The Land Conservancy of British Columbia (TLC) is a 3-star charity with a below-average result reporting grade. It is financially transparent and has overhead costs within Ci's reasonable range. 

Founded in 1997, The Land Conservancy of British Columbia’s (TLC) mission is to protect and restore British Columbia’s land, water, and wildlife. TLC’s major program is nature conservation. Its minor program is education. Its head office is in Victoria, BC.

For nature conservation, TLC buys land or obtains covenants to protect the wilderness and biodiversity. A covenant is a voluntary, legal agreement between a landowner and an organization in which the landowner agrees to protect the land in specific ways.  In F2022, it has 250 covenants, covering over 15,000 acres of habitat and 9 properties under protection in total. One of these properties includes the Abkhazi Garden in Victoria, BC, which the charity bought to save it from becoming a townhouse development in February 2000. Another property is the Fort Shepherd Conservation Area, which runs for 8 km along the west side of the Columbia River. The property is ecologically unique and is home to 29 rare species of wildlife. TLC partnered with Trail Wildlife Association to restore the wilderness of the land. TLC also provides inclusive health-supporting and recreational opportunities for thousands of locals and visitors. It does not charge for access and only offers opportunities for visitors to donate when coming to these wildlands. The charity reported that more than 22,000 people visited its heritage garden Abkhazi in F2022.

For education, TLC develops the Deertrails Naturalists and the Passport to Nature programs. The charity organizes the Deertrails Naturalists Program, which allows students to explore the beauty and wildlife of Cortes Island and the Clearwater River Valley. Participants will be able to develop skills to engage with nature protection, public education and research by learning from professional naturalists and ecologists. The charity also has an Education Hub on its website, providing a free library about nature and wildlife. Moreover, TLC provides Passport to Nature program to connect the public with nature. This program includes various in-person and virtual naturalist events like Bioblitz at the Millstream Creek Watershed property in the District of Highlands (a live scavenger hunt for plants and animals), Pollinator Meadow Workshop in Brentwood Bay, and Sod and Sea (a virtual presentation about the crucial role of dead, washed seaweed ashore on Pacific Northwest food webs).

Recent news: In F2023, TLC received the largest donation in its history of three properties in Greater Victoria that are worth over $8.8 million.

In F2022, the Land Conservancy of BC has donations, government funding, and membership revenue of $1.9m. It received $1.5m in donations in F2022, representing 78% of revenues during the year. The donations decreased by 36% compared to $2.4m in F2021. Administrative costs are 16% of revenues (less investment income) and reported fundraising costs are just over 0% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 16%. For every dollar donated, 84 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

TLC has $3.2m in reserve funds, of which $1.7m is donor endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, the charity could cover 117% or over 14 months of its annual program costs with its existing reserves.

Charity Intelligence sent an update of this report to TLC for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 07, 2023 by Krystie Nguyen.