Once established, land trusts can benefit from a range of programs, services, government legislation, organizations and agencies to help them build their capacity to deliver on their mission and maximize benefits to their donors, other stakeholders, and the earth. The following checklist highlights several of these opportunities and provides a link and a short description of the benefits:

• • Adopt the Canadian Land Trust Standards and Practices – they serve as an ethical, legal and technical guide for the effective operation of a land trust, and provide ‘ideals’ to continually work toward achieving.

• • Become a member of the Alliance of Canadian Land Trusts or a provincial alliance – be a part of a network of experienced professionals and enjoy member benefits from a range of programs and services, including training workshops and webinars, conferences, online resource libraries, access to funding programs, newsletters and bulletins, and more.

• • Apply to become an eligible recipient organization under Environment Canada’s Ecological Gifts Program (EGP). The EGP is a federal tax incentive program that offers beneficial tax treatment and assurances to donors of land or interests in land (like conservation covenants, easements and servitudes) certified as ecologically sensitive by the federal Minister of Environment.

• • If your land trust anticipates working with American donors or U.S. taxpayers with lands in Canada, consider becoming a cash and/or land grantee of the American Friends of Canadian Conservation (AFCC). AFCC is a U.S. charity that supports conservation in Canada by facilitating donations of land and funds from US taxpayers to conservation organizations in Canada with many of the same tax benefits that donors in Canada enjoy.

• • Become familiar with and qualify for provincial/territorial land tax incentive programs to reduce land/property taxes on land trust lands (e.g. Ontario’s Conservation Land Tax Incentive Program and Nova Scotia’s Conservation Property Tax Exemption). For some types of land trusts, other programs for Indigenous, agricultural, forest, housing, non-profit/charitable organizations may also apply to reduce or exempt property taxes.

Prince Edward Island

Courtesy Island Nature Trust