Donations for East Africa Drought Relief

Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has issued [:link href=”http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/acdi-cida/ACDI-CIDA.nsf/eng/ANN-72082543-GL5″ txt=”guidelines to match donations”:] for relief in East Africa. The federal Canadian government will match eligible donations, which are:

• monetary. Gifts-in-kind are ineligible.
• made by individual Canadians or through fundraisers specifically in response to this cause. Corporation donations and pre-existing charitable funds will not be matched.
• a maximum of $100,000 per individual. No limit has been placed on the federal government contribution.
• made between July 6 and September 16, 2011.
• specifically acknowledged for East Africa Drought Relief.

The federal government is urging Canadians to donate to registered Canadian charities collecting money for this effort. Charities are not obligated to accept these donations. Prior to making any contributions, donors are advised to confirm the registration of the charity by searching the [:link href=”http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/lstngs/menu-eng.html” txt=”CRA charities listing”:].

Matching Funds

Each charity collecting donations for drought relief in East Africa will be required to submit by September 30, 2011, the East Africa Drought Relief Fund Declaration Form to Canadian International Development Agency [:link href=”http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/home” txt=”(CIDA)”:]. Each charity must declare the total amount received for this cause. CIDA will use these declarations to obtain matching funds from the federal government. The East Africa Drought Relief Fund Declaration Form will be available within the next few days.

The matched funds will be administered separately from the charitable donations. Charities collecting donations for East Africa Drought Relief will either use those funds to administer their own humanitarian projects in East African or will donate the funds to another registered Canadian charity qualified to carry out these projects.

The matched funds will be administered by CIDA according to their guidelines. Distributions of matched funds will be made to experienced Canadian and international humanitarian organizations capable of meeting immediate needs in response to this disaster. Interested charities should submit proposals in accordance with [:link href=”http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/INET/IMAGES.NSF/vLUImages/Funds/$file/guidelines02.pdf” txt=”CIDA guidelines”:].