A few answers to Frequently Asked Questions regarding TFN memberships. You may wish to check out our Payments FAQ for similar information.
How does TFN use my membership fees & donations?
TFN is 100% volunteer-driven and has no physical offices, so all funds we receive are used to provide our membership benefits and to fulfill our mandate: connecting people with nature and helping them to understand, enjoy, and protect Toronto’s green spaces and the species that inhabit them. This includes things like purchasing equipment for our stewardship & citizen science teams, educating & engaging youth through our free Junior Naturalists programming, submitting copies of our newsletter to public archives, honourariums & facility rentals for our lectures, maintaining our 170+ hectares of private nature reserves, and operating expenses for the digital infrastructure that helps us stay connected to our Members and the general public.
If you would like to make a donation to TFN, please visit our page on Canada Helps.
How do I stop my Membership from renewing automatically?
By default, your TFN membership is set to automatically renew each year. If you would rather renew manually, you can opt-out of automatic renewals:
- Visit the Subscription tab under My Account
- Click the “View” button next to your active subscription
- Set the “Auto renew” slider to the off position. Once done, the “Payment” field under the slider will confirm you’re now set to renew “Via Manual Renewal”
How do I get my membership to automatically renew each year?
Memberships paid for via PayPal or credit card can be set to auto-renew:
- Visit the Subscription tab under My Account
- Click the “View” button next to your active subscription
- Set the “Auto renew” slider to the on position. Once done, the “Payment” field under the slider will confirm you’re no longer set to renew “Via Manual Renewal”
Please note: In a scant number of circumstances, switching from Manual Renewal to Auto-Renewal may not work as expected. This is a security measure that PayPal forces to protect its customers from website-operators with nefarious intentions. If your experience any difficulties please let us know – we can help!
How do I switch to get a printed version of the newsletter?
If you signed up as a digital subscriber and have decided that you want to received printed copies of the newsletter instead, you can make the change yourself:
- Visit the Subscription tab under My Account
- Click the “View” button next to your active subscription
- Click on the “Change Membership Type” button
- Select your current membership then choose “Print” for newsletter delivery
- Click the “Switch subscription” button.
- Complete the steps to pay the surcharge associated with the printed version of the newsletter
Note: If you switch to the printed version after the current month’s issues have already been printed, your print subscription will start with the next issue.
Are membership fees tax deductible ?
Donations to TFN are tax deductible but membership fees are not.
Can I purchase a gift membership?
We don’t have the ability to purchase gift memberships. You can purchase a membership using the giftee’s information but your credit card. Make sure to change the auto-renew setting to off.
Can I have multiple emails for one membership?
Unfortunately the way our member database is structured doesn’t allow for multiple email addresses on one account.
How do I become a Lifetime Member?
Lifetime memberships are not available for purchase. They are bequeathed by our Board of Directors only to long-standing Members whose volunteer efforts have contributed significantly to the organization over many, many years. See the list of recipients here.