Southern Alberta Land Trust Society is a 3-star charity that is financially transparent. It has an A- results reporting grade, which is above average. The charity's reserve funds can cover current annual program costs for around five years. 

Founded in 1998, Southern Alberta Land Trust Society (SALTS) works to protect southern Alberta’s clean water, natural habitats, and rural communities. SALTS uses conservation easements to preserve ecologically significant land like grasslands and wetlands. It also runs stewardship projects to maintain and protect its existing conservation easements. In F2023, SALTS spent 79% of program costs on soliciting conservation easements, and 21% on stewardship projects.

A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust. It allows the owner to keep their land but restricts certain uses, like mining and energy projects. The land is protected from future development permanently. SALTS compensates landowners for the decrease in land value, usually between 40% to 85% of the fair market value, through tax receipts or cash. In F2023, SALTS added four new easements, totalling 9,236 acres. This was a record number of acres for SALTS in a single year due to two easements with large ranches. SALTS’ total acres of land is now 51,352.

SALTS does not explicitly report fundraising costs on either its audited financial statements or its annual filing with the Charities Directorate. As a result, overhead costs are likely understated.

Southern Alberta Land Trust Society is a small charity, with $200k in donations and special events revenue in F2023. It also received $9.2m in land easements (79% of revenues) and $1.9m in government funding (16% of revenues). In F2023, SALTS spent $1.2m on its programs, which is 60% of total revenues (excluding goods in kind). 

Administrative costs are 2% of revenues (less investment income) and no fundraising costs are reported. For every dollar donated to the charity, 98 cents are available to go to the cause. This is outside of Ci’s reasonable range of 65 to 95 cents for overhead spending. 

Southern Alberta Land Trust Society has $7.7m in reserve funds, these are the charity’s cash and investments. Excluding donor-endowed funds of $130k, SALTS can cover around five years of annual program costs with its existing reserves.

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Southern Alberta Land Trust Society for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 9, 2024 by Alexia Tudose.