On November 29th, after Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the University of Waterloo and the Faculty of Environment, celebrated GivingTuesday─ a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world.
The Faculty of Environment’s community of care came together this year and through over 89 donations and 9 challenge champion gifts, were able to raise over $16,000 for undergraduate student entrance scholarships for each of the schools and departments. A record number of GivingTuesday gifts and dollars raised for the faculty─ amazing!
The challenge for Knowledge Integration's (KI) undergraduate student entrance scholarships had the most unique donations, with 27 gifts total. KI challenge champion and department chair, Rob Gorbet had this to say, "Thank you for your contributions to KI’s Giving Tuesday challenge. I’m proud of our tight-knit community for caring and helping to shape the next generation of knowledge integrators!" Kim Boucher, Outreach and Administrative Manager, KI echoed Rob's thanks saying, "Thanks very much for everyone's support on this, so encouraging to see these results". KI was the only Environment GivingTuesday challenge to surpass their target number of donors allowing them to unlock an extra $1,000 from generous champions Rob Gorbet and Maryam Latifpoor-Keparoutis, Director, Advancement at Environment.
The challenge for Geography and Environmental Management's (GEM) undergraduate student entrance scholarships raised the most dollars with a total of $1,960 raised for incoming undergraduate students. GEM's challenge champion and interim chair, Susan Elliott had this to say about her participation, "My commitment as a university professor is to create global citizens; supporting undergraduate entrance scholarships is an important way I can help celebrate the outstanding students entering the department of Geography and Environmental Management and to try and achieve my personal and professional goal."
Ensuring students are supported and feel celebrated, especially as they enter their first year at the Faculty of Environment, is extremely important. In addition to providing financial support, you inspire students to believe in themselves and put them on the path to success. By easing their financial strain, your gift also buys incoming students the most precious gift of all: time to focus on their studies and experiential learning opportunities, as well as adjust to a rigorous and stimulating environment.
A huge thank you goes out to everyone who chose to support environment students this Giving Tuesday. Together, the Faculty of Environment's community of care can do so much good.
View all of the GivingTuesday challenges and their results.