Giving
We are volunteer-driven! Get involved by making a single or monthly donation to help us protect our American trails for future generations. Your donations will help BCHA in maintaining access to our treasured public lands. Partner with us and our amazing volunteer members by donating to BCHA!
BCHA is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Your donation to BCHA is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
We Fight for Your Equestrian Access
All across the nation, BCHA volunteers contribute thousands of hours each year maintaining our public spaces. With more than 680 wilderness areas, protecting over 106 million acres in 44 states, it’s a big job. The Bureau of Land Management also has an additional Wilderness study areas — lands unspoiled by roads or other development that provide outstanding opportunities for solitude. The “backlog” in trail maintenance grows worse each year and without your help, some of these trails will become unusable due to neglect.
Partner with us and our amazing volunteer members by donating to BCHA TODAY! All funds support the immense work we do nationwide, allowing for our future sustainability.
Visit our page on GuideStar.org to learn more about the work BCHA does.
Donate today so we may continue the fight to ensure your equestrian access on public lands and future generations.
BCHA Fund Types
The different BCHA Funds provide you the opportunity of how your donation is used. All donations used in the direct mission of BCHA, but your choice of which fund provides you some control of how your donation is spent. These typically are used to keep BCHA and its mission alive.
When you make an online donation, you are asked to select which fund type to apply it to, just prior to your donation.
- Administration- These funds are used to support BCHA with respect to our mission, our values and our public lands work on a national level. Administration: Donate Here
- Chapter Support Grants – A portion of these funds goes to the BCHA Grants Committee funding projects that our chapters and states do on our public lands; the majority assists BCHA programs in operating now. Chapter Support Grants: Donate Here
- Legacy Fund – This fund was set up to ensure the sustainability of BCHA into the future. Once the threshold amount is met, we can use the interest to help fund BCHA’s operations and programs. Keep us thriving with your donation, one time or recurring, or your planned gift, and take advantage of numerous tax and financial benefits. You can also leave a legacy to be remembered by future generations. Click here to learn more. Legacy Fund: Donate Here
Ways To Give
Make an Online Donation
Online donation – Make a donation today. If you switch your gift to monthly, you will ensure support in maintaining our equestrian access all year long!
Donate to Chapter Support Grants
BCHA provides grants to chapters in January of each year, your donation will help “Keep Trails Open for All”.
Plan Your Giving
Planned Giving – Plan now to take advantage of tax-saving ways to leave a gift from your estate, it is yet just another way to ensure future BCHA operations.
Employer Matching Funds
Double Your Donation – Find out if your company will offer matching support for your giving dollars or volunteer effort. Click the Employer Search to see if your employer will match your gift or view the full list PDF list.
Donate From Facebook
Facebook donation – Visit us on BCHA’s Facebook Page and make a donation. Just click the Donate button at the top of our page.
Give a Gift by Mail
Donate by Mail – Simply Mail your donation to BCHA
BCHA Donations
P.O. Box 1182
Columbia Falls, MT 59912
Email Us: michellewade@bcha.org
Our Values
Pack & Saddle Stock Access
Whether or not you’ve ever set foot on a trail or own a horse, we know you want to ensure your kids or grandkids will have that opportunity. One of our missions is to make sure public access to favorite trails is maintained, safe, and always open and accessible to all ages.
To meet today’s challenges and the future needs for public access to trails, you can help build a stronger Back Country Horsemen of America with greater capacity to bridge the gap in the public lands trail maintenance backlog.
Education & Engagement
One of BCHA’s missions is to educate, encourage and solicit active participation in the wise use of the American backcountry resources by horsemen and the public commensurate with our heritage and “Leave No Trace” principles.
BCHA maintains a curriculum of information and teaching resources that can be accessed by all members of BCHA for the distribution of standardized knowledge, processes, policies, and practices throughout all levels of the organization, across the nation.
National Advocacy
In addition to being a highly respected partner in shared stewardship with the public land management agencies, BCHA must also advocate for the interests and needs of horsemen and women with trail partner organizations and throughout the halls of Congress. Horseback riders and users of pack stock are a minority among trail and public land visitors. It’s only through effective partnerships and consistent and professional advocacy that we continue to advance the common sense use and enjoyment of horses in America’s backcountry and Wilderness.
Legacy Fund and Estate Planning
“KEEPING TRAILS OPEN FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS”
GETTING STARTED WITH YOUR ESTATE PLANNING
Leaving a personal legacy for the trails you love can be a natural part of your estate plan. Plan now to take advantage of tax saving ways to leave a gift from your estate — a bequest — which will benefit BCHA and the BCHA Legacy Fund. Bequests are the most frequent type of planned gift made to a non-profit or charity.
While you are setting up or reviewing your will or estate plan, it would be very easy to include a charitable gift to the BCHA Legacy Fund. Your bequest, such as $5,000 or $10,000 or more, would hardly be missed when your estate is settled but would make a world of difference to BCHA. A bequest is a transfer of your property — typically a financial asset — from your estate to BCHA. Donations can also be made “in honor of” or “in memorium” for a friend or loved one.
When reviewing or setting up your estate plan please consider setting up a gift to the BCHA Legacy Fund. This can be done through your will or living trust.
WHY MAKE A GIFT OR BEQUEST TO THE BCHA LEGACY FUND
The values of BCHA are your values. You appreciate BCHA wants to ensure your access to public trails and public lands — now and in the future. You recognize the importance of BCHA being financially strong and secure — now and in the future. You are aware that BCHA is the largest volunteer organization in the U.S. focused on the maintenance and preservation of our equestrian trails. You know our ongoing success requires BCHA to be a robust advocate and have a firm, informed, continuous national voice with public officials, lawmakers, regulators and land managers — now and in the future.
Your bequest — your gift — will make a significant difference in helping us further our mission toward “Keeping Trails Open for Future Generations.”
HOW YOU BENEFIT FROM SETTING UP A BEQUEST
- Your estate can claim a charitable deduction of 100% of the value of the asset transferred to the BCHA Legacy Fund, generally removing the bequest — assets being given — from taxation.
- Making a gift through your estate plan allows you to MAINTAIN FULL CONTROL of your assets as long as you live
- The ability to maintain full control of your assets means you will not jeopardize your own financial security now in order to make a future gift.
- Making a gift through your estate plan may make it possible for you to consider making a larger gift than you might otherwise have considered in your lifetime — when you needed the assets and income.
- You may give cash or a specific item of property. You may specify a dollar amount, a percentage of your estate, or the residue of your estate.
OTHER WAYS TO GIVE THROUGH YOUR ESTATE
It is also very easy to make gifts in other ways. You can authorize your agent under a power of attorney to make donations during your lifetime at whatever times and in whatever amounts make sense to you or you can make it as a bequest. Some examples include:
- LIFE INSURANCE
- ANNUITIES
- IRA ACCOUNTS
- APPRECIATED SHARES OF PUBLICLY TRADED STOCKS
- DONOR ADVISED FUND (DAF)
Discuss your interest in providing a donation to the BCHA Legacy Fund in your estate plans with your attorney, accountant, investment advisor or banker. Financial and tax situations vary, so your advisors will help you decide the best way to leave a legacy to BCHA. We are not licensed to provide professional tax or estate planning advice, but can be helpful in discussing ways to give
If there are questions or information you need from BCHA to complete this next step in your will or estate plan, please contact us at fundraising@bcha.org or BCHA, Attn: Legacy Fund, P.O. Box 1182, Columbia Falls, MT 59912 or (406) 781-8252. Any inquiries are strictly private and confidential. Any donation or written bequest should state: “For the benefit of the BCHA Legacy Fund.”
SAMPLE BEQUEST LANGUAGE & INFORMATION
To set up a bequest, speak with your financial advisor or attorney; they can help you include a gift to the Back Country Horsemen of America in your will, trust or estate plan. We are not lawyers nor licensed or registered financial advisors. Sample language is below. Please verify with your financial advisor what works best for your situation.
Bequest of a Specific Dollar Amount
I hereby give, devise and bequeath _________ and no/100 dollars ($DOLLARS) to Back Country Horsemen of America, a nonprofit organization located at Columbia Falls, MT, Federal Tax ID #81-0468209, to be used as the governing board deems appropriate.
Residual Bequest
I hereby give, devise and bequeath to the Back Country Horsemen of America, a nonprofit organization located at Columbia Falls, MT, Federal Tax ID #81-0468209, ALL OR A PERCENTAGE of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate ($ only) to be used as the governing board deems appropriate.
You may set up a bequest “in memory of” or “in honor of,” making your gift have even more meaning.
There is a provision in the law that people have to take required minimum distributions from their retirement accounts; if those distributions are directed to a charity, it reduces your taxable income; therefore, if it’s a charitable donation in nature you can save taxes and give a lasting gift to Back Country Horsemen of America.
Visit our Planned Giving page on our website for further information.
If you have included a bequest for Back Country Horsemen of America in your estate plan, please share with us. We would like to thank you for your generosity and support of BCHA: “Keeping Trails Open for Future Generations.” All correspondence is kept confidential, unless you indicate otherwise.
CONTACT US if you have any questions; all inquiries are private and confidential. michellewade@bcha.org
BCHA, P.O. Box 1182, Columbia Falls, MT 59912, or call 360-620-2802
***Disclaimer: We are not attorneys; consult your legal advisor for professional assistance.
BCHA is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Your donation to BCHA is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
