Major Gift News

For Engineering 7, the University’s newest building. The donor noted on social media that he felt it was important not to name the building after himself. Palihapitiya is a Waterloo electrical engineering graduate and the founder and CEO of Social Capital. The gift helped kick-start Waterloo Engineering’s “Educating the Engineer of the Future” fundraising campaign, and was announced at Engineering 7’s opening ceremony.

To create a permanent space to help develop student career and recruitment programs and provide coaching and mentorship activities for students at the Ivey School of Business, called the Robert Stuebing Recruitment Centre. Robert Stuebing is a Western University alumnus.

To support the Accelerator for the Creation of Technological Business. National Bank will also provide mentorship and tools and services adapted to the needs of start-ups.

To support the Student Excellence Program, Skills Mentorship Program, and for new technology. This gift adds to the initial $5 million investment the Foundation made in 2016 that named the Barrett Centre for Technology Innovation. The combined $10 million is the largest private donation in the college’s history.

The gift will be equally split between supporting JoeAnna’s House, a 20-bed facility for family members who have travelled with loved ones being treated at the hospital, and cancer care. Iafrancesco also helped organize the Kelowna Canadian Italian Club’s New Year’s Eve dinner and dance as a fundraiser for JoeAnna’s House.

For agriculture innovation programs. The gift will help build an innovation laboratory and will fund the Olds College Smart Farm.

For the previously named Weston Youth Innovation Award, which encourages youth to pursue science, technology and innovation. Over three years, the gift will recognize and support young Canadian inventors through increased prize amounts and an expanded prize structure.

To help fund a chair in biomedical artificial intelligence and a new emergency department. The company pledged 1% of its equity to the hospital in 2017, and in August 2018, it sold a portion of its business generating a donation of approximately $100,000. Pledging a portion of equity is a part of the Tech4SickKids initiative of the SickKids VS Limits capital campaign.

For a Twin Room in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The couple made the gift in honour of their seven grandchildren, after their twin granddaughters required intensive care after birth.

To help build a new emergency department. Fort Langley developer Woodward, through the Foundation, will match all donations made to the Emergency Response campaign in October 2018, up to $1 million.

For the trauma care campaign. Proceeds will help purchase equipment needed to treat those requiring critical care for all of Regina’s hospitals and will be names the GMS Trauma Care Fund. This is a matching gift.

For entrance awards for students from local high schools and will be named the Mud Creek Rotary NSCC Entrance Award. The gift was announced at an event at the NSCC Kingstec Campus in Kentville.

To help build the new residential hospice facility. The new facility will be called Hospice Vaughan – Mario & Nick Cortellucci Hospice Palliative Care Centre of Excellence. This is the largest donation in the history of Hospice Vaughan.

To help build Edmonton’s first Community Residential Hospice Centre. The gift was announced at the organization’s annual gala, and helped kick off the Home for Hospice capital campaign.

For the creation of the Randy O’Dell Centre for Electrical Trades. The gift will also support student awards, apprenticeship programs, and help fund equipment. The centre will be named the Randy O’Dell Centre for Electrical Trades. This is the largest legacy gift in SAIT’s history.

For the creation of the Diabetes Prevention Clinic supported by Sun Life Financial. The multidisciplinary clinic will be the only of its kind in Canada. The clinic will be designated the Diabetes Prevention Clinic supported by Sun Life Financial. Since 2012, Sun Life Financial has committed more than $25 million in the fight against diabetes in Canada and around the globe.

To create a new synagogue and Jewish community centre named the Finkelstein Chabad Jewish Centre. Harley Finkelstein has also helped raise an additional $1.2 million for the cause.

To help update the Children’s Health Centre. 

For the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design’s endowment fund, supporting student awards. The award will be named the John and Myrna Daniels Foundation Opportunity Awards. This gift brings the couple’s support of the University to $30 million. The University of Toronto will match the annual payout on the endowment for students.

To expand and upgrade the neonatal unit. Malcolm Jenkins is the owner of a Canadian Tire in Prince Albert.

For a new CT scanner for the Burnaby Hospital. This gift was made during the Treasures of India gala’s “Fund-a-Cause”.

To support the Dobson Cup, a flagship startup competition, and to provide funding for student entrepreneurs. This gift is the largest to McGill from a financial institution.

Towards new medical advancements, new programs, equipment and educational supports and will be named the Canadian Natural Main Corridor

To establish a chair in epilepsy research that will strengthen collaboration between the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, the Robarts Research Institute, and clinicians at partner academic teaching hospitals to be named the Jack Cowin Chair in Epilepsy Research. Jack, the school’s chancellor, and Sharon Cowin were inspired by their granddaughter’s ongoing battle with epilepsy. Western will match the gift to create a $5 million endowment to fund the chair.

To support the teaching clinic at Camosun’s new Alex and Jo Campbell Centre for Health and Wellness. A plaque in the clinic will recognize the gift.

To fully fund a fluoroscopy unit that is already in service. The gift was made as a bequest.

To support programs that help girls learn about leadership, self-esteem and gender based violence. The gift will support the Regina, Saskatoon and 7 other YWCAs across Canada.

For the rescue, treatment, and rehabilitation of wild animals admitted to the Centre. The foundations will match all donations made to the organization on Giving Tuesday, up to $100,000.

For priority medical equipment, innovative technology and emerging hospital needs. The Shakir Rehmatullah Cancer Clinic. The gift was announced as an unspecified but transformational 7-figure donation. Shakir Rehmatullah often gives anonymously and has asked the Foundation to hold the amount of his gift in confidence.

To establish a new permanent gallery that explores the beginnings of life on Earth. Willner Madge Gallery, Dawn of Life. Jeff Willner sits on the Royal Ontario Museum Board of Governors.

Over two years, for a new roof. Aldéa-Landry Scholarship Fund.

The gift will create a clinic that will allow dentists and students to study and practice advanced techniques. The clinic will be named The Patterson Dental Learning Centre.

For a new virtual reality training lab at the School of Optometry and Vision Science that will help studying optometrists learn how to diagnose vision problems and eye diseases more quickly and accurately. The lab will be named the FYidoctors Simulation Lab. Dr. Al Ulsifer, CEO and Chairman of Fyidoctors, is a Waterloo alumnus.

To enhance programs and respite care at Rotary Flames House, the only pediatric hospice in Alberta.

For the Inuit Art Centre, slated to open in 2020. The Gallery will be named the Doug and Louise Leatherdale Gallery. Leatherdale and her late spouse, Doug, have acquired around 25 pieces of Inuit art in a personal collection that Leatherdale said she plans to donate to the Gallery.

To help the College buy more land for its farm operations.

$500,000 will support the Entrepreneurs propulsés initiative, an entrepreneurship incubator offered through La Zone entrepreneuriale du Cégep de Trois-Rivières; $100,000 will be set aside for a business accelerator to assist local start-ups and growth companies.

This is an in-kind donation of a fully working ranch worth $44 million, including 19,000 acres and its entire herd. The gift is for the faculty of veterinary medicine.

To support the IDEA renewal project. The building will be named the Richard Murray Design Building. Murray, a Halifax business man, is an alumnus of the university. Announced a week prior to, the gift was celebrated at the unveiling of two new facilities that are a part of the project.

To support the 5to8 campaign, created to help the generation of up-and-coming Canadian athletes, who are believed to be five to eight years from the podium. This is the largest donation to Olympic sport in Canadian history by a factor of 1. The gift was announced along with the launch of the Canadian Olympic Foundation’s 5to8 campaign.

For the organization’s first major fundraising campaign. The organization’s main mission is to fight bullying, violence and discrimination against elementary and secondary school children. Demarais is an honourary patron of the foundation.

To help the Ometz Community Mental Health Department expand its services, alleviate growing wait lists and serve more people with mental illness. The fund will be named the Miriam Aaron Roland Social Service Fund. This is the largest gift the organization has received from a private donor.

To support research exploring alternatives to the way Autism Spectrum Disorder is currently diagnosed. The couple has a son on the Autism spectrum. The gift was made through the Kali Dyck Foundation, established in honour of the couples’ daughter after she died in car accident. Kali was working towards a career in special needs.

To launch the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation, a new charity aimed at helping disadvantaged Canadian youth. It will provide funding grants to front-line charities in communities that Telus operates and will be used to help young Canadians build digital literacy skills, provide basic healthcare and mental health support to the homeless, and open up essential educational opportunities. The funds for this gift come from Telus’ sale of its downtown Vancouver headquarters, and the foundation will work with Telus’ 18 community boards to distribute the funds. This is the largest donation made by a publicly traded Canadian company in history and one of the largest ever in North America. 

To support the Performing Arts Campaign. Fred and Elizabeth Fountain are honourary co-chairs of the campaign. Their $1 million gift in 2013 established the Fountain Centre for Performing Arts.

For the Limb Preservation Centre. The gift, made through the Calgary Health Trust, will enhance care for patients managing diabetes and vascular disease at risk of amputation of feet and lower limbs. The centre will be named the Zivot Limb Preservation Centre  

To advance research and education in supply chain management at the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics. The donation names a director at Laurier’s Centre for Supply Chain Management, will fuel incentive scholarships, and will support the Lazaridis Supply Chain Association, a new student association that provides its members with experiential learning opportunities, applied research projects at industry companies, and connections to professional associations. The directorship will be named the M-O (Maritime-Ontario Freight Lines Limited) Director at Laurier’s Centre for Supply Chain Management. The Graham Munro Charitable Foundation was started by shareholders of Maritime-Ontario Freight Lines Ltd.

To establish an endowed chair in lymphatic disorders at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry and will be named the Dianne and Irving Kipnes Chair in Lymphatic Disorders. Dianne Kipnes has experienced lymphedema as a side-effect of treatment for cervical cancer. In addition to this gift, the University Hospital Foundation and its community of donors have matched a gift of $1 million made by the Kipnes Foundation through the UHF, increasing the total commitment to this chair to $7 million. The endowed chair is the first of its kind in Canada.

For a molecular imaging and therapeutics program. This is the second largest gift in the organization’s history. It was facilitated by the Aqueduct Foundation.

To support the Museum’s capital renewal project.

For the previously named Gerald Schwartz School of Business. $4 million will go towards new scholarships and bursaries, including the introduction of the Schwartz National Scholar award for four students, who will each receive $80,000 over four years. $1.3 million will support marketing and recruitment work across Canada. The award will be named the Schwartz National Scholar Award.

For the newly named Loughheed Family Endowment. The gift was presented at the President’s Dinner held on Oct. 25, 218, at Finlandia Village.

For the hospital redevelopment as a part of the Above and Beyond campaign. The three-storey addition to the Dartmouth Hospital will be named the Neville J. Gilfoy Wing in honour of the late publisher. The gift was announced at the campaign launch and was made in honour of late publisher Neville James Gilfoy who received treatment at the hospital and had worked on earlier fundraising campaigns.

To support enhancements to the Children’s Library as a part of the Storeys that Transform Campaign. This is the largest private donation to a public library in Canada to date.

For medical equipment and furnishings for the new Saskatchewan Hospital as a part of the New Beginnings Campaign, named the Canada Life Fitness Room.

In support of the provincial Heart Centre at the new St. Paul’s. The donation will help recruit cardiologists and surgeons and expand care for patients. The wing will be named  the Tong Louie Cardiac Wing. The family was inspired by the care matriarch Geraldine Louie received at the hospital towards the end of her life while being treated for congenital heart disease.

For videoconferencing equipment at off-campus university centres and for student scholarships. The gift was announced with two other contributions from associations and unions of the university totalling $2.61 million.

For research projects and student scholarships. The gift was announced with two other contributions from associations and unions of the university totally $2.61 million.