Exactly where every dollar goes, who ends up holding what, and the two rules
that can never be broken: nobody owns the dirt, and there is never a
bank. This is the engineering of the trust — drawn, not hand-waved.
Two bodies, on purpose. The Land Trust (a charity) holds the land forever.
The Co-op (us) holds our shares and homes, runs the place, and
owns the shared buildings. Below is how money moves — and why no bank, board, or donor can ever
sell the ground, and why your buy-in comes back to you, inflation-protected.
AYour buy-in → the Co-op. ~$10k (cash or
sweat equity) buys a capped, inflation-indexed membership share — your real money back
when you leave, never a market windfall. The co-op is us.
BDonations → the Trust (charity). Gifts and conservation grants — tax-deductible once the Trust is a registered charity —
help buy and protect the land and forest. They can never
be refunded to anyone or become private profit.
CThe members fund the land. The co-op puts the
pooled buy-ins toward buying the parcel outright — no bank, no mortgage, no debt.
DThe Trust takes title & holds it forever.
Member money and donations both buy the land, but the charity holds the title — so no
member, board, bank, or donor can ever sell it. (It's also why there's $0 transfer tax.)
🔒Asset-locked, forever. The land can
never be sold, mortgaged, or split — by a member, a board, a bank, or a donor.
Nobody owns it. The Trust holds it in common, in perpetuity.
🔁How you're paid out — no loan.
When you leave, the next planter's buy-in pays your capped, inflation-indexed value. The
money revolves between members. Never a loan, never a bank, never a debt.
The math, in three numbers
$10k × 500
planter buy-ins (cash or sweat)
=
~$5.0M
raised by the members
→
$4.6M
buys the land (the Trust holds title)
+
~$0.4M
legal, setup & first-year reserve
Numbers are the working plan, not a promise — the buy-in can be staged and much
of it can be sweat equity. Donations top up the land purchase and the forest reserve. The point
is the shape: members fund it, the charity holds it, no bank touches it.
What each party ends up holding
Yours
You, the planter
Your home, and its capped, inflation-indexed resale value
A capped, inflation-indexed co-op share
Your occupancy of a ~3-acre cell (allocated, inheritable)
Your business & income — uncapped, entirely yours
Collective
The Co-op
Members' shares — the equity (capped, indexed)
The shared buildings — lodge, sauna, barn, workshops
Governance — one member, one vote
Never the land
Forever
The Land Trust
All the land — home cells and forest reserve
Title held forever — asset-locked, never sold
Takes donations (tax-deductible once a charity)
The charitable mission — conservation, housing, planter health
Your money, over a lifetime
① Join
Put in ~$10k (or build/replant for it). You
get a capped, inflation-indexed share + the allocated right to your cell, and your own home.
② Live
Build your home, run your living. No mortgage,
no landlord, no outside owner who can sell the ground from under you.
③ Leave
Get your capped, inflation-indexed value back —
paid by the next planter's buy-in, not a loan. Your cell passes to them, not a speculator.
Honest footnote. This is the structure we're building toward, drawn so you can
check our work. The exact instruments — the co-op rules, the trust bylaws, the
charitable status, the capped-value formula — are being finalized with a BC lawyer
before any money moves, and no buy-ins are sold until that's signed off. When
money does move, it goes through a lawyer's trust account, never a personal
one. See the full structure and the
why-debt-free story.
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