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WHY NOT JOIN the Land Trust? More than 300 of your friends and neighbors have joined and most keep renewing year after year. For a variety of good reasons, such as:

  • Always knowing what the Land Trust stands for. Unlike some environmental organizations nowadays, the Trust does not dabble in a dozen different issues; it concentrates on one, saving land. Unlike some others, it does not just preach conservation; it practices it the old-fashioned way, saving land.

  • Knowing that the Trust does not burden its members with endless appeals and alarms.

  • But knowing, too, that if you want to get involved, the Trust welcomes your participation. For there are miles of walking trails and acres of open space to be maintained and protected.

 
 

Membership:

Dependent on membership fees and donations from friends and supporters for its work, the Redding Land Trust is an organization that each year appeals to each household in Redding to join the Trust for an annual fee of $10 per family. Members receive a free DVD of A Passion for Place and are invited each March to the Trust's annual meeting where noted speakers are featured.

Send membership fees and donations to:

Redding Land Trust, Inc.
P.O. Box 76
Redding, Connecticut 06875

Outright Gift:

The most common and generally most desirable method is "transfer in fee simple." If unrestricted, such a conveyance enables the Trust to deal with conditions and needs in the future that cannot be foreseen now.

But any outright gift may include restrictions in the deed regarding use of the property. Moreover, the land donated to the Trust need not be land worthy of preservation. You may wish to give land to the Trust to sell, with the proceeds used for Trust purposes, or to exchange for property the Trust wishes to preserve. But be assured that if you specify that your land is to be preserved in its natural state, the Trust will preserve it.

Retained Life Use:

Land may be donated to the Trust with the owner retaining use during his/her life, or the lifetimes of his/her spouse and children. The value of the gift may be deducted from the owner's income for tax purposes if the land is a personal residence or farm, or is donated for "conservation purposes." The amount of the deduction depends on the ages of the life tenants.

Bargain Sale:

Some owners who feel they must recover a portion of the value of a gift of may sell the property to a Trust at less than market value. The donor-seller thus receives some cash and a limited tax deduction for the value of the gift. (The Trust must rely on gifts from other donors for funds to make such purchases.)

Installment Gift:

Land may be given in installments, either by physically dividing the property or by giving fractions of an undivided interest in the entire parcel. Such a partial transfer of control could protect the land while you continue to use it. At the same time, you begin to realize tax benefits of the donation. If you would not be able to utilize the full deduction for an outright gift of property in the year of the gift and the succeeding five years, the installment approach would allow you to spread the tax deduction over a longer period.

Reverter Clause:

To ensure that land will continue to be used in accord with the donor's expressed wishes, the donor may stipulate that title revert to another charitable or conservation organization if the land is used in a manner inconsistent with those wishes.

Conservative Easement:

By a conservative easement granted to the Trust, a landowner gives up certain development and/or other rights to the land, but retains legal title and the right to use the land in any way compatible with its open, natural character. You may sell the property, but the restrictions in the easement are binding on all future owners. Conservation easements are quite flexible. For example, they may be used to allow public access for hiking or fishing, or they may prohibit access, depending on the owner's wishes.

In general, the monetary value of the donation of a perpetual conservation easement is equal to the reduction in value of your land caused by the easement (the restriction of your development rights, etc.). And in most cases, the donor of the easement will be entitled to an income tax reduction if the gift meets IRS criteria as being for "conservation purposes." There may also be a downward adjustment in the assessed value of the property, resulting in a saving in local taxes.

Endowments:

Donors able to do so may wish to accompany a gift of land with an endowment fund for its maintenance, especially if there are improvements on the land or if unusual natural features require special care.

Bequests:

A gift by bequest becomes a living memorial to you or your designee. You simply provide in your will for any of the alternatives discussed here (conveyance in fee simple, retained life use for spouse or children, trancfer of an interest by conservation easement). There are inheritance tax advantages which may be significant for your heirs. For example, a conservation easement granted to the Trust may reduce your estate's taxes sufficiently to make it feasible for the heirs to retain property they might otherwise have to sell just to pay those taxes.

Gifts or Cash or Securities:

The privilege of sharing in the protection of land is not limited to large landowners. Gifts of cash or securities are also needed. There are special advantages in giving appreciated securities that bear a potential capital gains tax liability. Such gifts may be given with or without restrictions on their use, provided they are available to support the charitable purposes of the Land Trust. You may, for example, state a preference for the general location or type of property to be acquired by the Trust, suggest the purposes for which that land might be used, or designate a specific project to be initiated or sustained.