Is Owning Land Beneficial to Birch Bay Ranch?

Birch Bay Ranch Association owns the land it sits on. “Birch Bay Ranch Association” appears as the owner on the Land Title itself.

At the information meeting on September 10^th, the following question was raised: “How can the current Board of Directors say that removing the asset from the books of BBR Association and putting them on the books of North Pointe, when the land title is in the name of the BBR Association, is in the best interests of the BBR Association?”

We think this is an important question to consider, and is really the crux of the whole issue surrounding Birch Bay Ranch Association transferring its land and assets to another non-profit organization. The answer that was given at the meeting was: “I have yet to see where owning the assets have had any material effect on the operation of the Ranch. So owning the assets, to this point in time, not having any material effect on the Ranch in days gone by, would seem to be somewhat superfluous at this point in time.”

We posit that owning the land has been, and will continue to be extremely beneficial to the operations of Birch Bay Ranch. Here are the reasons why:

The Christian camping ministry model

Camp ministry is a unique ministry.

It differs from others in that we invite people out to our property, to live together in temporary community. Campers don’t just come for a few hours to hear about Jesus. They come to stay. While we live with them in temporary community, we show them the love of God, both through intentional programming and through giving them life-changing experiences like engaging in nature and challenging themselves physically on our ropes course, horses or other outdoor activities. For these reasons, our land and buildings have proven to be crucial to the ministry and business of Birch Bay Ranch.

As Steve Archibald, General Director for Medeba (a successful independent camp in Ontario) and Chair Elect for CCI/Canada, says, “Aside from human resources, our greatest resource that we leverage for ministry is our property, buildings and activity structures. We need property for these things to sit on. It is a ministry tool! It’s like saying the dining hall or the rodeo ring don’t benefit the Ranch.”

Some ministries or charitable organizations are capable of existing anywhere. An organization that clothes the homeless can rent space anywhere there is a need and complete their ministry objectives. Some churches don’t even necessarily need to own their own building (there are many churches in Edmonton whose ministry model dictates they can operate out of any space – movie theatres, university lecture spaces, school gymnasiums, etc.). But our ministry – one that requires kids and adults to experience nature and stay in our permanent structures – depends upon our land. The property of Birch Bay Ranch is a ministry tool in the same way that our horses, chapel skits, or ropes activities are. We use these tools directly to minister to our guests. We could not run the same ministry somewhere else.

Sustainability and ministry continuance

While Birch Bay Ranch Association owns its own land, it can be empowered to make its own decisions regarding the development and use of that land. As ministry needs change, we are able to adapt – whether that means building a new shop to better maintain our property and equipment, or building new cabins to house more campers and guests. These are changes made to our own property, not made to benefit an asset that belongs to some other organization.

Birch Bay Ranch currently owns the land. If the land were to be taken away, there would be little incentive to improve the land or buildings. It seems unwise to invest in buildings or structures that could be lost, should the lessor choose to terminate the lease or sell the property. At the information meeting, multiple individuals asked what will happen at the end of the proposed five-year lease period. The answer that was given repeatedly was, “we’ll see when we get there.” That isn’t enough assurance that all of the work, volunteer hours, donations and funds that can go into the property in that time won’t just be lost at the end of five years.

“No ministry that requires buildings to do ministry would not want to own and have control of the land portion of those assets, otherwise you risk ministry continuance, as control is in the hands of non-stakeholders,” says Steve Archibald. 

Grants, donations and fundraising efforts

Prior to the mid-eighties, Edmonton Central Pentecostal did own the land and assets of Birch Bay Ranch. However, it was decided by the Board at the time that it would be in the best interests of Birch Bay Ranch if its own, separate Association were formed and the land and assets be officially transferred to it.

This decision was a good one. Many granting organizations will not fund churches. By becoming its own Association, incorporated under the Societies Act and registered with the Canadian Charities Directorate, Birch Bay Ranch was able to apply for and receive hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of funds that it would not have received otherwise.

There is also a large donor base that will happily donate to a kids’ camp, but would rather not donate to one church in particular. These people all have their own churches that they would rather donate to, but have camp ministry in their hearts as another avenue for giving. Many of these people will no longer donate to Birch Bay Ranch if they know the funds are really going towards the asset owned by a particular church.

Furthermore, many individuals and organizations will not feel comfortable donating to capital projects (like the building of new cabins or further development of the land) if they know those new developments are not actually owned by Birch Bay Ranch and truly belong to a particular church. There are other camps in Alberta who are leasing the land they operate on, and have experienced serious difficulty securing funds from donors to develop land, buildings and other facilities. Because donors feel uncomfortable contributing funds that will ultimately go to a land owner separate from the camp they support, these camps have found leasing to be a huge detriment to their ministry. Several camps in this situation have shared their struggles with us.

One of the biggest detriments to giving the land away and being expected to buy it back is the fact that instead of fundraising to build new cabins, which the Ranch definitely needs, it will be forced to launch a massive fundraising effort to raise enough money to purchase the land that it already owns. In this sense, the Board of the Birch Bay Ranch Association will be crippling its own organization by essentially putting it in debt for the buyout value of the land.

If the ministry hopes to continue beyond the five-year lease period, there is simply no choice but to buy back its own land. For this reason, it is so obviously in the best interest of Birch Bay Ranch to continue owning the land and assets that it has owned for the past twenty-five years.