Noted photographer and Conservancy donor Marion Patterson.

A Conservancy donor discovers that a charitable remainder trust can help plan for her future and help conserve lands and waters for future generations.

The mountains and the seashore have long inspired Marion Patterson, a noted photographer. Indeed, they have been central to her exhibits and to her recent book, Grains of Sand. Long ago, she built a charming rustic cabin near Yosemite, and after many years of teaching photography in the Bay Area, she has made her winter home among the redwoods along the Mendocino coast.

These two homes have served Marion well over the years. Yet in retirement, the burdens of maintaining both properties, and the six-hour drive between them began to wear a little thin. Like a lot of property owners, Marion would have lost a significant chunk of her mountain property’s value to capital gains tax if she sold it herself. She needed the full value to provide retirement income, and she wanted it to eventually benefit the wild places that have been so much a part of her life and work.

	Redwoods on California's North Coast © Douglas Steakley

Knowing of The Nature Conservancy’s long experience with both real estate and charitable trust management, she approached our gift planning staff to explore solutions to her dilemma. Working with her and her advisors, the Conservancy drafted a charitable remainder trust and serves as trustee. Through this arrangement, Marion could deed the mountain property to the trust, and the Conservancy could sell it and invest the proceeds to provide an income stream to her for her lifetime. Because the trust principal will help advance our conservation work after her lifetime, no capital gain was triggered by our sale of the cabin, and Marion is entitled to an income tax charitable deduction which can be used over several years.

The coastal property and mountain home provided Marion Patterson with the best of both worlds for many years. Although it was hard for her to part with the Sierra property, she now enjoys the benefits of its appreciated value, and the pleasure of knowing that wildland beaches and mountains and rivers will be preserved for others to enjoy and photograph in generations to come.

For information of how various life-income gifts of securities, cash or real estate work, please call the Conservancy’s Gift Planning Department in San Francisco at 415-281-0425