About the Endangered Ecosystems Fund

Why should Canadians give to conservation charities?

Research by the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy suggests that many Canadians do not give to environmental charities because they do not know which causes to support, cannot find a group that reflects their values, or do not trust charities to use their donations wisely.

The follow facts show why Canadians should consider increasing the amount they give to environmental organizations:

  • most environmental charities are newer than in other charitable sectors and have thus had less time to develop sophisticated donor development programs;
  • many other charitable sectors receive significant amounts of ‘core funding’ from public and private funding agencies – environmental organizations do not, making the allocation of resources to long-term donor development programs challenging;
  • other charities are strongly supported by work-place giving programs - to date, efforts to include an environmental option under such programs have been largely unsuccessful; and
  • the work of some environmental charities is sometimes regarded as threatening to the business interests of many of those who are otherwise supportive of charitable activities.

The single greatest cause for biodiversity loss in Canada is extensive habitat alteration by people. Regions with extensive private land ownership tend to have more threatened and endangered ecosystems and species because of unsustainable development practices. If we are serious about conserving biodiversity we need to work with willing landowners to conserve the special places that are left. Because of this, the Endangered Ecosystems Fund will focus its funding activities that focus on the protection and stewardship of private lands.