Elections at all levels of government matter to nonprofits
Disclaimer: this page offers general legal information and is not legal advice tailored for any specific nonprofit.
Elections, a collective undertaking, are a critical moment for advancing healthy democracies. Community members decide to put their name on the ballot as candidates and campaign for issues that matter to them and their communities. And, people engage in critical issues and vote – one of the many ways to participate in public decision-making – to elect the best representative for them.
Elections also often mark the start of a significant shift in public policy as political parties and candidates share their visions for the future. Many of the issues that nonprofits care about require systemic changes through public policy to address the underlying causes. These can be legislative, regulatory, and/or budget and bylaws related.
One of the ways nonprofits can meaningfully engage in elections at all levels is by advocating for the issues that matter to their communities, the nonprofit sector, and their organization.
Advocacy is a powerful catalyst for change, and elections in particular provide critical opportunities for nonprofits to advance nonprofit driven public policy.
Many nonprofits are already engaging! In ONN’s 2025 State of the Sector survey, 93 per cent of respondents identified engaging in advocacy activities.
Rules of engagement for nonprofit advocacy during elections
Not only can nonprofits advocate, but you have a constitutionally protected right to participate actively in democracy. In some cases, a nonprofit may need to register its advocacy activities, but there is no law that prohibits your advocacy. One exception to this is that registered charities are only prohibited from engaging in partisan advocacy.
Depending on the jurisdiction of the election (federal, provincial, municipal), different rules apply.
Advocacy rules in these three areas are key to understand:
- Income tax Act as interpreted by the Canada Revenue Agency (for registered charities only) and;
- Lobbying rules in the jurisdiction the election is taking place (Get briefed on federal, provincial, and municipal rules) and;
- Election Act, Election financing Act, or Third-party Advertising rules in the jurisdiction the election is taking place.
Third party advertising rules
Third parties often play a role in shaping public policy and opinion when participating in the election cycle, which is why their activities may be regulated.
FEDERAL – CANADA’S ELECTIONS ACT
A third party must register with Elections Canada immediately after incurring expenses of $500 or more on regulated activities (partisan or election advertising) during the pre-election or election periods. This applies to all nonprofits, including registered charities.
Registered charities are not permitted to engage in partisan activities and partisan advertising, but may engage in unlimited issue-based election advertising.
Resources:
PROVINCIAL – ONTARIO’S ELECTION FINANCES ACT
A third party must register with Elections Canada immediately after incurring expenses of $500 or more on regulated activities (partisan or election advertising) during the pre-election or election periods. This applies to all nonprofits, including registered charities.
Registered charities are not permitted to engage in partisan activities and partisan advertising, but may engage in unlimited issue-based election advertising.
Political advertising is any advertising, in any broadcast, print, electronic or other medium, that promotes or opposes a political party, its leader, or a candidate. This includes advertising that takes a position on an issue that can be reasonably regarded as closely associated with a registered party or its leader or a registered candidate.
Organizations do not have to register if their election advertising is published in an exempted format (editorial, a debate, a speech, an interview, a column, a letter, a commentary or news, communicating with your members, personal expression of political views, telephone get out the vote campaigns).
Resources:
MUNICIPAL – MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS ACT
Under Ontario’s Municipal Elections Act, third parties must register with the municipal clerk to be a third-party advertiser in a municipality. Third party advertisers can register in any lower-tier or single-tier municipality (city, town, township, etc.). They cannot register in an upper-tier municipality (region or county). There is no limit on the number of municipalities where a third-party advertiser can register. This applies to all nonprofits, including registered charities.
Registered charities are not permitted to promote or oppose a candidate at the municipal level either.
Third-party advertising is any advertisement, in any broadcast, print, electronic, or other medium that supports, promotes or opposes a candidate, or supports, promotes or opposes a “yes” or “no” answer to a question on the ballot by someone who is not a candidate.
The restricted advertising period runs from May 1 in an election year to the close of voting day.
Resources:
Additional election advocacy resources
Choose the activities that fit your organization’s capacity. Every action you take makes a difference.
- Communicating value of the nonprofit sector: There is a general lack of understanding amongst the public and elected officials about the nonprofit sector, and the municipal election is a great time to talk about the value of nonprofits to capture the attention of candidates and garner public support.
- Nonpartisan advocacy during elections: Whether you are a grassroots group, nonprofit, or charity, you have a right to participate in the democratic process, including election advocacy. Leverage your network to build a coalition around a specific issue, or connect with candidates in wards where your organization is located or offers services and programs.
- Voter engagement: An important and long-standing way nonprofits can engage in elections is by encouraging non-partisan voter engagement. You can do this in big or small ways, from providing educational information on elections to organizing voter engagement events and encouraging voting at workplaces.
- Combating misinformation and disinformation: Fighting misinformation and disinformation is increasingly important for protecting and activating a healthy democracy. Nonprofits can do this by actively debunking misinformation and disinformation, creating tools and resources to help voters understand and recognize misinformation and disinformation, and providing accurate information in multiple languages.
Follow these organizations doing elections advocacy:
Advocacy FAQ
Advocacy is not a legally defined term. It may include anything a nonprofit may does to support or oppose a particular cause, policy or person or influence a decision made by a public actor, like a government department, or private actor, like a business.
Lobbying is a legally defined term in Ontario’s Lobbyist Registration Act and Canada’s Lobbying Act. Lobbying has complex and detailed definitions in each of these acts, but in both cases involves trying to influence a senior public decision-maker such as an elected official or Deputy Minister regarding a decision about legislation, policy, or funding.
Both advocacy and lobbying are allowed activities for most nonprofits in most cases, but sometimes nonprofits need to register with lobbying commissioners if they engage in lobbying.
Yes! Not only can you work with others but advocating in networks makes your advocacy much more effective.
During election periods and pre-election periods, there are specific rules against “colluding”. However, a nonprofit is not colluding just because it is working with other nonprofits. A nonprofit would only be considered colluding if it was working with other nonprofits for the purpose of exceeding legal spending limits on election advertising. Firstly, most nonprofits never come anywhere near these spending limits anyway. Secondly, good faith collaboration on a shared issue is not done to evade legal rules.
Generally no, publicly funded nonprofits can lobby, although they are prohibited from using public funds to do the lobbying. Advocacy includes a wide range of activities many of which are completely legal even for publicly funded nonprofits. Each nonprofit can review its specific funding agreements and the policies of its funders to learn more about any limits that may apply to its advocacy activities.
Yes. Directors of nonprofits and charities like any other individuals are entitled to engage in advocacy. However, because directors have a fiduciary responsibility to put the interests of the nonprofit or charity first, they must refrain from engaging in activities that may damage the reputation of the nonprofit or charity or otherwise harming its interests, which may include advocacy activities.
Directors who publicize their affiliation with a nonprofit or charity in the process of their advocacy may create the impression that their activities are not personal but are being done as a representative of the nonprofit or charity. In such a case, it may be important to ensure such activities comply with any policy of the nonprofit or charity around advocacy and do not have the potential to negatively affect the nonprofit or charity. For example, while individuals are allowed to personally endorse candidates in elections, including their role with a charity in their endorsement may give the impression the charity is endorsing the candidate which would be prohibited partisan activities.
