In the spring of 2004, when the Campaign for Canada’s university was publicly launched, the University had raised a little more than half of its ambitious goal of $200 million dollars. Now, at the end of the summer 2005, the University has passed the two-thirds mark towards this objective, having raised more than $135 million dollars so far.
“We have a great deal of forward-moving momentum at the moment,” says David Mitchell, vice-president, university relations. “As we move into a very busy autumn, we are expecting to make even further headway in our fundraising efforts.”
The purpose of the Campaign is to raise new revenue for student support, faculty resources and campus infrastructure. The Campaign is on target to achieve its fund development objectives by 2008.
Mitchell noted that during the last fiscal year the University achieved its goal of raising more than $20 million dollars. “I’m especially pleased that the majority of our fundraising activity last year was directed to endowed support for our university. We need to build a larger university endowment that will sustain activities such as student scholarships and endowed chairs in perpetuity.” Mitchell also noted that support from individuals, including members of the campus community and especially alumni, has increased sharply.
“The goals of our campaign are ambitious. However, in addition to achieving our financial objectives, we are also consistently increasing the base of support for our university. It doesn’t matter how much money an individual gives; what matters is that in greater numbers, people are demonstrating their support for the hopes and dreams of our university,” says Mitchell.
