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This fall, our team received a letter we’ve been waiting on for some time. The Canada Revenue Agency told us we now are a registered journalism organization, or RJO.
We danced with joy! It sounds like an oddly bureaucratic letter to get so excited about, but it means several things for The Tyee.
First, it means that we are now considered a qualified donee, which means we can give tax receipts to our Tyee Builders and others who contribute financially to The Tyee. When you support our work, it’s like donating to registered charities. You’ll get an official tax receipt from us that you can use to reduce your taxable income on your annual return.
Second, it’s validation from a third party about what The Tyee does. The RJO status program was introduced in 2019 by the federal government as part of a suite of measures to support journalism in Canada. To qualify as a registered journalism organization, you have to demonstrate that your non-profit newsroom meets strict criteria. You must ensure that your non-profit news organization exists solely to produce journalism, and that the entire structure is set up to support that.
Our entire operation — our board governance and bylaws, our financials and how we operate to ensure editorial independence — was scrutinized to ensure we met these requirements. There are currently only 16 RJOs in Canada, and we’re honoured to be among them.
Third, it marks a milestone on a long journey for everyone who has helped get The Tyee where we are.
In The Tyee’s 22-year history, we’ve lived many different lives. For most of our history, we operated as a private company, though over the years it became obvious that the way we operate is much better suited to being a non-profit organization. And when Ottawa announced the creation of RJO status, that gave us all the more reason to make the shift.
In an amazing act of generosity, the owner of The Tyee at the time, scientist, entrepreneur and philanthropist Eric Peterson, agreed to donate all of the assets of The Tyee to a newly formed Tyee Independent Media Society. The society has a board that is completely independent of any funder. We remain ever grateful to the original investors in The Tyee, Working Enterprises and then Eric Peterson, for getting The Tyee off the ground and then allowing it to mature into a fully independent, non-profit news organization that exists solely to publish public-interest journalism.
So when I think about getting this new status, I also think about how far we at The Tyee have come, especially these last few years. We’ve grown from a team of two co-founders to a thriving organization of 25 staff members, with a roster of top-notch journalists who win awards and regularly make impacts.
Most important — our members we call Builders provide us the biggest chunk of our budget, which ensures our independence while proving there’s a future for public-interest journalism.
Right now, we’re in the midst of our year-end Tyee Builder drive to sign up 750 new recurring supporters by midnight on Dec. 31. Without our Builders The Tyee would not exist. It’s that simple.
Support from our Tyee Builders is the primary way we’re able to keep up with rising costs, grow our team and keep our articles free and open for everyone to read without a paywall.
If you believe in the future of non-profit news in Canada, and you appreciate what The Tyee does, please consider joining us. You can do so here.
Note: If you are an existing Tyee Builder who has made a contribution since Jan. 1, 2025, and you have not already done so, please log in to your account to ensure we have your address on file. The Canada Revenue Agency requires that we list your address on the official receipt for income tax purposes. Questions? Email us. ![[Tyee]](/design-article.thetyee.ca/ui/img/yellowblob.png){kind=small}
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