Frequently Asked Questions

It was our intention to lease the land at the top of the falls to the Township of Lake of Bays as a publicly accessible park. Meetings had taken place and a site agreed to.  However, the driveway that leads to the property is not acceptable to the Ministry of Transport of Ontario as a safe public access from Highway #35.

We do welcome members to attend our many nature events and also invite organized groups to make arrangements for a guided visit. Many school groups, nature clubs, Probus, artists, as well as families, have made such arrangements. See the rest of our website for more information on Marsh’s Falls.

LOBA, the Lake of Bays Association, is the association of seasonal and year-round residents of the Lake of Bays region. It is focused on the interests of its members in promoting, sustaining and enhancing a clean and healthy natural environment , a well serviced community and a safe and peaceful Lake of Bays. LBHF, the Lake of Bays Heritage Foundation, is a registered land trust as well as a registered charity. Its focus is on the preservation of our natural and community heritage for the enjoyment of future generations.  Tax receipts are given for all membership fees and donations. Through donations we are able to purchase and protect land and to research and document community histories. You are on the LBHF website now.

Life Members are members for life and do not have to renew every year.  We do welcome further donations from Life Members to help with the continuing work of the Foundation. There are a number of levels of membership beyond Life Membership to recognize continuing donations.

LOBA is very busy during the fall season and generally updates us once a month.  So it is possible that we had not received notice of your LBHF membership renewal at the time of our mailing. We work closely with LOBA and always get the funds that are meant for us.

The LOBA membership fee changes from time to time.  You can check their site here for the current fee and for methods of payment.

LBHF is very interested in having a copy of your family history together with pictures if available.  However, we do not archive documents, pictures or artifacts except on our website. There are museums we can direct you to if you would like to donate artifacts. Our mandate is to protect the natural and community heritage of the lake and if you can help we would like to talk to you.  See the Contact Us section of our site.

Leaving a memorial gift to the Foundation is an effective way to preserve your legacy and highlight your love of the lake.   See our Legacy section here.

Put a phone number where we can reach you at tax time.  The only time we tend to phone members is if their tax slip or membership form is returned to us as undeliverable.  We never phone for marketing or fundraising purposes.

Put the address where we should mail your income tax slip.  These are mailed at the beginning of February so, unless you visit your cottage regularly in the winter, enter your home address.

The Foundation is setup for autodeposit of Interac e-Transfers sent to donations@lakeofbaysheritage.ca. Therefore you will not be asked to include a security question or code. The autodeposit feature has been available for over a year.  It works well and helps to keep us organized. We will acknowledge your donation by email so you will know that we got it. 

Generally, between the end of January and the middle of February.  Tax receipts are sent in paper form as we are unable to produce and bulk mail PDFs.  That may change in the future but for now that part of our operation lives in the paper world.

Organizations wanting to accept credit card payments must meet very stringent conditions to do so directly.  Currently there are 170 conditions, including fidelity bonding of all staff.  Only large organizations can meet such requirements.  PayPal is one of those and they have given us the best terms for clearing credit cards.  Your information will be absolutely safe with them and you will not be asked for a PayPal account to donate by credit card.

A new website requires great photographs.  Almost all of the photos featured on the site were taken by Rebecca Krawczyk, Mark McLean, Brian Simpson and Gloria Woodside.  Mark, Brian and Gloria are Foundation Directors and Rebecca is a volunteer and key contributor to the re-naturalization of the Marsh’s Falls property.  Thank you all.