Public Phase Launch of the Campaign for the University of Toronto

To: PDAD&C
From: David Palmer, Vice-President, Advancement
Date: November 18, 2011
Re: Public Phase Launch of the Campaign for the University of Toronto

On Sunday, November 20 2011, the University of Toronto will celebrate a major milestone with the announcement of a comprehensive fundraising campaign—the third such campaign in the last 30 years. This campaign will build on the University’s track record of success in attracting private philanthropic support, both in the previous campaign and during the quiet phase of the current effort.

As the campaign enters the public phase with the launch on Sunday evening, we hope it will become an effective vehicle to engage our world-wide community of alumni and friends, capture the public’s imagination, draw attention to the University as a priority for philanthropy and volunteerism, and achieve sustainable increases to annual private support. The launch itself will give us an opportunity to announce the campaign goal, its themes, and volunteer leadership; highlight many of the recent gifts to the University that have helped fund initiatives across all three campuses; and say thank you to our volunteer leaders and donors for their generosity of time, guidance and philanthropic support.

In announcing and promoting the campaign to our broad alumni community and general public, we have given pride of place to the stories of faculty, students, and particularly of our alumni—stories that illustrate the impact of our research and teaching mission in shaping the experience of students, in pursuit of fundamental and applied inquiry, and in addressing today’s most pressing issues. The campaign case for support, its website, outdoor banners, and other supporting materials, feature these stories prominently as the primary means for delivering the campaign’s key messages. And as with the previous Great Minds campaign, our promotion of this new campaign will roll out in multiple phases, allowing for broad coverage of all our constituencies across these phases, across all three campuses, and across the various campaign media.

In all of this, it is important to note that the campaign will serve to support and advance our institutional strategies; fundraising at this University is, as always, done only in service to approved academic priorities, firmly grounded in the disciplinary excellence of our strong academic divisions. Members of P&D have been active partners in the planning of our campaign, and they, together with our senior volunteers and advancement professionals, look forward to working with you in seeking support for your division’s campaign priorities.

Following the public launch, the DUA will circulate an internal campaign communications Q&A to senior academic leaders in order to assist you with questions you might receive from media, members of our University community, and the public.

The campaign promises to be an exciting time in the life of our University. The launch this Sunday, together with subsequent divisional, regional and international launch events over the next year, will reinforce a sense of community among our alumni and donors, building momentum, awareness, and support for important campaign goals. Thank you for your dedication to the University of Toronto and your support of the campaign. We hope you can join us on Sunday, and we look forward to supporting you and your colleagues with your divisional campaign activities over the coming year.