Advancement

About Arts Advancement

Faculty of Arts Advancement supports fundraising and alumni engagement activity for the 15 departments within the Faculty of Arts, the School of Accounting and Finance (SAF), the Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business, and the Balsillie School of International Affairs. Guided by the Faculty’s strategic plan, our goal is to engage with and create meaningful relationships with our alumni, providing opportunities for student mentorship and creating occasions to celebrate and share their success.

In addition, we help alumni, faculty, staff and retirees, and friends achieve their personal philanthropic goals by discovering areas of alignment between their goals and the Faculty’s academic priorities.

The following are ways in which we can work together – to support your Departments aims and goals, to support the Faculty’s goals, and or your own personal philanthropic goals.

Advancement support

Funds to support Department Initiatives

If you have a project/activity that you feel could benefit from alumni and friends donations, please speak with your department Chair who will then connect with the Dean’s Office to discuss fundraising opportunities, per Policy 7 – Gift Acceptance. If your department is thinking about establishing a retirement award, memorial fund or room naming, please refer to Policy 10 – Naming Opportunities and connect in with the Advancement Office who can provide advice and help facilitate the fundraising for approved projects. Jen McCaig would be happy to answer any questions.

Alumni Engagement

  • Engaging alumni in the life of your department/school can add value to your students’ academic experience, assist in recruitment efforts and strengthen your co-op program, as well as support your departmental culture. Arts Advancement can help by identifying and connecting you with alumni, providing alumni for mentorship, career panel events and class visits, and by offering stories/profiles to help you promote your offerings. Contact Phoebe Wong to learn how we can work together.
  • If you are inviting alumni into your department, we encourage you to share this with us. We would like to update the alumni database with their volunteer activity so we can ensure that when anyone from across the University, including others in Advancement, and other University partners (including the Dean and President) has the opportunity to meet them, we can thank and acknowledge their commitment to their department/University.
  • Shine a spotlight on your department’s successes and research! We encourage you to nominate an alumnus for an Alumni Achievement Award. Two awards are given out annually
    • Alumni Achievement Award, which recognizes the accomplishments of inspiring Faculty of Arts alumni who graduated more than 10 years ago;
    • Young Alumni Award, which recognizes the outstanding accomplishments and achievements of Faculty of Arts alumni who graduated within the last 10 years, and are under the age of 35.

These award recipients receive strong social media and website promotion – a great way to highlight your department.

Your personal philanthropy

If you would like to make a gift in support of your department or another initiative on campus please reach out to Jen McCaig or visit Faculty, Staff and Retiree Giving support page. For Faculty of Arts fundraising priorities, visit our Support Arts page. Any member of our team would be pleased to chat with you about your personal philanthropy and how you might support any area of the University.