From Catherine Dauvergne | SFU Faculty and Staff—Making a Difference

Dear colleagues,

Today is Giving Tuesday, a global generosity movement begun in 2013 to encourage and amplify small acts of kindness, caring and empowerment.

On this day, I want to thank you, our faculty and staff, for all that you make possible at SFU and in our community.

These unprecedented times, while challenging each of us in many different ways, have been a profound reminder of what people can achieve together with common purpose.

Many of you, in addition to the time you devote to the university’s mission through your career, also make financial contributions to support our priorities.

Your meaningful gifts have removed barriers to education and given students opportunities and tools they need to shine. Philanthropic giving, generated by our colleagues across campus, has also helped in advancing SFU research, engaging diverse communities and invigorating our three campuses.

Since April 1 of 2020 through September of this year, SFU’s campus friends—including faculty, staff and retirees, among others—gifted a remarkable $4,641,402 in funding for students and a variety of teaching, research and community initiatives. This amounted to 10.1% of total funds raised and included vital and immediate support through the SFU Student Urgent Response Fund to help students address a range of unexpected financial needs arising from the pandemic.

The generosity that comes from these and other private donations is critical to SFU’s ability to create the change we wish to see in higher education and throughout the world. Our ambitions, like those of our Canadian counterparts in higher education, have outpaced public funding and tuition fees.

To effectively transform the university, we need the staff, systems and processes to facilitate and sustain this transformation. Our Advancement & Alumni Engagement (AAE) team works across SFU and with our community partners to empower talent and ideas and find meaningful ways for alumni and donors to support initiatives that matter to them.

Returning to our campuses at this unprecedented moment in history, and continuing to create an engaged university where our students and researchers can thrive, takes all of us. Thank you for your dedication to and support of SFU.

Sincerely,

Dr. Catherine Dauvergne, QC
Vice-President, Academic and Provost
Simon Fraser University