Charitable Tax Receipting Program

National Sport Trust Fund

The Ontario Curling Council and its member associations, Curling Ontario (Ontario Curling Association) and the Northern Ontario Curling Association (NOCA) endorse the use of the National Sport Trust Fund – Ontario as a revenue generating program for member clubs for which a charitable tax receipt can be provided for qualifying donations.

About the Program

The National Sport Trust Fund (NSTF) is a philanthropic gift-giving program established through the Canadian Council of Provincial and Territorial Sport Federations (CCP & TSF) for the development of amateur sport on a national level. The CCP & TSF is a Registered Canadian Amateur Athletic Association with the Canada Revenue Agency.

The Ontario Sport Network (OSN), a member of the CCP & TSF, has been authorized to act as the Ontario Branch of the NSTF and is the provincial fund manager for all donations made to amateur sport in Ontario.

The National Sport Trust Fund-Ontario (NSTF-Ontario) is able to issue official tax receipts for all qualifying donations. This permits Provincial Sport Organizations/Multi-Sport Organizations (PSO/MSO’s) and their members to establish revenue generation programs for which a charitable tax receipt can be provided for qualifying donations. Donations are made directly to the NSTF-Ontario, and the donated funds are then made available to the individual organizations on a quarterly basis.

Affiliated/member curling clubs of either Curling Ontario (Ontario Curling Association) or the Northern Ontario Curling Association (NOCA) are member clubs of the Ontario Curling Council, the recognized Provincial Sport Organization for the sport of curling in Ontario. Since the Ontario Curling Council is a member of the Ontario Sport Network, all member curling clubs throughout Ontario may benefit from this program.

In order to participate in the NSTF-Ontario, Sport Organizations must adhere to specific guidelines and procedures. See attached.

Fundraising

If your club or organization has specific fundraising projects, you can apply to the National Sport Trust Fund–Ontario. Gifts, or donations of a gift, may also be eligible for a tax receipt. You can raise funds through collection of donations at your own pace or through an event, such as bonspiels, golf tournaments, charity dinners, etc. Clubs must follow the instructions contained within the program’s guidelines and procedures manual. Fundraising for a project cannot happen until the project has been approved.

Anyone seeking insight or clarification on various terminology (i.e. the term “advantage”) can visit this CRA explanation on charitable donations.

NSTF Links and forms

How the NSTF Program Works

Qualifying projects, fees, and eligibility

To qualify, your club must:

Be a current registered member of the Ontario Curling Council. Curling clubs are automatic members of the Ontario Curling Council when they are members of either CurlON (Ontario Curling Association) or NOCA (Northern Ontario Curling Association).
Approval by motion by your Club’s Board of Directors to participate in the National Sport Trust Fund. A sample motion from the Ontario Sport Network is available as a template.
Establish a ’cause’ and set ‘annual’ program goals.

Projects like infrastructure improvement, support to programming, and acquisition of new equipment are all examples of projects that are already being funded through the NSTF-Ontario. Your application will be reviewed by a NSTF-Ontario Selection Committee.

New – Your curling centre can apply to help offset COVID-19 related lost revenues and/or increased expenses; clubs can set up “sustainability” projects. See the current list of clubs raising funds for tips on the wording of projects, timeframes, etc…

Remember – you cannot make donations mandatory, you cannot dictate the amount of money a donor must donate, and you cannot raise money towards your project before the project is approved.

Program Fees

See the current NSTF-Ontario Fee Schedule for the applicable fees for this calendar year.

NSTF-Ontario fees are $2.00 per tax receipt plus a 4% commission on all donations. For example, for a $100 donation, the fees charged are a $4.00 commission and $2.00 for a tax receipt, so that $94.00 net is directed towards your project.
Application fee of $50.00 per project.
For project extensions from 1 year to the next, the project renewal fee is $25 per project.
Duplicate receipt: $2.00 per receipt.
Downloading of database -no charge for a one-time downloading of donor information for a completed project.
Charges are applicable for additional downloading requests at $25.00 per request.

Accessing funds

Funds are available anytime one applies for them.*

*This is only based on the most recent quarterly reports that have been run and distributed back to the stated project.

The funds available to you at any given time are those that have been reported to you through quarterly reports. As the Fund Administrator you are required to keep track of your projects funds raised per quarter. Best practices suggest creating a spreadsheet to track quarterly funds raised, less funds requested through interim funds requests and or final grant report requests, so that you can see a running total at any given time for what funds are available to you. Quarterly reports are distributed within 15 days of any given quarter ending. If you don’t receive a quarterly report from a given period you had zero funds raised in that timeframe. You will then receive a blanket email communicating that information.

When requests for funds/partial funds are made and no receipts are available at that point in time, the group/project in question can still access funds but must report back within 3 months of the date they applied for funds with the accounting and receipts required as back-up.

You can request your funds using the Grant Request Form and Project Report Form. Project Forms must be signed by the Provincial Sport Organization (PSO)! (Send forms to Erin Jarvis at erin@ontcurl.com).

Questions about the National Sport Trust Fund – Ontario should be directed to Bianca Bohn, NSTF-Ontario Fund Manager at (888) 580-3666 or nstfontario@gmail.com.

Testimonials

KW Granite Club, Waterloo, October 2019

Our project was to raise money through the sale of personalized rock handles. It provided improved equipment for the club and a chance for members and sponsors to put their name or other recognition on a rock for years to come.

The process of using NSTF was clear and well documented. Their guidelines are on their website and they have templates to use for applying and for providing project reports and fund requests.

The benefits of using NSTF are primarily the offer of a tax receipt for each donation. However, the handling of money was made much easier with credit card processing. We felt the fees for someone else to handle most of the administration were very reasonable.

We achieved our fundraising goals for this project and NSTF was an important partner in making it happen. We would work with them again.

Carleton Heights Curling Club, Ottawa, October 2019

NSTF-Ontario’s administration of the program has been absolutely top-notch. We receive notification of every donation as it’s received. NSTF-Ontario’s automated donation systems, communications processes and quarterly accounting reports allow the club to track our fundraising progress and report it weekly to members via our club web-site. The benefits to the club have been obvious: donations have allowed us to largely offset the purchase of a capital asset without depleting the club’s capital fund. If we succeed in raising the remaining $3525 in the next 12 weeks, we’ll have completely offset the cost of the Ice Mistress System (which is itself designed to generate annual savings in electricity costs). There’s also a benefit to donors. Although only a percentage of club members have a ‘charitable impulse’, those donors are able to express their appreciation of the club with meaningful support that they know makes a difference in ensuring the club’s long-term sustainability.

Elmira and District Curling Club, Elmira, October 2019

The NSTF-Ontario was an excellent organization to work with, and their fundraising / grant program enabled the Elmira Curling Club to raise a significant portion of the cost of replacing our aging curling stones.

Applying to participate in the program was easy, with a well documented process. Once our application was approved, the Donation website was quickly created by the NSTF staff, and our members were able to start using it immediately. As the administrator of our Club’s program, I was kept up-to-date with all donation activity that occurred on the website, allowing me to thank each donor by e-mail.

The tax receipts that the donors received increased the popularity of our fundraising efforts, and we exceeded our goal in short order.

Any club looking to raise money for capital improvements should definitely look into the NSTF.

Sutton Curling Club, Sutton West, October 2019

The Sutton Curling Club used the National Sports Trust Fund for raising money for some of their renovations to the club. The members found it very easy to use when making a donation and receiving a tax receipt. Chris (Fund Manager) was always very helpful when answering any inquiries about the status of the Trust. It is a good way to have your funding set aside from your regular banking accounts. A great way to save for a project.

Barrie Curling Club, Barrie, November 2019

The Barrie Curling Club was in a position where it required a new ice pad and other infrastructure needs – with priority on the ice pad as we discovered a brine leak in the fall of 2018. We registered with the National Sports Trust Fund – Ontario with no difficulty and asked members to contribute to the fund. At the same time we held open houses to let everyone know the status of the club, the option of methods to replace the ice pad; and the potential to closing operations as the floor could not be used the following year without replacement (2018/2019 was possible through mitigation measures that minimized/stopped the leak). Club members contributed to the NSTF because it allowed them to receive a tax credit; and the club raised over $100K including $80K through the NSTF; and the Meridian Credit Union lent the BCC the remaining funds to construct a new ice pad. The end result: a new floor for the BCC that was constructed with volunteers; and a new season of curling started in the fall of 2019.

Without the NSTF, the BCC may not have raised the funds to allow it to operate. We are most thankful to CurlON who recommended the site; the OCC who assisted the BCC in the process; the NSTF who facilitated applications and payments; and our members who generously contributed to the endeavour. It was amazing to go from discovering a leak to completion of renovations within 11 months – in part due to the NSTF.