Last Wednesday, September 7th was our annual Protect and Preserve giving day. During the giving day, 10 environmental nonprofit organizations worked together to raise over $100,000 to sustain the precious ecosystems of Orange County. The organizations that participated come from a diverse range of environmental work from the ocean to the hills. Laguna Canyon Foundation had the individual goal to raise $20,000 to create and maintain sustainable trails, restore endangered habitats for our threatened wildlife, protect native butterflies and other animal species, and provide hands-on, science-based, outdoor education to under-resourced school.
While this fundraising campaign was a collaborative effort across Orange County, we took the opportunity to do some social media collaboration with two neighboring Laguna Beach organizations: Pacific Marine Mammal Center and Laguna Ocean Foundation. Our organizations may seem different, but our mission is the same. Together we protect the ocean, marine mammals and open spaces in Laguna Beach and its surroundings- all part of the larger Laguna Canyon ecosystem.
To encourage donations from our community, we continued to share our work, from restoration projects to trail maintenance, through our social channels. You may have seen a couple of video messages from our Executive Director, Hallie Jones and Deputy Director, Jacky Cordero. Jacky even ran hill sprints up and down the infamous Stair Steps trail outside of our office- an effort that saw a direct increase in donations once it hit Instagram! Thanks for going the extra mile, Jacky!
So, how did we do?
Thanks to all your support and generosity we exceeded our individual goal of $20,000 and together the 10 organizations surpassed the overall goal of the Protect and Preserve campaign of $100,000! We want to give a big thanks to everyone that donated on Protect and Preserve 2022 and helped us reach our goal, including the Orange County Community Foundation for organizing another successful giving day benefiting the ecosystems of Orange County. We are excited to continue our work to preserve, protect, enhance, and promote the South Coast Wilderness, and we could not do it without YOUR support.