After a 10-year absence, the Campus Campaign 2012 (CC2012) made a comeback this year with resounding success. In its first year back, the Campaign raised over $103,000 (with a 15% overall participation rate) through generous donations from uOttawa faculty, employees and retirees.
Faculty, employees and retirees also gave through the Annual Campaign solicitation during the academic year, which brings the total amount raised for multiple student initiatives and projects on campus to $235,000 for 2011-2012.
The CC2012 aimed to renew and develop a philanthropic culture on campus, foster a true sense of engagement and encourage high participation rates from faculties, services and retirees—and it’s mission accomplished, according to Campus Campaign coordinator Jane Cyr.
“This year, we wanted the Campaign to generate team spirit, pride and commitment campus-wide among staff and retirees alike,” says Cyr. “A lot of teams focused on establishing bursaries or scholarships, or purchasing new lab equipment, just to name a few projects. It’s important to show people exactly how their donations are helping.”
It was also a great opportunity for staff and retirees to join forces on projects designed to enhance the student experience on campus. An incredible team of volunteers across campus coordinated challenges between directors to encourage participation and team spirit; they solicited donations from their coworkers, organized fun fundraising activities and increased the sense of belonging and level of pride employees have in the University.
“The volunteers really helped to make this campaign a success because they believed in the importance of the cause,” says Yves Le Bouthillier, Campus Campaign co-president and associate professor in the Faculty of Law. “I think employees really responded to that; we’d like to personally thank all volunteers and employees who donated during the Campaign,” adds Claudio Brun del Re, fellow co-president, director of Physical Resources and chief architect.
The Telfer School of Management is one of the many faculties that got caught up in the volunteer and fundraising spirit.
“We know students depend on funding for numerous scholarships, competitions, networking events and extracurricular activities,” says Susan Redmond, project manager in Telfer’s marketing and development sector. “The pilot project for the Campus Campaign in 2011 took place at the Telfer School of Management. We had over 60 per cent of our volunteers from the first year come on board again this year. All the new volunteers that came on board were very excited to do so.”
To recognize volunteers’ efforts during the Campaign, the Development Office held an event on May 17 to personally thank all the CC2012 volunteers. During this event, the Centre for Continuing Education donated 15 gift certificates, redeemable towards its continuing education programs, to give out to volunteers.
“As a university, we are always promoting the importance of continuing education,” says Sylvain Leduc, associate director of the Centre for Continuing Education. “This was a tangible way to thank the volunteers.”
“The success of any campaign relies on the donors who participate and make a financial contribution to projects they feel passionate about,” says Jane Cyr. “On behalf of our students and the community who will benefit from these new initiatives, thank you.”
