A non -profit guard says that Canadians have no way of knowing how much money is being donated to an evangelical group founded by an American who is in the headlines throughout the country for cancellations of events and questions about their views.
The permissions for the Summer Adoration Concert events of Sean Feucht organized by his Group Burn 24/7 in the main cities of Canada, including Winnipeg, Halifax, Charlottetown and Abbotsford, BC, were recently canceled in the middle of the public reaction.
The Canadian arm of the Burn 24/7 organization of Feucht accepts Some donations through the Great Commission Foundation, a beneficial organization registered with BC headquarters that provides tax receipts on behalf of hundreds of unregistered Christian organizations.
Charity Intelligence says that the Foundation’s finances are opaque, and the only way to obtain audited statements is through requests for access to information.
“This beneficial organization is not financially transparent,” said Kate Bahen, managing director of Charity Intelligence.
“When beneficial organizations are not transparent and are not responsible and are not open and reveal where the money is going, that opens them to these questions.”
The musician and preacher affiliated with Maga Feucht has drawn the conviction for the comments he has made online and in previous interviews about abortion, 2SLGBTQ+rights, critical theory of gender race and diversity.
Charity Intelligence’s criticism of the Foundation occurs when others point out that news articles on Feucht canceled adoration concerts have probably raised their profile among possible donors.
“The attempt to censor has failed in a way that … it caught the attention that $ 1 million in advertising would never have brought it,” said James Turk, director of the Free Expression Center of the Metropolitan University of Toronto.
Burn Canada Ministries had a charitable state previously registered in Canada, but was revoked in 2021 for not presenting the required documents. Then, in 2024, the Foundation of the Great Commission announced Burn Canada It was one of his projects.
Canadians can also donate directly to burn Canada without receiving any fiscal receipt.
In Annual Report 2024The organization says in general terms how to spend funds such as recruitment, worship events and Feucht’s We worship the tour, but there is no detailed breakdown of your expenses.
CBC communicated with the Great Commission Foundation and Burn Canada to comment, asking them how much money the processes in the name of Burn Canada. They did not respond.
Miles Howe, a professor of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Brock who studies beneficial organizations, said that supervision in the Canadian charity sector is too indulgent, and the Foundation of the Great Commission must be examined.
“Every time you have a Canadian beneficial organization that operates in this way of … an amplified Gofundme campaign for dozens of other intermediaries, whether they are qualified or not qualified, it is certainly a reason for additional research,” he said about the Foundation.
The financial statements of the Audited Foundation of the Great Commission of 2022 obtained by Charity Intelligence through an application for access to information show only consolidated results. There were $ 31.1 million in total costs of the agency’s program, but there is no dissemination of which organizations obtained the money.
The breakdown Foundation how much you spend on individual international programs in available public presentations.
CRA does not make enough audits: lawyer
Toronto’s charity with headquarters, Mark Blumberg, did not talk about specific charity organizations, but said that public presentations generally have more information about foreign activity than about what beneficial organizations handle within the country.
The orientation of the Canada Revenue Agency says that, although registered beneficial organizations can use intermediaries or grant subsidies, they cannot act as a conduit “that simply serves the resources for an organization that is not a qualified event.”
The CRA says that beneficial organizations must maintain adequate records that show that this is not the case. But Blumberg said that most of the time, beneficial organizations do not make it clear to the public that are following the rules.
A beneficial organization may be publicly talking about doing some work, he said: “But is there all the backup for it? Did they do due diligence?”
Blumberg says that transparency is a problem because Canadians can question why some beneficial organizations obtain special tax privileges. He believes that the CRA does not make enough audits, saying that the agency only performs around 200 to year, although there are around 86,000 registered beneficial organizations.
The CRA said in an email that its application is based on the risk of non -compliance, and that a charity organization can be chosen for an audit based on things such as public complaints and the coverage of the media.
“The CRA claims to have checks in place,” said Howe, “but for me … there is a lack of baseline reports with which the CRA seems comfortable.”
Ex-feucht volunteers urges precaution
Questions are also being asked in the United States about some of Feucht’s beneficial organizations.
Burn 24/7 is only one of several beneficial organizations led by Feucht, whose main organization, Sean Feucht ministries received a “retention” rating by Christian Charity Watchdog Ministrywatch based in the United Statesthat gave it a “F” rating for transparency.
Sean Feucht’s ministries changed their exempt taxes from the Internal Revenue Service to the Church in 2022, exempting it from presenting some documents that provide financial information to the public. Another beneficial organization of Feucht, let’s love, is also exempt from revealing that information because it has a state of the Church.
Two other organizations, burn 24/7 and light a candle, present the US -based tax form 990, which can increase financial transparency. But for Burn 24/7, the most recent annual presentation is 2021.
In 2020, the last year in which the Ministries of Sean Feucht, Burn 24/7 and Light to Vandle, all informed, the financial details available publicly, the compensation revealed for FEUCHT himself appears as $ 167,000 from the USA., $ 17,500 US and $ 37,467 respectively. That is equivalent to more than $ 221,000 from the USA.
Earlier this year, a group of former employees and volunteers who worked for Feucht asked the United States government to formally investigate FEUCHT financial practices.
“He was someone who believed in his cause,” said Richie Booth, who worked as a member of the administrative staff for Burn 24/7.
“Sean was like a hero in the movement of worship and prayer.”
He warned people who may agree with some of Feucht’s opinions about donation to his ministries.
The group of former supporters raises concerns about real estate owned by Feucht and his ministry, asking why a charity organization needs such expensive real estate.
Public records say Sean Feucht Ministries owns a residential property in Washington, DC, which was bought for $ 967,000 in the United States in 2022; A mansion in Orange County, California, which, according to the Redfin real estate site, was bought for $ 3.5 million in the United States in 2024; and a cabin and 40 acres in Montana with a market value of more than $ 1 million in the United States bought in 2023.
Washington’s property is the home of Camp Elah, which Feucht has described as its “Ministry headquarters” in DC
The public revelations of the DC License Department show the non -profit state for Sean Feucht ministries, which would allow him to operate in the capital of the United States, was revoked in 2023. A spokesman for the department said in an email on Tuesday that the organization did not present a required presentation.
CBC News could not get to Feucht to comment.
Feucht was running out of success for Congress as a Republican in California in 2020. Documents say that the singer’s campaign He made two contributions Burning 24/7 despite the regulations of the United States, which prohibits electoral committees from making donations to beneficial organizations that have previously compensated candidates.
The contributions to Burn 24/7 totaled $ 22,844 USA in 2020 and 2021, both years when Feucht received compensation as president of Burn 24/7, according to the tax files.
More than half of the donated money ended up being returned to the campaign after regulators told the campaign committee that several prohibited contributions had to be reimbursed to donors, say the documents of the Federal Electoral Commission of the United States.
Christy Gafford, who served as National Director of Burn 24/7 at that time, said he had no information about the campaign, but has “serious concerns” regarding how Feucht operates through her organizations.
“It is very charismatic. It is very influential. But I also think it uses its platform to dictate a narrative that will be beneficial for him,” he said.
“I think he uses that platform to increase controversy, instead of using the platform to properly say the gospel.”
Gafford said the controversy in Canada has played in the hands of Feucht.
“He creates a narrative that, in the long run, will make it look like he is persecuted and uses it to increase his own enrichment,” he said.
A non -profit guard dog is asking questions about a registered charitable organization that is receiving donations and issuing tax receipts for hundreds of Christian groups, including the Canadian chapter of one of Sean Feucht’s organizations.
