Federal incorporation under CNCA is the right choice if your organization operates across multiple provinces, wants national name protection, or has directors from across Canada. Ontario incorporation under ONCA is the right choice if you operate primarily within Ontario, since you avoid the Extra-Provincial Licence overhead. For most single-province organizations operating only within Ontario, ONCA is simpler and cheaper. Federal is genuinely better for national-scope organizations.
Yes. Federal incorporation alone does not grant the right to operate in any specific province. To operate in Ontario, you must register an Extra-Provincial Licence (EPL) with the Province of Ontario. Same applies to most other provinces. We bundle the Ontario EPL as a $164.99 add-on at checkout for federal nonprofits operating in Ontario.
CNCA generally requires at least one director. A soliciting corporation must have at least three directors, at least two of whom are not officers or employees. There is no Canadian residency requirement for CNCA directors.
The Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act came into force October 17, 2011, with a 3-year transition window for pre-existing federal nonprofits to transition from the old Canada Corporations Act Part II to CNCA. The window closed October 17, 2014. Federal nonprofits that did not transition were dissolved by Corporations Canada and would need to revive before continuing operations. If you're researching an older federal nonprofit, check its current status on the Corporations Canada online database.
Yes. CNCA allows three name options: (1) a numbered corporation like "1234567 Canada Society" (no NUANS required), (2) a regular named corporation like "Canada Dance Foundation" (NUANS required), or (3) a bilingual name like "Toronto Community Hockey Association / Association de Hockey Communautaire de Toronto." Numbered corporations are a fast option if you want federal incorporation without the cost or wait time of a NUANS report.
No. Federal incorporation creates the legal entity (the "body"), but charitable status is a separate designation granted by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). You must first incorporate with CNCA-compliant Statement of Purpose and dissolution clauses (which we provide), then apply to the CRA for your charitable tax number using Form T2050. CRA processing typically takes 6 to 12 months. Without CRA registration, you cannot issue official tax receipts to donors.
Federal nonprofits must file an Annual Return with Corporations Canada within 60 days of the anniversary of incorporation. Registered charities must also file a CRA T3010 Registered Charity Information Return within six months of their fiscal year-end. If you operate in any province, you must also file the annual filings required by each province where you are registered. Federal compliance is more administratively complex than provincial-only ONCA, but the legal structure is more flexible for multi-province organizations.
Common words for Federal nonprofits include Foundation, Association, Centre, Institute, Society, and Club. Permitted legal endings are limited to "Incorporated" / "Inc." or "Corporation" / "Corp." or no legal ending at all. Restricted words include any government-implying terms (Parliament Hill, Royal Canadian Mounted Police), United Nations references (where it implies a UN relationship), and specific terms like Amalgamated, College, Engineer, House, and Royal. We pre-screen your proposed name against these restrictions during Preliminary Search.
The Statement of Purpose is the core mission of your nonprofit, what your organization exists to do (e.g., "to advance education in arts and culture"). Restrictions on Activities are limitations on what you'll do beyond your purpose (typically "no restrictions" for most nonprofits). Both are required in CNCA Articles. For charities, the Statement of Purpose must use specific language acceptable to the CRA, plus a mandatory dissolution clause directing assets to another registered charity on wind-up.
Yes. Both Federal nonprofits and charities can earn revenue from program activities, memberships, fundraising, and even related businesses. The key restriction is that profits must stay in the organization and support its purpose, not be distributed to directors, officers, or members. Charities have additional restrictions on unrelated business activities — running a profit-making business unrelated to the charitable purpose can put charitable status at risk and lead to revocation by the CRA.
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