Give Big and Spring Gathering

It’s Spring around The Whale Trail – gray whales are northbound, humpbacks are returning to the coast, and it’s time to GiveBig again! This annual event is a key fundraiser for us and we are hoping you will make it even more successful this year.

• Every day, thousands of people visit our sites, from Dana Point CA to Prince Rupert BC. Out for a walk, or waiting for a ferry, they read our signs and learn more about the animals they might see, and how to spot them.
• Every week, we field emails and calls from people who are planning trips and want to know what’s the best time to see specific kinds of whales, or which animals they can expect to see at a place they will be staying.
• And each month when the southern resident orcas return to the Salish Sea, it is quieter. Thanks to a new law that took effect in January, all boaters are now required to stay 1000 yards away from southern resident orcas in Washington state.

With your help, we are connecting people to whales and dolphins every minute of every day, changing and deepening their experience of coastal landscapes, and leading the way to meaningful change for endangered resident orcas.

Please donate today, and help us put our oxygen masks on the critical months and years ahead.

• Our goal is to raise $10,000 to cover our core operating costs.
• And good news— the first $1,000 we raise will be matched by a donation from a Whale Trail Board member! Double your impact and donate today.
• Donate on the GiveBig website here, or through our website here.
• GiveBig goes from Tuesday May 6 to Wednesday May 7.

Here’s what your gift will make possible:

• We’ll add new sites and signs, and tools that make it easy for people to know where and when to watch whales from shore.
• We’ll continue to produce programs that bring communities together to learn about whales and how to protect them (see below!)
• We’ll continue to share an inspiring true story of hope (Orca Rescue!) with libraries and schools and community organizations.
• And we’ll continue speaking up for the southern residents and all marine mammals when it matters.

Thank you so much for being on The Whale Trail with us. Please Give BIG and help us spring into a new season with resilience, and confidence, and joy. Like the breaching whales we love to see!

With deepest and heartfelt thanks from the Board and me,

Donna Sandstrom
Founder & Executive Director