Don't kid yourself, not-for-profits are big business. More than $70-billion in total, including government, private and corporate donations passes through the sector in Canada each year.

And it is growing.

In fact, Canada has one of the largest non-profit sectors in the world, taking in about $9-billion in individual donations each year from some 22 million Canadians, employing more than two million full-time workers and tapping into the generosity of more than 11 million volunteers putting in two billion hours of their personal time.

And that doesn't take into account the government's largesse.

In fact, the non-profit and voluntary sector is a force, accounting for 6.8% of GDP or 8.5% when you count all that volunteer work.

There are 81,000 non-profit corporations and 80,000 registered charities across the country. Lesson one: While all charities are non-profit organizations, not all non-profits are charities. The distinction: Charities are non-profits approved by the Canada Revenue Agency to issue tax receipts for donations. That means their activities are deemed as being charitable and that the organization supports its own charitable activities. Translation: They provide direct services to people and communities. They are the groups we hear from most often when we are contacted by fundraisers.

So, what cuts it as a charitable concern? The courts have decided -- and this finds its roots in 17th-century England -- that religion, education, health and relief of poverty are all charitable endeavours. More recently, another category has been added: services that benefit the community. This is how museums, art galleries, hostels, crisis centres and food banks, to name a few add-ons, were able to obtain their charitable status.

Of course, what the federal government giveth, it can also take away. The March budget announced $1-billion worth of cuts -- at the expense of museum-assistance programs and environmental and health grants. Still, the richest charities get the bulk of their funding from the government.

In fact, according to Imagine Canada, non-profit and voluntary organizations in Canada receive more revenue from government than do those in other countries. Some 51% of all non-profit revenue comes from government.

And the lion's share of government funding -- a whopping 80% -- goes to health care and education. The biggest winner, according to its 2004 CRA filing, is the Toronto District School Board. Surprised to learn a school board is a charity? So were the first few people we contacted at the Board. But it's true. Of its $2.2-billion in revenue, $2.1-billion came from various levels of government. Private donations totalled $930,000 for the 565 schools in the board and largely went to meet the needs of individual schools: New lighting, computers and so on.

Two universities made the top 10 richest charities in Canada: the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia, coming in at No. 5 and No. 9 respectively. In each case, government funding accounted for about half of total revenues. U of T relies on membership fees and dues to make up the rest of its budget, while UBC sells goods and services to beef up its revenues.

The rest of the top 10 richest Canadian charities are made up of hospitals and health-care providers in British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba. The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Fraser Health Authority, Vancouver Island Health Authority and the Interior Health Authority took in about $5.5-billion worth of the government's largesse.

Which prompts the question, what about Eastern Canada?

And what of top-of-mind charities like the Canadian Cancer Society, Heart and Stroke Foundation, Canadian Diabetes Association? They didn't even crack the top 100. Go figure.

When it comes to private dollars, religious organizations take in 45% of all private dollars given; health and social service groups garner 14% and 10%, respectively.

1. Toronto District School Board

$2,220,616,669 (Total revenues)

$2,134,409,000 (government funding)

2. Vancouver Coastal Health Authority

- $2,002,132,000 in total revenues - $1,732,026,000 in government funding.

3. Capital Health - $1,972,492,000 in total revenues - $1,708,141,000 in government funding.

4. Calgary Health Region - $1,816,825,000 in total revenues - $1,577,029,000 in government funding.

5. University of Toronto

- $1,787,992,000 in total revenues z $783,321,000 in government funding.

6. Fraser Health Authority - $1,663,010,286 in total revenues - $1,561,407,068 in government funding.

7. Winnipeg Regional Health Authority - $1,514,049,000 in total revenues - $1,435,483,000 in government funding.

8. Vancouver Island Health Authority - $1,274,188,732 in total revenues - $1,102,486,332 in government funding.

9. University of British Columbia - $1,149,169,000 in total revenues - $547,197,000 in government funding.

10. Interior Health Authority - $1,138,924,027 in total revenues - $1,046,732,099 in government funding.

Source: Charities Directorate, Canada Revenue Agency. All data is from the 2004 tax year. Government funding includes all levels of government