Youthquest loses tax status

Youthquest lost its status as a registered charity and the corresponding authority to issue charitable receipts for donations in March, Xtra West has learned.

Youthquest chair Ray Lam says the organization has reapplied for charitable status and he expects it will be registered again within a few months.

A spokesperson for the Canada Revenue Agency says if Youthquest is successful in its reapplication, it will likely be eligible to issue charitable receipts retroactively.

Youthquest’s funding from the provincial government was not renewed this year after the membership ousted its entire board of directors in a dramatic coup in October 2004. Since then, the board of directors has changed a number of times and the society’s financial resources have dwindled away.

Youthquest released a recovery plan Sep 27 that acknowledges it has “been operating in emergency/crisis mode for many months” and outlines a strategy to take the society back to exactly the same level of service and funding it had prior to last year’s imbroglio.

Lam says the society’s annual general meeting (AGM) will be held on Sun Nov 20 at the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library. New board members will be nominated and financial statements for 2003 and 2004 will be presented.

“The majority of the people on the current board will be staying,” Lam told Xtra West Oct 13. “Things are generally going well.”

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