Nicole K. D'Aoust

Nicole D’Aoust is a partner specializing in charity and not-for-profit law. She has particular expertise advising private clients on the structuring and implementation of legacy, philanthropic, and planned giving matters. This includes structuring private foundations as trusts and corporations, advising on gifts of cash, shares, real estate, and other types of property, drafting gift agreements, and advising on operational matters such as governance, financial statements, gifting to qualified donees, and making qualifying disbursements. Nicole also advises on CRA regulatory and compliance issues, record-keeping requirements, domestic and international activities, social finance, impact investing, tax receipts, investments, related business activities, and audits. Nicole is fully bilingual and works with clients across Canada in French and English.

In 2020, Nicole was appointed to the federal government’s Technical Issues Working Group (TIWG) as a representative of Imagine Canada. TIWG advises CRA on issues related to the regulation of registered charities and other qualified donees in Canada. Nicole is a member of the Canadian Bar Association’s Charity and Not-for-Profit Law Executive, the Ontario Bar Association’s Charity and Not-for-Profit Law Executive, as well as the Canadian Association of Gift Planners’ Government Relations Committee.

Nicole has completed CPA Canada’s three-year In-Depth Tax Course. She is the former co-editor of Canadian Tax Focus, a Canadian Tax Foundation (CTF) newsletter and a former member of the CTF Young Practitioners’ Steering Committee. Nicole is the past co-chair of the Toronto Orchestra’s Young Leadership Council. Nicole previously practiced in the area of corporate tax with a big four accounting firm in Toronto.