[greenon-l] $22. Match this gift

[cco at web.ca]

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this listserve, go to www.weconserve.ca
<http://www.weconserve.ca/> 

 

Match this Gift!
http://weconserve.ca/articles/?p=41 

My six year old son, Aran, just became our fourth or fifth highest
individual donor this year.

He had $44 saved up in his sharing bowl and he decided he wanted to give
half to helping Africa (Stephen Lewis Foundation, come on down!) and half to
helping save the environment. Wait a minute, he cried, and ran upstairs to
get his money. Nancy groaned, that's too easy. (Charity, apparently, is not
always supposed to begin at home).

At the Conservation Council, we've never been much of an aggressive
fundraising organization. We have a relatively small annual budget, and
thanks to the support of a few major partners (The Beer Store and Citizens
Bank) and project grants (The Ontario Trillium Foundation and the
Conservation Bureau), we've had the luxury over the past few years of being
able to step back from the usual project-driven, time-consuming fundraising
fray and concentrate on coming up with a plan to save the world (or at least
our corner of it).

Alas, those halcyon days are behind us now. We have a most ambitious five
year plan laid out before us: everyone in Ontario to be a conserver by 2009,
building a robust fiscal, social and economic support structure for
conservation by 2010, and achieving great and measurable change by 2012.

I've just finished our fundraising budget for 2008. At the low end, it's
$670,000, including a complete overhaul of our website to connect would-be
conservers with your solutions; a province wide social marketing campaign; a
focus on municipal and retail involvement in We Conserve; funding support to
create community-based conservation action networks; and collaborations with
partner groups on specific outreach and capacity building projects. At the
high end, it's $2.25 million, with a few rather neat projects just waiting
for someone to take a serious run at promoting a culture of conservation in
Ontario. And in our five year plan, we identify the need to raise at least
$5 million annually in new funds for conservation campaigns.

This may seem like a lot. It's not. But it does mean that I have to become
serious about raising money - for my own organization and for the
conservation movement. So here's the first pitch.

If you read this far, you are now tagged:

1. Match my son. Please make a personal contribution of $22 to the
Conservation Council of Ontario. There are nearly 2,500 people on our
listserve, so it can add up. Follow this link to our page on Canada
<http://www.canadahelps.org/public/content/Donate/DispCharityProfile.asp?cid
=16902&#038;lang=e>  Helps (and get an instant tax receipt) or mail a cheque
payable to The Conservation Council of Ontario at Suite 132, 215 Spadina
Avenue, Toronto, M5T 2C7.

2. Forward this, with a personal note to any friends who you think can help
build a conservation movement in Ontario.

3. Find us a sponsor. If you work for, or are connected to any companies,
municipalities, or other potential sponsors who can contribute $5,000 as a
sponsor, or around $50,000 as a major sponsor (like The Beer Store), please
connect me with them.

Please help. After the bummer in Bali, the need for a united conservation
movement has never been greater. We must all be leaders, and we must all
work together.

Thanks, Aran, for helping your dad write a fundraising letter. And thanks to
all of you who have contributed so much to our cause over the past year.
Seasons greetings, one and all,

Chris.

 

Chris Winter
Executive Director
The Conservation Council of Ontario
www.weconserve.ca <http://www.weconserve.ca/>   

 


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