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A National Trust for Canada Membership is a meaningful way to contribute to the preservation of Canada's historic places while also enjoying valuable benefits, including potential tax advantages on your donations.
The government supports charitable giving by providing tax credits for donations to registered charities like the National Trust for Canada. This encourages Canadians to invest in protecting their shared heritage.
You can maximize the impact of your contributions with expert guidance from our Membership Services team—dedicated to helping you plan your support for Canada's historic treasures.
Two essential benefits of supporting the National Trust for Canada:
How direct donations to the National Trust differ from other forms of charitable giving:
In many fundraising programs, administrative fees may reduce the total impact of your donation. However, with the National Trust for Canada, your contributions go directly toward our mission with minimal overhead.
When you support the National Trust, your full contribution is put to work immediately, creating lasting change without delay.
Over the years, many of our Members have asked if their spouse — even if not originally enrolled — could also enjoy the benefits of being part of the National Trust for Canada community and manage their own memberships and contributions.
You asked, we listened. In addition to a Member’s individual membership, a Member’s spouse may now also hold their own independent membership with the National Trust for Canada.
For example, a Member (James) and his spouse (Claire) may now have the following memberships at the National Trust:
If you have a spouse, you can use a spousal registered retirement savings plan as an investment account to complement you and your spouse’s (or partner’s) retirement. The main advantage is that they allow you to contribute money tax-free each year, but have the funds accumulate in the name of your spouse. Your spouse or partner will see a tax-free return on that money until it is withdrawn.
Spousal RSPs are used to lower the tax burden for couples in their retirement.
For example, if a Member (James) were to have significantly more funds in his retirement account than his spouse (Claire), this would push him to a higher (marginal) tax bracket as he withdraws from his RRSPs.
If James and Claire had taken advantage of a spousal RRSP, James would receive the tax benefits in the contribution years.
At the same time, Claire would enjoy tax-free growth and (potentially) lower-taxed withdrawals in retirement. However, since income splitting has been introduced, the spousal RSP advantage is not as relevant if spouses are the same age.
In cases where a younger spouse or partner is involved, there is still a significant advantage to having the majority of retirement funds in the younger spouses name. A spousal RRSP allows for lower and later mandatory withdrawals which can be very worthwhile in proper financial and retirement planning.
If James and Claire are taking advantage of every RSP account option available to them at NWT, their accounts would look like this:
A Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) is a registered account that allows for investments to accumulate earnings with absolutely no tax on the gains. The amount of money that can be contributed to a TFSA is limited each year, but the allowable amount accumulates if you do not use it.
A TFSA can be used for any savings goal and withdrawals can be made free of tax.
Why hold your TFSA at NWT?
While contributions to your TFSA at the Trust are voluntary (and can not be part of your Total Wage Package), holding your (and/or your spouse’s!) TFSA at NWT will allow you to participate and invest in the same great investment vehicles held in your RRSP.
Yes, you read that right. Many confuse the word “savings” in the TFSA to mean that it is like a savings account at the bank. This assumption could not be further from the truth.
Any investment vehicle held in your RRSP can be held in your TFSA.
When a Member is no longer eligible to contribute to an RRSP and has maximized their contribution room in the TFSA, NWT offers Members the option to open a non-registered account. These accounts can hold identical investment vehicles as RRSP and TFSA accounts but do not provide the tax benefits of those accounts.
FUTURE PRODUCTS
