The future of the annual Canada Day Beach Party is up in the air after the Association of Canadians in Bermuda gave up their charitable status.

While donations have kept the annual event running for several years, they are now searching for corporate sponsors.

Jennifer Campbell, president of ACIB, said the change of charitable status meant that the organisation was legally required to transfer any funds raised as a charity to a registered charity in good standing.

“We decided to relinquish because there are just too many boxes to tick to be a charity in Bermuda these days,” she said. “We don’t have the resources to be running anti-money laundering committee meetings, sending our members to workshops, working on fundraising initiatives and the required reporting has become incredibly onerous.

“We’re basically a social club that puts on a beach party once a year.

“We did consult with the Centre on Philanthropy before we made the decision and they agreed that we were not operating as a charity any more, so even if we did try to renew the status, we probably would not have been successful anyway. At first, our group felt pretty relieved until we heard that we had to give our money away. Then, not so much.”

Mrs Campbell said the organisation was pleased to donate its funds to Keep Bermuda Beautiful, which has supported ACIB with trash management at past events. However, she said the change in charitable status had left the organisation on the lookout for corporate sponsorship. The organisation will host its 2017 beach party and barbecue at Warwick Long Bay on July 1, celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary, with the support of Freisenbruch-Meyer, but Mrs Campbell said the organisation was looking for support to keep the event going after this year.

“If we get good weather, we might have some money in the bank after it’s all done,” she said.

“If not, then we’d probably start working on getting sponsorship for 2018 immediately.

“We’d stand a better chance if we are able to give a company nearly a year to work it into their budget. However, if we start off broke and can’t get sponsors, it either won’t happen or will be scaled down significantly.

“Currently we have a DJ, great food from IRG, lifeguards, tents rented and Canadian beer brought in — that all costs us. So those things would have to be scaled down or scrapped completely.”

She added that any corporations or businesses who wished to sponsor the event would be able to enjoy a presence both at the party and in any marketing materials.

For more infromation, email canadiansinbermuda@gmail.com.