One question asked at the Barrie Garden Show was, “Are there any tax advantages etc to donating land?”
What a great question! And the answer is YES!
Although we do not expect our ambassador team members to understand the ‘ins and outs’ of this aspect of conservation, you can confidently tell people that yes, there are significant tax benefits. (These mainly apply to capital gains.)
The benefits are handled by the Ecological Gifts Program, part of Environment and Climate Change Canada. Their slogan is “A Legacy for Tomorrow – A Tax Break Today” – kinda says it all.
The Couchiching Conservancy works closely with them on almost all of our acquisitions and The Ecological Gifts Program even features the Couchiching Conservancy property Elliott Woods in their handbook!
There are also tax benefits for managed forests and woodlots (MFTIP), Farmlands, and Community Conservation Lands (CLTIP). Most of the conservancy’s properties are covered by CLTIP.
If someone has a question about tax, the most important thing is to connect them with Courtney Courtney@couchconservancy.ca. She handles the taxes for our properties and would be a great contact for them.
Great work out there!