If you don’t update your nonprofit’s documents

Existing nonprofits are not required to pass new bylaws when the Ontario’s Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) begins to apply to them, but it is a good idea.

If you incorporated before ONCA was proclaimed on October 19, 2021, your bylaws or articles may not comply with the rules explained below. You have until October 18, 2024 to review, update, and file your governing documents with the Ontario government. Until then, the rules in your articles and bylaws continue to be valid. This is true as long they were valid before the ONCA took effect.

At that time, most rules in your bylaws that do not comply with ONCA become invalid. And those bylaws will be automatically replaced by what ONCA says.

If you don’t update your nonprofit’s bylaws by the end of the three-year period, your challenge will be figuring out which of your bylaws are valid and which no longer apply.

If you are a charity and you don’t file updated bylaws with the Canada Revenue Agency, it could impact your charitable status.

If you are a registered charity and you do not file updated bylaws with the Canada Revenue Agency, it could impact your charitable status.