Nova Scotia Fair Property Tax Coalition
Donation protected
Update: May 2, 2022
Dear Friends,
Thank you for visiting this campaign page.
PLEASE READ THIS IN ITS ENTIRETY BEFORE MAKING A DONATION! This document sets out all of the steps we are taking to raise and spend the funds from the campaign responsibly.
WHO ARE WE?
We are a group of deeply concerned citizens raising urgently needed funds for an advocacy campaign organized by the Steering Group for the Nova Scotia Fair Property Tax Coalition at Nova Scotia Fair Property Tax Coalition Our names are listed below. We are both residents and non-residents. Included in our ranks are people from all walks of life from government to business to commercial, professional and the service industries, employers and employees, active and retired.
The Steering Group has recently launched our website Nova Scotia Fair Property Tax Coalition, website We will be adding to it in the coming weeks.
You may have heard about the Facebook Group called TAX FAIRNESS FOR NOVA SCOTIA NON-RESIDENT PROPERTY OWNERS. This group was started in early April 2022 and as of today, has over 1,700 members. Although the Facebook Group is separate from the Coalition, their aims are aligned, with overlapping membership. By participating in the Coalition’s GoFundMe campaign, some members of the Facebook Group are also funding the Coalition’s activities as described below.
WHY ARE WE RAISING FUNDS?
The Coalition’s purpose is to help and encourage Nova Scotians and others to speak out against the Government of Nova Scotia's unfair and discriminatory non-resident property tax. We also seek to ward off a disastrous threat to Nova Scotia’s fine tradition of openness and welcoming others by fighting this distortionary, discriminatory and, we believe, unconstitutional tax.
Many, including the members of the Coalition Steering Group, have already made substantial commitments of time and money to this cause. We need your support to keep going.
This is a grassroots campaign working within its means, so we can't spend money that we don’t have! We need your help.
HOW IS THIS CAMPAIGN ORGANIZED?
1. We are not a charity, so there will be no tax receipts. We understand that you are placing your trust in us to manage these funds and to direct all our energy and efforts towards the goal of halting this tax.
2. How are the prominent Facebook Group leaders and the GoFundMe organizer related to this campaign? They are volunteers who care deeply about this issue. Neither the Facebook Group leaders (currently Clair Duff and Graeme Marney) nor the GoFundMe organizer (Trish Bongard), or any of their relatives, have or will ever receive any funds from the Coalition account.
3. Do any members of the steering committee benefit from funds raised? No. No one on the Steering Committee, or any of their relatives, is being paid for any work or receiving any financial benefit. In fact, all of us are devoting significant personal time and money to the campaign. All money will be spent under the authority of, and with the concurrence of, the steering committee.
4. How will we spend it? The funds raised in this campaign will be used to pay for the costs of the creation, operation and updating of the website when it can’t be performed by a volunteer and to develop other communications resources and tools to support all of you in fighting this punitive tax. Costs may include hard costs (such as website hosting); working with specialists on paid media, earned media, general communications support, print materials, and other advertising needs; as well as incidental legal expenses. Note: We are not currently fundraising for a lawsuit in this campaign, however, should that become required in the future, it will be funded by a separate campaign.
5. How will the money be handled? The money raised here will be transferred to a separate joint bank account in Nova Scotia by wire transfer and held in trust by two members of the Coalition’s Steering Committee. These two members, both residents of Nova Scotia, are Sara Filbee, a retired lawyer and Public Servant in Residence with the Dalhousie School of Public Administration, and Mike Kennedy, a retired senior public servant and Professor of Economics with Queens University. They will be signing a legally binding Declaration of Trust before any funds are withdrawn from GoFundMe to ensure the funds are held in trust for the purposes specified in this message. They will jointly sign all cheques and all expenditures will be approved by the Coalition Steering Group. We will provide donors with regular updates.
6. What will we do with any surplus left in the account? If any funds are left over after paying all approved expenses, the remaining funds will be donated on your behalf to a Nova Scotian charity working to end the homelessness crisis in the province.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
Don’t forget to visit Nova Scotia Fair Property Tax Coalition at the website Go to the Take Action section. And stay in touch on the Facebook Group.
Thank you. On behalf of the Coalition team:
George Cooper | John Richard Duckworth | Clair S. Duff | Tom Eisenhauer | Sara Filbee | Trish Bongard Godfrey | Paul Hughes | Kevin Lynch | Graeme Marney | Hank Stackhouse | Fred Stanford | Leslie Stanford | Michael Sullivan I Mike Kennedy
Dear Friends,
Thank you for visiting this campaign page.
PLEASE READ THIS IN ITS ENTIRETY BEFORE MAKING A DONATION! This document sets out all of the steps we are taking to raise and spend the funds from the campaign responsibly.
WHO ARE WE?
We are a group of deeply concerned citizens raising urgently needed funds for an advocacy campaign organized by the Steering Group for the Nova Scotia Fair Property Tax Coalition at Nova Scotia Fair Property Tax Coalition Our names are listed below. We are both residents and non-residents. Included in our ranks are people from all walks of life from government to business to commercial, professional and the service industries, employers and employees, active and retired.
The Steering Group has recently launched our website Nova Scotia Fair Property Tax Coalition, website We will be adding to it in the coming weeks.
You may have heard about the Facebook Group called TAX FAIRNESS FOR NOVA SCOTIA NON-RESIDENT PROPERTY OWNERS. This group was started in early April 2022 and as of today, has over 1,700 members. Although the Facebook Group is separate from the Coalition, their aims are aligned, with overlapping membership. By participating in the Coalition’s GoFundMe campaign, some members of the Facebook Group are also funding the Coalition’s activities as described below.
WHY ARE WE RAISING FUNDS?
The Coalition’s purpose is to help and encourage Nova Scotians and others to speak out against the Government of Nova Scotia's unfair and discriminatory non-resident property tax. We also seek to ward off a disastrous threat to Nova Scotia’s fine tradition of openness and welcoming others by fighting this distortionary, discriminatory and, we believe, unconstitutional tax.
Many, including the members of the Coalition Steering Group, have already made substantial commitments of time and money to this cause. We need your support to keep going.
This is a grassroots campaign working within its means, so we can't spend money that we don’t have! We need your help.
HOW IS THIS CAMPAIGN ORGANIZED?
1. We are not a charity, so there will be no tax receipts. We understand that you are placing your trust in us to manage these funds and to direct all our energy and efforts towards the goal of halting this tax.
2. How are the prominent Facebook Group leaders and the GoFundMe organizer related to this campaign? They are volunteers who care deeply about this issue. Neither the Facebook Group leaders (currently Clair Duff and Graeme Marney) nor the GoFundMe organizer (Trish Bongard), or any of their relatives, have or will ever receive any funds from the Coalition account.
3. Do any members of the steering committee benefit from funds raised? No. No one on the Steering Committee, or any of their relatives, is being paid for any work or receiving any financial benefit. In fact, all of us are devoting significant personal time and money to the campaign. All money will be spent under the authority of, and with the concurrence of, the steering committee.
4. How will we spend it? The funds raised in this campaign will be used to pay for the costs of the creation, operation and updating of the website when it can’t be performed by a volunteer and to develop other communications resources and tools to support all of you in fighting this punitive tax. Costs may include hard costs (such as website hosting); working with specialists on paid media, earned media, general communications support, print materials, and other advertising needs; as well as incidental legal expenses. Note: We are not currently fundraising for a lawsuit in this campaign, however, should that become required in the future, it will be funded by a separate campaign.
5. How will the money be handled? The money raised here will be transferred to a separate joint bank account in Nova Scotia by wire transfer and held in trust by two members of the Coalition’s Steering Committee. These two members, both residents of Nova Scotia, are Sara Filbee, a retired lawyer and Public Servant in Residence with the Dalhousie School of Public Administration, and Mike Kennedy, a retired senior public servant and Professor of Economics with Queens University. They will be signing a legally binding Declaration of Trust before any funds are withdrawn from GoFundMe to ensure the funds are held in trust for the purposes specified in this message. They will jointly sign all cheques and all expenditures will be approved by the Coalition Steering Group. We will provide donors with regular updates.
6. What will we do with any surplus left in the account? If any funds are left over after paying all approved expenses, the remaining funds will be donated on your behalf to a Nova Scotian charity working to end the homelessness crisis in the province.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
Don’t forget to visit Nova Scotia Fair Property Tax Coalition at the website Go to the Take Action section. And stay in touch on the Facebook Group.
Thank you. On behalf of the Coalition team:
George Cooper | John Richard Duckworth | Clair S. Duff | Tom Eisenhauer | Sara Filbee | Trish Bongard Godfrey | Paul Hughes | Kevin Lynch | Graeme Marney | Hank Stackhouse | Fred Stanford | Leslie Stanford | Michael Sullivan I Mike Kennedy
Organizer and beneficiary
Trish Bongard
Organizer
Toronto, ON
Sara Filbee
Beneficiary