RBC donates $500,000 to Nature Conservatory
of Canada
TORONTO, August 2004 - The Nature Conservancy of Canada's (NCC) Campaign for Conservation has received a pledge of half a million dollars over five years from the RBC Foundation.
"The Nature Conservancy of Canada is committed to ensuring Canada's most spectacular and significant natural landscapes are preserved for future generations," said John Lounds, President of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. "RBC's generous contribution will help to make this natural legacy a reality, and set an excellent example for others in the area of corporate citizenship."
NCC's key goal in this campaign is to protect habitat for species at more than 50 of Canada's most ecologically important sites. RBC's donation - which helps bring private sector contribution to $140 million of the $200 million campaign fundraising goal - will help NCC use the best science available to identify, protect and steward the land. It is also one of the largest environmental-related donations the RBC Foundation will make in 2004.
"At RBC we strongly believe that human welfare depends upon sound economic growth and the maintenance of a healthy environment," said Charlie Coffey, executive vice president, RBC. "We are proud to play a role in protecting some of Canada's most ecologically significant landscapes by supporting NCC. "
The 50 campaign sites - or "Natural Masterpieces" - were selected through a scientific process that determines the key sites to be conserved. They are located in the southern part of Canada, where development pressures place the greatest strains on natural ecosystems. Seventy per cent of Canada's species at risk are found in the 10 per cent of the country closest to our southern border. The 50 sites provide habitat for 63 per cent of terrestrial endangered species currently listed by COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada).
The RBC donation and other funds raised will support the direct protection of land at these Masterpiece sites, either through purchase, donation or helping landowners to place conservation easements on their properties. They will also help to care for the sites once they are secured.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada is a non-profit, non-advocacy organization that takes a business-like approach to land conservation and the preservation of biological diversity. Its plan of action involves partnership building and entering into creative conservation solutions with any individual, corporation, community group, conservation organization or government body that shares its passion. Since 1962, NCC and its supporters have protected more than 7,300 square kilometers (1.8 million acres) of ecologically significant land nationwide.
RBC Financial Group has one of the leading community care programs in Canada and is a founding member of the Imagine program, committed to donating at least one per cent of its annual net income before taxes to charitable causes. In 2003, RBC invested more than $57 million in communities across North America, with $37 million in donations to charitable organizations (of which more than $28 million was given to Canadian charities), and $20 million invested in sponsorships, primarily of amateur sport and the arts. In 2003, RBC was named "most socially responsible" corporation in Canada for the seventh year in a row.
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