Founded in 1967, Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC) is a membership-based charity working to conserve public access to the Niagara Escarpment. The charity has nine regional Bruce Trail Clubs that are each responsible for maintaining, stewarding and promoting a section of the Bruce Trail. The Niagara Escarpment is recognized as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve because residents work to balance conservation and preservation of the land with surrounding development. It is one of only 18 biosphere reserves in Canada. Despite Bruce Trail Conservancy’s work, 36% of the Bruce Trail corridor is still not permanently protected from development.

BTC currently manages 10,370 acres of land along the Escarpment, containing 154km of the Bruce Trail’s Optimum Route – this refers to routes in desirable locations that explore the best of the Escarpment. The Bruce Trail’s main trail is 895km, with an additional 435km of side trails. BTC runs four core programs – land acquisition, membership, land stewardship, and trail maintenance.

Through the Land Acquisition program, BTC primarily purchases land using cash donations to increase protection levels of the Bruce Trail and Escarpment. The charity also assumes ownership of land donated by landowners. In 2017, BTC reports creating 10 new nature reserves and acquiring 1 new land easement. These activities resulted in 1,102 acres of Escarpment land being acquired, the most ever in a single year.

Members of the BTC have access to over 1,500 guided hikes and snowshoe events, receive the quarterly Bruce Trail Magazine, invitations to special events and access to guided hikes. The charity reports a 4% increase in membership in 2017, reaching an all-time high of 9,698 memberships. BTC reports enrollment in automatic membership renewal increased by 17% in 2017.

BTC’s Land Stewardship program monitors and takes care of land acquired through the Land Acquisition program. The charity stated that over 9,100 acres of Escarpment land is cared for by volunteers of the program. In 2017, BTC recorded 77 new occurrences of rare or endangered species on its preserved land.

Results and Impact: Because of BTC’s Land Acquisition program, 64% of the Bruce Trail is now permanently protected from urban development. In 2017, BTC reported that 8.9km more of Bruce Trail’s Optimum Route was secured. 85% of surveyed volunteers said that their volunteer job gave them a sense of accomplishment in 2017. BTC states that in 2017, 1,102 acres of land were added to the Land Stewardship program.

Bruce Trail Conservancy is a medium-sized charity with donations of $4.3m in F2017. Administrative costs are 11% of revenues and fundraising costs are 11% of donations. Per dollar donated to the charity, $0.78 goes towards its programs. This falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. The charity’s funding reserves of $2.9m can cover 73% of annual program costs. This means that BTC has enough funding to cover 9 months of program costs. This indicates a need for donations.

Charity Intelligence records donations restricted for land purchases and land donations as revenue for BTC. The value of the donated land and cost of land acquired are recorded as expenses by Ci. The charity acquired a record amount of land in 2017 funded by BTC donors and donated by landowners. This has resulted in BTC’s F2017 revenue and expenses being significantly higher than prior years.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Bruce Trail Conservancy for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 22, 2017 by Derek Houlberg.