$129 million in donations helps enhance the student experience and research opportunities
At Community Report Thursday (September 25th), President Elizabeth Cannon announced the University of Calgary has set a new annual fundraising record of $129.3 million.
The fundraising record demonstrates broad community support for the University of Calgary’s journey to becoming one of Canada’s top-five research universities by our 50th anniversary in 2016, grounded in innovative learning and teaching and fully integrated with the community of Calgary.
“Each year thousands of community leaders continue to put their confidence in the University of Calgary,” says President Cannon. “We thank every one of them for their belief in our institution and their incredible generosity. Their philanthropy helps fuel our ground-breaking research, state-of-the-art buildings and facilities, critical projects, and student scholarships and awards.”
Donations do not replace provincial government funding to operate, but instead allow the university to enhance the student experience and research opportunities. Donors to the university are people of all ages and from all walks of life who share a common belief that giving through the university will help make our community and world a better place.
The university endowment fund has grown to an unprecedented level and now stands at about $712 million. The fund has benefited from an impressive 20.6-per-cent investment return for the 2013 calendar year.
“We are very pleased with the performance of our endowment fund,” says Nuvyn Peters, vice-president (development). “With excellent fund management and the guidance of experts in our community, including members of our Investment Committee, the university has been able to direct significant resources from endowment earnings into teaching, learning and research.”
The record year of fundraising again places the University of Calgary in the ranks of the top-five universities for fundraising in Canada. This year’s total comprises many generous donations including the largest gift ever received by a Canadian faculty of education — $25 million to the Werklund School of Education — and the largest corporate donation in the university’s history: a $7-million gift to help build the Canadian Natural Resources Limited Engineering Complex.
The fiscal year 2014-‘15 got off to a great start in June with a $100-million donation from alumnus Geoffrey Cumming, which was matched with a further $100 million from the provincial government. The money will be used for medical research in the Cumming School of Medicine. Just announced on Sept. 23, the University of Calgary will continue to study ways of improving the health-care system and new ways to prevent disease, thanks to a $12-million donation from Gail and David O’Brien, highly respected community leaders and tremendous friends of the University of Calgary. The gift will support research and education objectives of the newly named O’Brien Institute for Public Health.
Learn more about the many ways to give to University of Calgary.