Gifts of Securities, a great way to give to conservation

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Created: Monday, 27 May 2019 15:28

Donating appreciated equity can be a gift for both you and your favourite charity, Habitat Acquisition Trust! 

Did you know you can donate gifts of securities can not only benefit your favourite charity (HAT) but also benefit you! Donating securities has the potential to help you realign your portfolio and give back to your community in a tax-efficient way that may have an even greater impact than if you were to sell your stock and donate the cash value after liquidating. 

By donating securities, you can avoid the capital gains tax on the appreciated amount you would have incurred had you sold the stock, plus get a tax deduction for the full fair market value of your long-term capital gain asset (up to 30% of your adjusted gross income). 

Another wonderful way to give: give stock through a Donor Advised Fund. This option presents the opportunity to grow your donation, tax-free. 

To learn more about how you can contribute to HAT while benefitting from a tax deduction, talk to your Financial Advisor, contact our friends at Raymond James, and read this article on The Gift of Appreciated Stock, to ensure your gift of securities to HAT can make to strongest impact possible for conservation. 

Raymond James is kind enough to provide this service free of charge, so your gift to HAT can make to strongest impact possible for conservation. 

Photo by: Alanah Nasadyk

Green Spots gets a new portable mural thanks to local artists!

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Created: Monday, 27 May 2019 14:34

Thanks to the great initiative and organization of HAT supporter and local artist, Joanne Thomson, Green Spots has a new portable mural to use in upcoming education and outreach programs. Advised by HAT staff, Joanne came up with the idea to create a mural that depicts Green Spots students at work on their school grounds, removing invasive plants like Himalayan Blackberry, Scotch broom and English Ivy to allow native species like Common and Great (Grand) Camas (purple-blue flowers in foreground) Buttercup (yellow flowers among the Camas), and Seablush (pink flowers in background) to re-establish. Joanne, with the help of a team of wonderful local artists, painted this mural in the hopes that it will help spread the message to youngsters about the importance of native plants to our local ecosystems and empower them to make a positive change for nature in their community by gardening with native plants. 
We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to Joanne and all of the artists involved in the making of this mural. We are so excited to share your beautiful contribution with our Green Spots kids!

Photos courtesy of Joanne Thomson, Ashlea Veldhoen, Ann Schau & artist participants

The Great Canadian Giving Challenge 2019

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Created: Friday, 24 May 2019 11:34

Join the Great Canadian Giving Challenge by donating to HAT before June 30th, 2019!

Every dollar donated in June is a chance for us to WIN!

Donate to HAT during the month of June and automatically enter us to WIN $10,000 during the Great Canadian Giving Challenge. Every $1 donation is one entry into the contest for HAT! 

Just a single donation could help us restore a plot of native habitat, supply materials for our educational programs, or help us improve habitat for species at risk!

If you win the $10,000 prize for HAT, you can make an even bigger difference! $10,000 could supply over 75 bat boxes to support over 15,000 bats, 100 Western Screech-owl nest boxes, build and care for native plant learning gardens at our Green Spots Schools, or purchase equipment needed to conduct restoration in threated habitats across south Vancouver Island.

Search for 'Habitat Acquisition Trust' on Canada Helps, The Great Canadian Giving Challenge or click here!

Then, pick your way to give: give once or schedule monthly donations, donate securities or mutual funds, or fundraise.

Search
Find us on Canada Helps: Habitat Acquisition Trust

Donate through Canada Helps or our Website
Every $1* donated on CanadaHelps.org is a chance to win!(*Minimum $3 donation required).

Celebrate
The winner will be announced on July 1st, 2019.

Support HAT today and make a BIG impact!

THE MORE YOU GIVE, THE MORE CHANCES HAT WILL WIN!

You could make a difference today!

- Enhance bat and Western Screech-owl habitat through installing bat boxes and nest boxes in critical habitat and give them a fighting chance.

- Provide native plants for a pollinator hedgerow or habitat restoration project in your area.

- Give much needed equipment and supplies to our species at risk monitoring and habitat restoration programs.

Imagine the difference $10,000 could make tomorrow.

- Restore critically endangered Garry Oak meadow or coastal Douglas-fir Habitat on south Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands

- Enable the permanent protection and conservation of hundreds of hectares of threatened habitat through conservation covenants!

- Empower and educate over 100 local land owners in becoming better stewards of their land through intensive workshops, site visits and presentations

Terms & Conditions* Donations must be made via GivingChallenge.ca or CanadaHelps.org. Minimum $3 donation required. Contest runs from June 1, 2019 at midnight Newfoundland Daylight Time (NDT) to June 30, 2019 at 11:59:59 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). One (1) CAD $10,000 donation from The GIV3 Foundation to selected charity available to be won. Odds of charity winning depend on number of entries received. Math skill-test required. See full rules at: http://givingchallenge.ca/rules.html.

Earth Day at the Gardens at HCP 2019

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Created: Thursday, 25 April 2019 13:41

Because there is no "Planet B".

April 22, 2019 - Saanich 

By: Ashlea Veldhoen 

Earth Day is always a time of celebration. It allows us a day to observe our impact on the Earth, renew our Earth-friendly goals for the year, and make new ones, too. At HCP's Earth Day event this past Monday, we witnessed an inspiring range of people from toddlers to seniors come together to celebrate the wonderful planet that we call home. With free admission for Earth Day guests could visit the native plant garden to learn more about our native trees, shrubs and flowering plants. Exhibitors included eco-friendly vendors and organizations including our friends at the Pollinator Partnership, the Greater Victoria Green Team,  Victoria Bug Zoo, Rent the Chicken and Bees Please Farms, West Coast Refill, Bespoke Blossoms, books, upcycled clothing, Friends of Tod Creek Watershed, the CRD, and more. The HAT booth was inundated by families with young children curious about our native bat species, owls, volunteering opportunities and more. We also shared our brand new reptile guide with Earth Day attendees as well.

Guests were impressed by Paige Erickson-McGee's "Creating Frog-friendly Spaces" talk, where she explained the importance of using native plants in home gardens to create habitat for native amphibians including frogs, newts and salamanders, as amphibians not only rely on wet, but also forested habitat to survive. Paige then took a large group of attendees on a walk in the nearby Viaduct flats to get a first-hand look at native wetland plants and natural amphibian habitat. We also had a prize draw for a small container garden featuring Blue-eyed Grass, Pacific Water Parsley and Few-flowered Shooting Star. 

Earth Day is a day we reflect on the impact our actions have on the Earth both now and over the long term, as well as celebrate the wonderful things nature provides to us from fresh drinking water, clean air, producing wholesome nutritious foods, isn't it time we give back to nature? We believe it should be Earth Day every day, which means reflecting on your actions every day to reduce your impact: Doing simple things like walking or cycling to work, minimizing your use of single use-plastics, re-using and repurposing plastic containers and even packing a bagged lunch can all contribute to reducing your ecological footprint.

Because there is no "Planet B".

Thanks to Saanich Native Plants for donating the container garden and to the Gardens at HCP for the use of their indoor pavillion and providing access to Viaduct Flats for our Frog-friendly Spaces Walk & Talk. 

For a list of all the attendees, see below!

Haliburton Community Organic Farm Society | Victoria Master Gardener Association | Victoria Bug Zoo | Usborne Books | Bees Please Farms/Rent The Chicken | The Truffles Group | Pollinator Partnership/Island Pollinator Initiative | Greater Victoria Green Team | West Coast Refill | Bespoke Blossoms | CRD Watershed | Creatively United | Friends of Tod Creek Watershed | Friends of Maltby Lake Watershed Society | Christa Brenan (sustainable fashion)

Want to know more? See the links below: 

To get more involved, consider volunteering with HAT's Habitat Restoration program, where you can help improve wildlife habitat by performing hands-on restoration work in your community! Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to sign up as a volunteer today! 

For more information on Amphibians, download our Amphibians guide and visit our page on Amphibians

For more information on Reptiles, download our Reptile guide and visit our page on Reptiles. 

For more information on how you can report amphibian roadkill, fill out our online form.

Want to hear from HAT more often? Subscribe to receive our monthly e-news, where you will get updates on volunteer opportunities, upcoming talks, events and more!