Giving Tuesday 2021

This Giving Tuesday we are raising funds to grow our Nature Guardians Youth Program. The program acts as a catalyst for youth to take environmental action across Ontario. We hope you will join us in helping us reach our goal of raising $30,000 to create hands-on opportunities for thousands of young people to be conservation leaders in their schools and communities.

You will help youth collaborate with community groups across the province to organize hands-on conservation volunteering events throughout the year. Your gift will help create more pollinator gardens, plant more trees and organize more shoreline cleanups. You will also help youth work alongside other environmental organizations to advocate for biodiversity conservation and climate action. Actions include the banning of harmful pesticides in Ontario, and promoting the protection and expansion of the Greenbelt. You will also support the Nature Guardian’s upcoming Bringing on Biodiversity Campaign, which will address biodiversity decline through involving youth in community engagement and environmental stewardship.

When you give today, your Giving Tuesday gift will go even farther. Donations up to $15,000 will be matched by Quest Nature Tours, Ontario Nature's board of directors and staff, and an anonymous donor. We hope you will give today to help us reach our goal of $30,000. Thank you for supporting Ontario’s environmental leaders of tomorrow.

Here's what a member of our Youth Council shared:

"My name is Hannah Burns and I have been an active member of Ontario Nature’s Youth Council for over a year now. This year's Youth Council is helping Ontario Nature to raise funds for the Nature Guardians Youth Program.

As a member of the Youth Council this program is incredibly important to me. There are so many youth from across the province that are looking to get involved in environmentalism but don’t know where to start. The Nature Guardians program is a great opportunity for these individuals to get hands-on experience in environmental leadership. 

I have been a community ambassador on the Youth Council’s Bringing on Biodiversity campaign, which aims to preserve provincial biodiversity. As an ambassador I lead youth from my community in local biodiversity conservation and education initiatives. This fall I was able to organize an environmental stewardship event called ”Our Special Spaces” where I led community members in a planting to stabilize a section of the riverbank along a small stretch of the Sydenham River. I have also had the opportunity to create and lead biodiversity themed workshops for elementary school students alongside my peers on the Youth Council. 

None of these incredible opportunities would have been possible without support from the Youth Council. It is a diverse provincial network dedicated to inspiring, connecting and raising environmental awareness while protecting wild species and wild spaces."

Photo by Noah Cole