Thanks to your partnership, Manitoba Habitat Conservancy has made great strides in 2024 toward helping Manitoba’s landscapes thrive for generations to come. We’re excited to debut our digital report, which allows us to reduce our paper use while celebrating our progress. As we reflect on the year, we’re grateful for the partnerships and community generosity, making it possible to conserve, restore, and enhance Manitoba’s grasslands and wetlands. It’s all possible with your support.
Manitoba Habitat Conservancy is an organization grounded in conservation and propelled by people.
As we celebrate another year of amazing conservation work in Manitoba, our team is looking back on what we have accomplished and forward to what we are poised to do. Our Program Delivery team perpetually conserved more than 8,000 acres, including highlights like the conservation of our second-largest private landowner agreement of 1,900 acres, and the largest cash payment on another agreement, at over $500,000. These achievements aren’t just records on paper either, they’re living commitments to the landscapes and communities that make Manitoba unique.
We also delivered significant investments through the Conservation and GROW Trusts, surpassing a cumulative investment of $50M – major financial support for conservation groups. These funds are empowering local organizations to restore wetlands, support wildlife, and steward working landscapes across the province.
But 2024 was also a year of growth that reached beyond land.
We successfully completed the implementation of our strategic plan. Our team invested in planning, training, and shared leadership and it shows. Internal survey responses highlighted a culture that is supportive, flexible, and deeply rooted in connection and collaboration, approaches we also bring to our conservation partnerships.
We are proud of what we’ve built: a delivery model that’s effective, a team that’s passionate and a mission that’s as relevant now as it has ever been.
As we continue refining our strategic direction and investing in the people who bring this work to life, we want to thank everyone who made this year possible: our staff, partners, funders, landowners, and board members. It is these people and the connections we make that lead to exciting opportunities to deliver our brand of homegrown conservation to Manitoba. Together, we’re proving that conservation doesn’t just happen on the land, it begins with trust, shared purpose, and the belief that our province’s natural heritage belongs to all of us and is something we should be proud of.
Board Chair
Chief executive Officer
acres of habitat permanently conserved, equal to roughly 4,416 CFL football fields.
acres of land donated to MHC from people like you, roughly 6x the size of The Forks in Winnipeg.
acres enhanced through BMP programming across 53 projects, about 20x the size of Assiniboine Park .
40 projects completed province-wide, spanning from the Interlake to the Southwest corners of Manitoba.
invested in conservation.
lbs of nitrogen removed, enough to fill nearly 15 transport trucks with fertilizer.
lbs of phosphorus removed, enough to stop algae blooms in hundreds of prairie lakes.
acre-feet of flood storage created, enough water to fill Lake Minnewasta nearly twice over.
acres of habitat secured, about half the size of the Spruce Woods Forest Preserve’s protected area.
tonnes of CO₂ sequestered, equal to removing over 12,700 cars from the road for a full year.
Behind every acre conserved, every partnership made, and every project completed is a story. These are some of the moments that made 2024 a year to remember.
The Conservation, GROW, and Wetlands GROW Trusts are long-term investments in the future of Manitoba’s natural landscapes. Established by the Province of Manitoba and managed by The Winnipeg Foundation, these trusts generate annual funding that supports conservation efforts across working landscapes in Manitoba, from wetlands to grasslands and riparian zones to forests.
As the administrator of these funding programs, we are proud to review and approve projects, monitor their progress, and report on outcomes. Every step ensures that conservation dollars are spent where they can have the greatest impact on both people and nature.
The Trusts support nature-based solutions that deliver tangible benefits for people and the environment, known as ecological goods and services (EG&S). These include cleaner water, reduced flood risk, richer biodiversity, healthier soils, and more carbon stored in the ground.
By funding the conservation, restoration, and enhancement of wetlands, grasslands, and other natural spaces, organizations can help communities become more resilient to climate change while improving daily life, whether that’s fewer beach closures, healthier wildlife, or less damage from spring floods.
As Manitoba’s largest holder of conservation interests, we want to ensure that you know every dollar received from our funders is spent intentionally. Sharing our reports allows us to uphold our high standards of transparency, accountability, and trust while showcasing our collective impact on
Manitoba’s landscapes.
This year, 206 acres of land were donated to MHC, valued at approximately $288,000—a powerful show of trust and shared conservation vision.
In parallel, our staff helped define and refine delivery priorities and geographic focus areas, ensuring our work continues to respond to both ecological needs and community partnerships across Manitoba.
Along with successfully finalizing the implementation of our three-year strategic plan, we also presented our newly launched IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) policy to an international audience, signaling not only where we are—but where we’re headed. These people-centered changes are essential, especially as we work to expand our conservation reach while navigating new funding realities.
MHC generates revenue from four primary sources:
MHC has consistently achieved conservation results from the funding received, as we always ensure judicious spending of funders money. Our organization continues to provide outstanding conservation returns on the partners’ investments.
Key categories of our spending include:
| Sources of Revenue | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government Partnerships | 7,698,558 | 7,074,435 | 5,205,771 | 4,972,838 | 2,652,734 |
| Non–Government Partnerships | 16,792,818 | 12,891,170 | 12,305,545 | 19,418,545 | 4,128,040 |
| Land Use Revenue | 81,186 | 73,930 | 91,890 | 241,021 | 76,559 |
| Other Revenue | 510,307 | 2,131,235 | 658,691 | 727,027 | 324,483 |
| Total | 25,082,869 | 22,170,770 | 18,261,896 | 25,359,593 | 7,181,816 |
At Manitoba Habitat Conservancy (MHC), we pride ourselves on the judicious spending of every dollar received from our funders. We ensure the funds are spent on projects that produce the greatest conservation impact in Manitoba by upholding high standards of transparency, accountability, and trust.
During fiscal year 2024, MHC invested 90% of the funds received into habitat conservation, in the face of challenges and obstacles, of which 11% was for direct conservation program delivery expenses, 22% in capital assets (perpetual and term agreements) and 57% for granting activities through Conservation Trust.
Our commitment is to Manitoba’s grasslands and wetlands, ensuring viability and health for generations to come. We’re dedicated to working alongside you to improve and conserve these important areas.
We offer a variety of programs and solutions that help conserve, restore, and enhance Manitoba’s lands.
We offer a variety of programs and solutions that help conserve, restore, and enhance Manitoba’s lands.
Thank you for making 2024 a year to remember. Each milestone reached this past year wouldn’t have been possible without your continuous support and collaboration. We’re excited for another year of seeing Manitoba landscapes come alive with people and nature.
If you’d like to help make 2025 an even bigger year for conservation, consider donating today.
