BCAMP seeking charitable status

The British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers (BCAMP) is pursuing charitable status. The Western Society for Periodical Education and Research (WSPER) was incorporated as a non-profit organization on March 5, 2010 and the board of directors has approved a plan first suggested in the 2006 association business plan, that would establish it as separate arm of the organization.According to a posting in the association's online newsletter:

WSPER's mandate is the advancement of education and its planned charitable activities include research, bursaries available to the public, school outreach, mentoring and internship programs. Its board will include educators and researchers involved in the local publishing industry. 

Charitable status is a privilege granted by the charities directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency. (Often, individual magazines who seek such status find that publishing a magazine is not considered by CRA as charitable activity.) Among the attractions of such status is the ability to issue tax receipts (thus making the organization more attractive to a broader range of funders) and the potential to raise other capital and operational funding.

• Magazines urged to review new charitable fundraising rules (October 6, 2008)
• Will cultural mags be able to meet the CRA fundraising benchmarks? (July 09, 2008)
• Not necessarily charitable (February 17, 2006)
• Comment about charity status (October 31, 2005)
• Good news, maybe, we'll see (September 28, 2005)