Celebrating50 yearsof conservationsuccess
Five years ago in a smallmeeting room in Toronto, its walls festooned with green
and white balloons and a green andwhite cake in its centre, a group of Nature
Conservancy of Canada (NCC) staff gathered to celebrate a momentous occa-
sion: after years of efforts and collaboration, the Government of Canada had
announced that it would provide funding to assist in a conservation campaign the
likes of which NCChad never before attempted. The gift was large—$225million
—and it would ensure that NCC and its partners could achieve an unprecedented
amount of conservation work from coast to coast under the Natural Areas
Conservation Program.
The gift also kick-started NCC’s next fundraising campaign, A Force for Na-
ture. The campaign goals were daunting— to raise half a billion dollars and
conserve 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of habitat across the country in five
years. It was only a few years since NCC had concluded its previous fundraising
campaign—The Campaign for Conservation: Saving Canada’s Natural Master-
pieces, which raised more than $200 million and protected more than 239,000
acres (96,720 hectares) at some of the most ecologically significant and
threatened places across Canada. If we were successful, A Force for Nature
would double the amount raised and double our impact on the ground.
Therewas never a doubt that we could achieve these goals, becausewe
believed that you never fail until you stop trying.
Success!
This year,we celebrated the close of the Force for Nature campaign, having surpassed
our goals.AForce for Nature raisedmore than$500million andprotected752,000
acres (300,000hectares) of at-risknatural habitat across Canada, home tomore than
145 species at risk. FromBritishColumbia toNewfoundland,NCC staff workedhand in
handwithour partners and supporters to ensure thatwemet our campaigngoals and
accomplished significant conservation.
Reporttoourdonors
8
9
REVIEWOF
conservation
successes
,
2012–2013
Mount Hereford Property,
White Mountains, QC
Photo by MRC of Coaticook
•
Completed the
exceeding our fundraising goals;
•
Received an exceedinglypositive reviewof the
•
Celebrated the renewal of funding of the
Natural Areas Conservation Program through
toApril 2014;
•
For the fourth year in a row, received topmarks in
MoneySense
magazine’
ranking;
•
Celebrated our 50
th
anniversary;
•
Confirmednew corporate support of our internship
and
programs, aswell as
•
Generated international interest in our science
work, including the
nd
•
Grew the StewardshipEndowment Fund
to$74million;
•
Secured72,323 acres (29,268hectares) on
99properties;
•
Published the
Amongourmanyaccomplishments in
the past fiscal year,we:
