Hello colleagues,
We have a client that makes every year a substantial amount of donations at grocery stores tills. On the receipt, it clearly says “Red Cross Donation”. The receipt is from the store (Sobeys, and Mark’s); it has no charity registration number (as required by CRA for donations receipts).
What is your opinion about this?
Thank you all so much for your time.
Nope. Not a receipt in prescribed form, nor is it issued by a Registered Charity.
Store gets the glory. The taxpayer gets…nothing.
Better for them to use my line “No, thanks. I give donations in manner that gives ME the tax credit.”
Sobeys’ and Marks are getting a nice receipt for them to use on THEIR taxes, nothing for you. IMHO.
Pat Gamborg
PAT’s OFFICE
1354 Fed Rd.
Bear River NS B0S 1B0
902-467-3358
Not really. Just an accounting offset to the income received.
But it provides free PR for them.
We had an old guy bring in the boxes from the chocolate almonds he bought from school kids fundraiser.
So, obviously, his tax return fee is heavily reduced.
No,no,no… empty boxes as a receipt…
Hahaha! That guy was really thinking. I hope he brought it the med expenses for his diabetes after eating all that chocolate.
Can I claim my Legion membership as a donation? 
This reminds of a great article by the CBC where they covered a story that found how both the tax payer and grocery retailers don’t benefit from the charitable donations….like financially.
As you mentioned it’s free publicity for grocery retailers but it also cuts costs for the charities. Charities that use point of sale fundraising consider that source of revenue as “fundraising.” Regardless if this is a way for a charity to cut costs, I still prefer to get a certified donation receipt, it’s great for tracking and I can actually do some homework on where my money is being spent on.
Source of article: Why nobody gets a tax benefit when you donate at the checkout | CBC Radio
I worked in the field of philanthropy for several decades…there is NO way I would give at the till to anybody.
I learned this from Donors:
“If I’m giving the money…I’m taking the credit…or nobody is.”
One of the local scrap yards around here will place their 40 yard roll-off scrap bins in various locations around the municipality with a sign on the bin that says all proceeds donated to (insert charity name here). People use these bins to drop off their used metal junk (old bbq’s, bicycles, stoves, fencing, lawn mowers, you name it). These 40 cubic yard bins will fill up literally over a weekend.
The scrap yard picks up all of the bins on Monday, weighs the contents, (calculates their cost for fuel, driver etc) and donates (to the named charity) an amount (wholesale price) representing what they would pay to you or I if we brought scrap metal in to their yard. The scrap yard receives a charitable contribution receipt for the cash donation. In turn, the scrap yard now sells this scap metal to the steel company for a really good markup. There is HUGE money in scrap.
I guess in the end everyone wins.
Speaking of Greta Thunberg…
Some say that DRI Pellets are the “green future” of steel making but if you ask anyone who knows anything about steel manufacturing “scrap metal” is by far the greenest of all feed stock in the steel making process… whether you are using a blast furnace or electric arc furnace. The thought of dirty old scrap being part of the green revolution just isn’t sexy enough for the fanatical greenies though. 
Fascinating!
The only thing I know about scrap steel is that Roxul - which is a FAR better insulator than the pink crap and which we used on our house - is a byproduct of steel manufacturing.
Recycle beer cans? 