BURN THE WILDWOOD MORTGAGE CAMPAIGN ATTRACTS $10,000 MATCHING FUNDS DONOR!
September 2026
For immediate release
The Ecoforestry Institute Society (EIS) is very pleased to announce the Burn the Wildwood Mortgage Campaign taking place from September 1 to 31, 2026. “We are also honoured that a generous donor has stepped forward to kick off the campaign with an offer to double donations up to $10,000,” says EIS Chair Kathy Code. “What an incredible surprise for us from a donor who is impressed by our dedication to protecting old growth forests.”
In offering the funds, the donor’s advisor stated “Wildwood represents something rare — a living demonstration of what thoughtful, sustainable forestry can look like, carried forward through decades of dedication. Seeing this kind of legacy protected and continued means a great deal, and I'm glad to see it recognized with [the donor’s] support.”
This generosity is especially appreciated as non-profit debt is notoriously difficult to pay down. Donors generally prefer to contribute to a specific project.
In its bid to procure Wildwood and keep it in the public domain in 2016, EIS was asked by the BC Supreme Court to submit a sealed bid to determine the best steward for Wildwood. EIS was able to obtain a $450,000 mortgage from Vancity as part of its bid. The bid included the $800,000 confirmed purchase price, the Land Trust Deed that protects Wildwood in perpetuity and a detailed ecoforestry management plan, among others. EIS won the bid by a slim $30,000.
Since then, thanks to a variety of revenue streams that include the Homestead bookings, EIS has never had a problem paying the mortgage. But after 10 years, we’ve paid down only $114,000, leaving a balance of $336,000. The time has come to spend those funds on expanded education programs for children and adults and building projects that can teach ecoforestry to the next generations. With no grants or foundations available to pay down debt, the only alternative is a dedicated campaign to pay down the mortgage.
Hence our gratitude to our generous donor to give this campaign a vigorous start. Every single donation will help us reduce our debt, leading to significant savings over time.
For more information and to donate to this Campaign, please visit https://www.ecoforestry.ca/current-campaigns.
Media contact:
Kathy Code
Chair
Ecoforestry Institute Society