The largest fundraising campaign in UNB history wrapped up with a bi-campus thank you celebration on Sept. 28 - and what a party it was!
Capacity-crowd audiences in UNB Saint John's Ganong Hall Lecture Theatre and the John Meagher Auditorium of UNB Fredericton's new Kinesiology Building cheered as campaign co-chairs David Ganong (BBA ’65, LLD ’12) and Robert Quartermain (BSc.Geol ’77, MSc ’81, DSc ’09) announced the over-the-top success of It Begins Here after a dramatic countdown.
"UNB’s request for donations was answered by 10,000 alumni worldwide, including 5,200 alumni living right here in New Brunswick,” said Dr. Ganong. “The response has been simply phenomenal.”
Together, the co-chairs then revealed that corporations, philanthropic enterprises, alumni and friends not only met the campaign’s $110 campaign goal, but exceeded it by more than $15 million. The final total was $125,063,774.
As promised, more than half the proceeds - $69.1 million – was allocated for new and expanded student financial support. “And 100 per cent of this transformational funding was secured from alumni and private-sector donors like you,” said Dr. Quartermain. “Thank you, everyone, for making It Begins Here a success!”
Dr. Campbell also thanked all those who played a role in the campaign’s achievements. “I can say with confidence that UNB is continuing to punch above its weight in a very competitive and international market,” Dr. Campbell said. “Our success is a tribute to what our faculty, staff and students have achieved as well as the deep loyalty expressed by our alumni.”
The It Begins Here campaign had five key objectives: giving students a great start by improving access to quality education; investing in UNB's faculties; building on the academic strengths that have made UNB the best in the nation in key areas; leading Canada’s next wave of innovation; and preparing students to succeed in the world.
Dr. Campbell attributed the success of It Begins Here to the hard work of the campaign co-chairs and campaign cabinet, and also to the national reputation that UNB has earned as one of Canada's top comprehensive universities.
"For a number of years now, I've been saying that UNB has a great story to tell, if only we could get more people to hear it," Dr. Campbell said. "With the help of our campaign co-chairs and campaign cabinet, we’ve been telling anyone who will listen. The response has been nothing short of remarkable.”
Lead donors to It Begins Here included storied New Brunswick entrepreneurs such as Richard J. Currie, Gerry Pond and the Klohn and McCain families; Atlantic Canadian industry leaders, such as Emera Inc.; celebrated New Brunswick companies such as Ganong Brothers, J.D. Irving, Limited, Irving Oil and OSCO Construction Group; all six of Canada's largest banks: Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal, CIBC, National Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and TD Bank; and some of Canada’s top philanthropists, such as Ron Joyce, Stephen Jarislowsy and Seymour Schulich. Collectively, donors created scholarships and bursaries, research chairs and two new research facilities: The Kinesiology Building and a new rehabilitative engineering wing for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering.
