The simplest way you can help GaLTT's work is by becoming a supporting member of the Society. Even our small membership fees contribute to our work. The cheapest, but perhaps the most satisfying way you can help is by volunteering. If you're really dedicated, you could become a GaLTT board member!
Giving money
We are a registered Society with charitable status, so your cash donations to us are tax-deductible. GaLTT issues charitable tax receipts for any donation $20 or greater. A money donation, whether small or large, will be put to very good use:
We maintain a stock of tools and equipment for trail maintenance and invasive plant management.
We incur costs for occasional professional help (such as for trimming dangerous trees) when volunteers cannot be used for reasons of safety or needed expertise.
We purchase materials for trail surfaces, and for boardwalks across wetlands to avoid damaging them.
We print and distribute trail maps and brochures about invasive plants.
One of GaLTT's mandates is the acquisition of land for parks and conservation, so we are also building a reserve fund to enable the eventual purchase of suitable tracts.
You may earmark your donation for a specific use if you wish.
Giving investments and making bequests
You can also donate stocks and bonds. Speak to your financial advisor about how this can benefit your current finances or your estate, as well as GaLTT. Consider bequeathing some of your estate to GaLTT so that your ideals live on in a practical way.
Giving land or protecting it with a covenant
If you have precious land in its natural state that is not earmarked for family members, consider donating it for a community park. This also has potential tax advantages.
If you wish to retain title to the land but want to protect it from development or exploitation, then you can put a legal covenant on the title, and ask organizations such as GaLTT and Islands Trust Fund to hold or co-hold the covenant, ensuring that it is honoured.
To make a donation to GaLTT, please contact us by email at info@galtt.ca
or by mail to GaLTT, 2235 North Road, Gabriola, BC, V0R 1X7, Canada.
Another way to donate directly to our parks
In 2011, we are celebrating 100 years of BC Parks through the Provincial Ministry of Environment's "100 Park Benches for a 100 Years of Parks" program. It aims to engage people, communities, and businesses in BC's parks by inviting them to sponsor a bench at a location of their choice in their favourite provincial park. On Gabriola, that means Drumbeg or Gabriola Sands (Twin Beaches) or Sandwell.
Leave your own tangible family legacy within Gabriola's parks. Sponsorship costs $1500, and this includes installation of the bench and a bronze plaque with the donor's custom message or logo. Benches sponsored late in 2011 will be installed in Spring 2012.
To find out more about BC Parks' 100 benches program and to read bench stories, go to www.bcparkbench.ca. To download the most recent Provincial Government news release about this program, click here.