During recent days, there have been announcements that TLC is facing some serious financial challenges, resulting from a severe downturn in funding.  In response, TLC is going through a period of renewal and rejuvenation in order to adjust to these new realities and to be able to continue its work protecting special places in British Columbia.  There will be significant changes made in the coming weeks, including the retirement of Bill Turner as TLC’s Executive Director, and the appointment of TLC’s Director of Operations, Kathleen Sheppard, as the new Acting Executive Director.  In addition, the Conservancy will be significantly downsizing and restructuring its operations and will be focusing its priorities in areas where it can be the most effective.

What will these changes mean for TLC, its properties and its members?  The following questions, put to Kathleen Sheppard, will provide more details about the renewal process at TLC:

Q.  What has brought about these challenges at TLC?

A:  The economic environment is at the root of these problems.  There simply is not enough money coming in to meet our immediate needs.  Ever since we began our work, 15 years ago, financing has always been tight – there has never been enough funding to do all the things we could (and perhaps should) have done.  But in the last year or so, the funding situation has become more difficult than ever.  So, to address this we need to make some significant changes to our operations.  That is what we are now doing.

Most charities are struggling right now – and TLC isn’t any different. We are navigating our way through these turbulent times the best we can.  We are embracing these changes, as difficult as they are, with the optimism that we are building for the future.  Every one of us is committed to doing everything we can – we all believe that the work we do is far too important to lose and we will do whatever it takes to keep TLC moving towards another 15 years of success.

Q.  Why did Bill Turner announce his retirement now, and so suddenly?

A.  For quite some time now, Bill has been planning his retirement and was intending to do so within the next year or so.  We have been working on succession planning and getting ready for this transition for the past year.

However, in recent weeks we have all been recognizing that TLC is at a time in its life when it is in need of renewal and rejuvenation.  The financial circumstances have brought this into even more focus.  Bill recognized that nothing prompts change more than a leadership change, so he felt this was the opportune time to bring his retirement from the E.D. position forward.

Fortunately, we will still have the benefits of Bill’s talents, as he will continue to help us with fundraising and other projects as we require.  He will also be continuing his work to build the National Trust movement around the world, through his involvement with INTO (the International National Trusts Organization), of which he is the Vice-Chairman.  As he has for most of the past 15 years – including the past two years, Bill will be continuing to serve TLC in a volunteer capacity.

Q.  It has been reported that TLC is “insolvent”.  Is that the case?

A.  No, we do not consider TLC to be insolvent.  While we certainly have significant financial challenges, we are continuing to work to raise funds and restructure our finances to deal with these challenges.  It will take some time to resolve these issues and we are working with all those involved to plan our path forward.

Q.  Is TLC having trouble paying its mortgage payments?

A. TLC does have outstanding payables.  The TLC board and staff are actively working on a plan to ensure the financial sustainability of the organisation.  The plan will include dealing with outstanding payables. The plan will also incude the means for TLC to continue doing it’s work. We need our members and supporters to continue to support us through this challenging time and we trust that they will do so.

Q.  Is it fair to ask people for further donations if TLC is insolvent?

A.  If we were intending to close down our operations, then it would not be appropriate to continue asking for donations and support.

However, that is not the case – we do not consider TLC to be insolvent and we are doing everything we can to continue our work to protect special places – and to do so we need ongoing financial support, through donations.  It is entirely appropriate to continue to raise funds for this purpose – to do otherwise would be to put everything we’ve accomplished so far at undue risk.

It is also appropriate to continue raising contributions to pay down our mortgages.  These mortgages were placed on properties as a mechanism to ensure their protection – to extend the time needed to raise the necessary funds – and we are still in the midst of doing that.  If we had not taken out those mortgages, those sites would have already been lost, long ago – they would now be townhouses or other developments, or would have otherwise lost the conservation values inherent in them.

Q.  Is TLC selling properties to pay off its debt?

A.  TLC, like all charities, must comply with legislation such as the Charitable Purposes Preservation Act which limits how properties acquired as or with charitable donations must be used.  Also, TLC must comply with its own bylaws and with the Standards and Practices for Land Trusts in Canada, both of which set stringent criteria for the protection of properties in our care.  These requirements do not allow us to sell off properties that we have acquired and protected for conservation purposes.  We’ve had a couple of properties that are not conservation properties – one was sold last year (a house adjacent to our Ayum Creek property) and one is currently up for sale (a development property in Sechelt).

Abkhazi Garden. Photo credit Jeff de Jong.

Q.  Will Abkhazi Garden be used in any way as the solution to your money problems?

A.  We are still raising funds to pay for Abkhazi’s protection and that will continue to be our focus (that is, we are still paying off the costs of the acquisition and protection of the site, through its remaining mortgage – Abkhazi’s operations currently cover their own costs).  Abkhazi is a priceless gem that, we believe, must continue to be protected in the public trust.  We will not put it at risk.


Q.  What about Wildwood?  It has been speculated that TLC would sell Wildwood or would not continue to manage the site appropriately – is that the case?

Wildwood Ecoforest. Photo credit Eric Onasick.

A.  The speculation about Wildwood is incorrect and based on a lack of knowledge.  Wildwood is not at risk.  As with our other properties, Wildwood cannot be sold and we will not take actions that would otherwise put it at risk.  We’ve said this many times, and we say again that TLC made a firm commitment to Merv Wilkinson that we would protect Wildwood and continue to manage it in such a way as to demonstrate the ecoforestry principles and sustainable stewardship that can be achieved at this site.   We still intend to honour that commitment, although we will be reviewing how we will accomplish that with fewer resources (at least for a while).

Q.  How is TLC “restructuring?”  And how does that help?

A.  TLC will be downsizing our operations, including our staffing, by about 50%.  This follows a previous downsizing over the past year.  These reduced operations will require fewer resources on a month by month basis, and will enable us to refocus our energies on getting TLC back on a solid footing.  However, reduced operations and fewer staff will also mean reduced fundraising ability, so these operational cuts must be done very carefully to ensure we come out ahead.  We are working through those details right now.

As a part of this restructuring, and because we will have fewer resources, we are refocusing our priorities to concentrate on the areas where we can be most effective in our work.

And finally, we are in the process of restructuring our financial obligations to make them more manageable over time, to alleviate some of the immediate pressures and to put us on a stronger financial foundation.

The Sooke Potholes. Photo credit JoshMcCulloch.com

Q.  Will public access to properties such as Abkhazi Garden and the Sooke Potholes be cut off?

A.  TLC has always believed that providing public access to protected areas is a fundamental part of our mandate.  But with fewer staff and fewer resources it will not be possible to continue to provide access everywhere as we now do.  Some sites may have to close – at least for a short while.

With respect to the Potholes:  this site has been passed over to the CRD, and is now a Regional Park – so TLC does not control access, nor are there financial implications.  However, we are reviewing the operations of the Campground at the Potholes (which we own) to determine if there are ways we can improve revenues.

With respect to Abkhazi Garden:  we are also reviewing the operations of Abkhazi Garden, including the restaurant and gift shop, to determine if revenues can be improved.

It is possible that, at both those sites, access may have to be reduced – but we do not want to eliminate access at either site.

Q.  How will this restructuring deal with TLC’s overwhelming debt levels?

A.  First of all, TLC’s long term debt (mortgages and loans) is not overwhelming.  It is manageable, and as long as we continue to do our work in fundraising to a reasonable level, it does not present a problem.

The two real challenges for us are cash flow and our short-term payables.  Because donations and grants can be erratic as to when they come in, but our costs are incurred regularly every month, we don’t always have the funds when we need them.  This, combined with the overall reduction in funding in the last year, has led to a backlog in our short term commitments and payables.  This is urgent and must be dealt with as quickly as possible.  The organizational restructuring we are doing will reduce future needs in this area (by reducing ongoing costs), and the financial restructuring will enable us to convert  those short term commitment into longer term commitments, thus giving us the time to fully deal with them.

Q.  If TLC has been facing financial challenges for some time, what has been done to address this situation prior to June 2012?

A.  Over the past couple of years, TLC has made significant operational and structural changes to address the downturn in funding.  We have:

  • Focused on “getting our house in order” by reviewing and updating our key priorities, concentrating on core activities and our strategic & organizational advantages.
  • Reorganized many of our operating practices, streamlining and looking for efficiencies as much as we could, and in so doing have reduced our operating costs by about 20%.
  • Reduced our staffing by almost half (in terms of number of people) and by about one-third in terms of payroll costs.
  • Reduced our activities as much as possible in terms of new projects, focusing only on projects that have already been in the works, and that do not have financial implications for TLC.
  • Reduced our property management activities as much as possible, concentrating only on what is absolutely necessary.
  • Reduced our day-to-day operations as much as possible, and are concentrating primarily on revenue-generating activities.
  • Increased our earned revenues, through TLC Enterprises and Abkhazi Garden
  • Addressed and contained all of our mortgages, long-term loans and carrying costs, paying down a number of these debts where possible and renegotiating others.