Our Practice Areas
Social Enterprise & Social Finance
Carters has extensive experience advising international, national and regional charities, not-for-profits, and for-profit hybrid corporate structures and mandates aimed at social good, and assists clients who engage in social enterprise and social finance with all legal aspects of incorporation, tax, governance, financing, including funding arrangements and sustainability performance goals.
Carters provides an integrated approach that combines our expertise in other areas of law, including charity & not-for-profit law, business, privacy, intellectual property, Information technology, risk management and litigation, in order to adapt our legal solutions to the innovative approaches to social enterprise envisioned by our clients.
Social Enterprise
A social enterprise can be organized as a charity or not-for-profit, which can be structured as trusts, unincorporated associations, or corporations, usually as non-share capital corporations. A social enterprise can also be organized as a for-profit corporation with a governance structure defined by its social purpose. British Columbia and Nova Scotia have a special legislative framework for social enterprises. The choice of structure will depend on many factors, including the purposes of the proposed organization, how the organization plans to raise funds, and the tax regime governing the organization.
Social Finance
Social finance encompasses the perspectives of the organization or persons raising capital for a social purpose as well as the perspectives of organization or persons, including government, providing social finance capital. A key element of any social finance arrangement is the manner in which the mandate to achieve the social purpose is adopted, implemented, and measured.
Lawyers
Publications
Impact Investing by Charities
STEP National Conference, June 15, 2021.
Localization: CRA Challenges Possible Reform and Practical Tips
By Terrance S. Carter at the Humanitarian Response Network Thematic Meeting on Localization held...
Income Generation by Charities and NFPs: Whats Possible and Whats Not
Presented by Terrance S. Carter at The 2021 Charity & NFP Law Seminar.
Speaking Engagements
Drafting General Investment Policies
By Jacqueline M. Demczur Featured during The CBA Charity Law Conference, on April 25, 2025
Gift Acceptance Policies and Donor Agreements: An Integrated Approach
by Jacqueline M. Demczur and Ryan M. Prendergast during the Annual Charity & Not-for-Profit Law Webinar on Nov 14, 2024
Donor Advised Funds for Healthcare Charities
by Jacqueline M. Demczur during the Carters/Fasken Healthcare Philanthropy Webinar 2024 on Feb 13, 2024.
Conflicts of Interest for Lawyers who Work with Charities and Not-for-Profits
by Esther Shainblum at the Ontario Bar Association on Feb 26, 2025.