Membership FAQ

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 by:

  1. Visiting the Subscription tab under My Account
  2. Clicking the “View” button next to your active subscription
  3. Setting 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 by:

  1. Visiting the Subscription tab under My Account
  2. Clicking the “View” button next to your active subscription
  3. Setting 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 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.