Good intentions and hard work were not enough. After years of imprudent financial decisions and failed efforts to fix the problems, the Land Conservancy of B.C. has been put under creditor protection.
Grim as that news seems, it offers hope of saving at least some of the good work the organization has done.
Founded in 1998, TLC is a non-profit trust that owns and manages 50 properties in B.C. It also monitors 250 covenants on those properties and others. Altogether, it has protected 52,600 hectares, the equivalent of 700 Beacon Hill Parks. Its goal is to protect the land in perpetuity.
Its work is well-known in Victoria, where its campaigns preserved Madrona Farm and bought the Sooke Potholes for parkland when the swimming holes were on the verge of being sold for development. In both cases, TLC was able to leap in when governments and others couldn’t act quickly enough.
It has been supported by donors and by mortgage-holders who are sympathetic to its goals.
But trouble has been brewing for years, as the trust’s heart grew faster than its purse.
TLC’s board has described how the situation got so bad: “Properties were taken into TLC’s portfolio that were not adequately financed, and this ultimately led to its financial difficulties. Properties that were at risk of environmental degradation were taken on without a clear plan for meeting the ongoing costs of maintenance and protection. It was hoped that donations would fulfil these costs, but the anticipated level of donations was never achieved.”
The trust was so committed to preserving land, it grabbed opportunities without having a sustainable way of paying to manage them. Existing properties were mortgaged to pay for new purchases. TLC was trying to do too much.
The trust owes creditors $7.5 million, about $1.5 million of that in short-term debt. Its net worth is $41.5 million, after liabilities are deducted from the value of the properties and the covenants.
Its monthly revenue averages $101,000 and its expenditures are $98,000, the result of two years of job cuts and cost reductions, but the trust has gone as far as it can without help.
Fixing the problems will be difficult because its properties have convenants that limit their use. Even if it wanted to violate its most fundamental principle, the organization couldn’t simply sell some land for development to eliminate its debt.
A property in Sechelt has been listed for sale, and TLC says others could also be sold or transferred. However, it has been told that the province’s Charitable Purposes Preservation Act might prevent it from selling any of the properties, even with covenants.
Giving properties to other organizations would reduce maintenance costs, but wouldn’t whittle down the debt.
Alastair Craighead, chairman of TLC’s board of directors, expects it will take a couple of years to complete the restructuring.
The financial crisis led to bitter divisions within the organization over the past four years, and founder Bill Turner left the trust last year. Those who urged TLC to take drastic action to get its house in order have been proved right, but no combatant in those battles should feel joy about what has happened.
British Columbians are richer for TLC’s dedication to preserving habitat and natural spaces for all of us to enjoy. The board and the court-appointed monitor must safeguard as much of that legacy as possible.
The Land Conservancy was doing good work. It was just doing more good work than it could afford.
