TLC Here to Stay
To read the Victoria Times Colonist’s recent article on The Land Conservancy’s year end financial statements, readers would be forgiven for thinking we are on our last legs as an organization. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Contrary to the TC article headline, our revenues were not “flat” in fiscal year 2010. In fact, our total revenues grew by almost $300,000, or 7% over 2009. Except for government grants, all of our revenue sources (donations, memberships, rentals and retail) were up, pretty good considering the difficulties that all non-profits are having in this uncertain economy.
Our wage and salary costs did go up, primarily reflecting the costs of canvassing teams and retail, rental and other revenue-generating activities, as well as the cost of a full time Chief Financial Officer. The canvassing teams have been discontinued for now, but this investment increased our membership by over 2,000 to record high levels. The fees and donations from this increased membership will fully recover the canvassing costs within a few years.
We did have to take on some additional mortgage debt, but the article did not mention that these costs are still significantly less than in 2008. Our debt represents about 5% of the current value of our properties, and the related carrying costs about 12% of our total operating costs, modest by even commercial standards. The article also failed to mention that about half of the debt increase in 2010 is due to a temporary delay in acquisition funding from one of our partners.
Bottom line, TLC generated a net operating surplus on a cash basis of about $850,000 in 2010. All of this surplus, and more, went to fund the important work that our members, the public and our partners expect from us – to secure, restore and maintain properties of ecological and cultural significance in BC. In the 2010 fiscal year, TLC helped protect about 4,000 acres of land, including Madrona Farm and the first phase of the Wild Hills and Beaches lands in the Juan de Fuca area.
Despite making these facts available to the TC reporter and in our year end documentation, virtually none of them appeared in the TC article. We urge the public and our members to go to our website (conservancy.bc.ca), check out the information in our annual reports and financial statements, or contact us 250-479-8053 before drawing any conclusions about the financial health of TLC. And please remember that our ability to continue as a “going concern”, ultimately rests on continued support from the community.
Alastair Craighead (chair), Briony Penn (vice-chair), Gary Holman (treasurer)
