Fundraiser says people are University's strongest support
BY MARY DICKIESON
If you see Patrick Abdul wandering around the building where you work, don't worry. He's just checking out the cornerstone.
Abdul works in one of the oldest buildings on campus — Alumni House — but it doesn't have the University's most prominent cornerstone. That honour belongs to a foundation that really isn't a stone at all. According to Abdul and his colleagues in Alumni Affairs and Development (AA&D), you and I and all the people we work with make up the University's cornerstone strength.
As assistant manager of U of G's annual giving program, Abdul is helping to launch a new Cornerstone Fund in AA&D that will give the University family a new option for charitable giving. For the first time ever, the campus community will be able to channel donations directly into the University's operating budget.
Joanne Shoveller, vice-president (alumni affairs and development), says the Cornerstone Fund was developed in part because of employee concerns about Guelph's current financial challenge.
“In the wake of unfulfilled government commitments, many people are looking for a way to provide direct support for the University's operating budget,” she says.
The Cornerstone Fund is available to Guelph's immediate family: faculty, administrators, professional and support staff, and retirees.
By generating additional operating revenue, the fund will help U of G maintain its ongoing fiscal responsibilities in the areas of staffing development, infrastructure development, student access and other aspects of University operations, she says.
AA&D will build on the cornerstone analogy to bring new strength to its ongoing fundraising program in the campus community. The Cornerstone Appeal is being launched to encourage faculty, staff and retiree giving in 2005/2006 and will run for five years. Shoveller says U of G's fundraising team believes the institution will be able to rely on the ongoing support of its family members, just as Johnston Hall rests on a cornerstone laid 75 years ago.
The goal for the 2005/2006 Cornerstone Appeal is $200,000, but Abdul says the AA&D team is focused primarily on participation. Last year, 13 per cent of the University's faculty and staff made a gift to the annual fund.
“Imagine how powerful our influence would be if we could increase that to 25 per cent,” he says.
“Our ability to give varies with each individual,” he adds, “but we all have the ability to care about the University's future, and we can show that by making a donation within our means.”
Abdul says your participation in the fund will influence not just today's decision-makers but also current students who will be making decisions about education funding in the future.
Results of the Cornerstone Appeal will be reported in At Guelph and on the University website at www.alumni.uoguelph.ca/supporting_guelph. The website will direct donor attention to the new Cornerstone Fund, which supports the U of G operating budget, or to highest-priority funds that support University-wide and college-specific infrastructure development.
Faculty and staff who give to the Cornerstone Appeal can do so through payroll deduction or one of several other giving options.
