Lake Simcoe Conservation Foundation

The Lake Simcoe Conservation Foundation (LSCF) helps to clean up water draining into Lake Simcoe by raising funds from the private sector to support restoration projects, education and scientific research. The LSCF has two full-time staff members and operates very much like a hospital foundation except that they provide funding to help the environment, instead of patients, to heal.

Working in partnership with the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority (LSRCA), watershed municipalities and other partners, the LSCF enables vital work to be done that maintains the natural environment, and in many places return the land and the rivers and the streams to a natural state. Their mandate is to improve water quality, restore a coldwater fishery to Lake Simcoe, protect natural features of the region and to educate future generations in conservation.

In order to achieve their mission, the LSCF must manage minimal resources and find creative ways to reach potential donors. One way they have done this is by developing partnerships. Most recently, they have developed a partnership with Vaughan Mills shopping centre, the largest shopping centre in Ontario. Creative brainstorming with the centre resulted in an impressive outreach campaign called ‘Fishing with Santa’ where children visiting Santa in Vaughan Mills could access a video via the web of themselves fishing and talking with Santa. Rather than charging for the experience, parents were asked to make a donation ‘to clean water for Santa and the fish’.

Since 2004, the LSCF has increased gross income from $150,000 to $698,693 at the end of 2007 in addition to increasing the amount invested in water clean-up projects from $48,973 in 2004 to $460,000 to date in 2008. 2007 also marked the first year that the Foundation did not have to draw on their reserves to continue operations and managed to contribute $50,000 to their reserves instead. One hundred per cent of funding for the LSCF comes from private donations. A member of Imagine Canada, they adhere to the donor bill of rights and are committed to a client-centred approach and best practices in the sector.

In 2007, the LSCF completed the restoration of 300m of river and created one acre of green space in an urban area in partnership with the City of Barrie, the LSRCA and their donors. In the fall of 2007, they hosted a tree planting event where 150 people came together to plant the 800 trees and shrubs.

In 2007 a $17 million campaign was launched to clean up the East Holland River. By leveraging a $500,000 donation from the Samuel McLaughlin Foundation and working in partnership with the LSRCA all levels of government have made a long term commitment to this campaign. Over eight million dollars has been pledged to date over the next five years and 120 restoration projects are either completed or underway.

Their 2007 funding initiative for conservation education programs resulted in: program development, insect collection kits, green lasers for pointing out constellations and the purchase of GPS units for an orienteering program at the Scanlon Creek Education Centre.