A financial gift in any amount qualifies you for membership and is tax deductible. You can specify the use of your donation. It can be placed in the Trust’s general operating account, or your donation can be placed in our Stewardship Fund to help monitor and protect easement properties.

To date, the Trust has received five land donations and each land donor has requested that the Trust sell the land and add the proceeds to the Trust’s Stewardship Fund. In some cases, the conservation values of the donated land were so great that a conservation easement was placed before the land was sold. A person who gives land to the Trust may qualify for a federal income tax deduction for its appraised value.

One of the easiest ways to donate to the Trust is through your Will. There are several ways to do that:

Specific Bequest: you name the Trust as the beneficiary of a specific item, e.g., a said amount of money, particular parcel of land, a specific stock, or stated percentage of your estate.

Residuary Bequest: you designate the Trust as the recipient of all or a part of the remainder of your estate, after specific bequests have been fulfilled.

Contingent Bequest: you allow for a contingent beneficiary (the Trust) to receive your estate’s assets if your named individual beneficiaries do not survive you.

Bequests to the Trust are deductible from your estate, offering your heirs estate tax savings. For gifts that are designated in your Will, the Trust should be identified as: "The Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust, Inc., a nonprofit organization organized under the laws of the State of West Virginia, having its principal office at RR 1, Box 328, High View, West Virginia 26808, EIN: 55-0700086."