With a belief that the community plays just as much a role in backing climate efforts as big corporations do, one West Vancouver couple have promised to match every donation made by the public to the Nature Conservancy of Canada – up to the value of $40,000.
This Giving Tuesday, the 10th edition, the Nature Conservancy of Canada is asking the public to support them in their plight to save some of the country’s most important forests, wetlands, grasslands and coastal areas.
The annual holiday sees all donations matched by the conservancy, and, in British Columbia, every dollar donated to the conservancy will also be matched by the Collings Stevens Family Foundation, led by couple Al Collings and Hilary Stevens.
“We hope that our commitment to match other donors’ contributions encourages a great number of individuals, families and organizations to provide the necessary funding to protect our natural environment,” said Al Collings.
With the conservancy working to protect natural landscapes in areas where the threat of development is high, previous donors have contributed towards the protection of essential wildlife habitat and threatened ecosystems in some of B.C’s most heavily developed regions, including the Salish Sea, the South Okanagan and the Rocky Mountain Trench.
“We need to accelerate the pace of conservation in order to stop and reverse the damage. As a charitable land trust, we can’t do it without the support of people, businesses and foundations,” said Krista Sheppard, BC Director of Development and Communications, Nature Conservancy of Canada.
“This Giving Tuesday, people can double their impact in protecting nature.”
Donations can be made through the Nature Conservancy of Canada website.
Mina Kerr-Lazenby is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
