift with a value greater than $500, the donor is
required to make a written declaration that the donation to the
Municipality is not concurrent with an approval or procurement process
in which they, or their organization or company if applicable, are
involved.
8. ISSUING TAX RECEIPTS
a. Tax receipt will only be issued for donations of $20 or greater.
b. Tax receipts will be issued no later than February 28th of the following
year.
c. Tax receipts must include the information prescribed by the Income
Tax Act and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), as follows:
-
A statement that it is an "official receipt for income tax
purposes",
-
The name and address of the Municipality, as on file with the
CRA,
-
The unique serial number of the receipt,
-
The registration number issued by the CRA,
-
The place or locality where the receipt was issued,
-
The exact date and year the gift was received,
-
The date the receipt was issued,
-
The full name, including middle initial, and address of the donor,
-
The amount of the donation,
-
The amount and description of any advantage/recognition
received by the donor,
POLICY REGION OF WINDSOR AND WEST HANTS MUNICIPALITY RCOFN-007.00
ACCEPTANCE OF DONATIONS POLICY
Region of Windsor and West Hants Municipality
Page 5 of 7
Acceptance of Donations Policy, RCOFN-007.00
-
The eligible amount of the donation,
-
The signature of the individual authorized by the Municipality to
acknowledge donations,
-
Name and Address of the Canada Revenue Agency,
canada.ca/charities-giving.
Should the receipt be for non-cash gifts, the official receipt must also
include:
-
The date the gift was received,
-
A brief description of the gift received by the Municipality,
-
The name and address of the appraiser (if the gift was
appraised).
d. Tax receipts must be approved and signed by the Director, Financial
Services.
9. DONOR RECOGNITION
a. Donors can only receive nominal recognition from the Municipality. Per
the CRA, this is defined as having a fair market value equal to 10% or
less of the amount of the gift.
b. Individuals or organizations who receive advantage recognition from
the Municipality, per the CRA, will no longer be eligible for an official
tax receipt and will not be considered a donor. This is defined as
having a fair market value equal to or greater than 80% of the amount
of the gift.
c. Donations that fall between the nominal and advantage recognition
levels, as per the CRA, will have recognition subtracted from the
donation and an official tax receipt will be issued for the difference.
d. Recognition does not include advertising. Advertising disqualifies a gift
as a donation. For instance, the Municipality can recognize a corporate
donor by naming a room of a building after the company. However,
the company logo should not be included in a publication or on a door
plaque, as it may be considered advertising.
e. Names of donors will not be published without their permission.
10. REPEAL
The Acceptance of Donation Policy, COFN-009.00 dated January 8, 2019 of
the former Municipality of the District of West Hants is hereby repealed.
POLICY REGION OF WINDSOR AND WEST HANTS MUNICIPALITY RCOFN-007.00
ACCEPTANCE OF DONATIONS POLICY
Region of Windsor and West Hants Municipality
Page 6 of 7
Acceptance of Donations Policy, RCOFN-007.00
I, Rhona Brown, Municipal Clerk of the Region of Windsor and West
Hants Municipality, the Province of Nova Scotia, do hereby certify that
this is a true copy of the Policy as adopted by the Council of the
Region of Windsor and West Hants Municipality at a meeting duly
called and held on the 28th day of April, 2020
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
R.N. Brown
Municipal Clerk
Adoption
Notice to Council:
April 14, 2020
Approval:
April 28, 2020
Description: Initial approval of the Acceptance of Donations Policy, RCOFN-
007.00.
REGION OF WINDSOR AND WEST HANTS MUNICIPALITY
Donor Declaration Form
I am voluntarily and unconditionally donating the sum of $_______ to the
Region of Windsor and West Hants Municipality, to benefit the development
of the Municipality. I understand that the Municipality can direct my donation
to a development of their choice, in their efforts to improve the area.
Consistent with the income tax interpretations of "qualifying donations," this
contribution is made voluntarily without any conditionals and no benefit will
accrue to myself (or related parties) because of my donation. I confirm that
this donation does not or will not affect any approval or procurement process
I (or related parties) may, directly or indirectly, be connected to. I also
understand that civil penalties can be imposed against me for the
misrepresentation of tax matters. Based on these facts, I understand that an
official receipt for tax purposes will be issued.
Please submit this form along with your donation to:
The Region of Windsor and West Hants Municipality
76 Morrison Drive
PO Box 3000
Windsor, NS B0N 2T0
-
Please make cheques payable to the Region of Windsor and West
Hants Municipality.
-
Each donation exceeding $500 must come with its own donation
declaration form.
-
All donations are credited in Canadian Dollars
-
Do not alter this form. Doing so may cause a delay or return of the
donation.
-
Donations may be delivered in person to the above address Monday to
Friday from 8:30am to 4:30pm.
Donor Information
Company Name or First Name:
Last Name:
Mailing Address:
City:
Postal Code:
Telephone: ( )
Email:
Donation Amount: $
Donor Signature:
Date: