Posted: May 16, 2024
By: Mark Campbell
For Giving Power
Dalâs campaign for transformational change is the largest fundraising campaign ever among Atlantic Canadian universities.Â
How do you bring together more than 400 ±«Óătv alumni, partners, and friends? You announce a campaign for transformational change.
On April 2, ±«Óătv President Dr. Kim Brooks took the stage at the McInnes Room to tell attendeesâand the worldâthat the university has officially launched Bringing Worlds Together. With a goal of $750 million, this fundraising campaign has made history as the largest ever among Atlantic Canadian universities. But Dr. Brooks made it clear that the real goal of Bringing Worlds Together is to forge extraordinary partnerships that result in extraordinary solutions and a brighter future for everyone. Getting there, she added, means we cannot be worlds apart.
âOur ambition for this campaign is to share our capacity and talent with the world in a way that profoundly shapes it,â Dr. Brooks said. âThis isnât about making ±«Óătv better; this is about coming together to bring about a more just and equitable future. Itâs about making the world better. And it starts here in Nova Scotia.â
A hub for collaboration
Bringing Worlds Together creates opportunities to build on the tremendous success and growth that ±«Óătv is experiencing. As the regionâs largest research-intensive university, Dal is a hub for collaboration that is driving solutions for ocean sustainability, improving health outcomes, food security, and climate change. These breakthroughs, Dr. Brooks noted, are garnering widespread interest and recognition.
âFor more than 200 years, our extraordinary community of alumni, donors, and partners have enabled ±«Óătv to do the extraordinary, to become a national university with global impact,â she said.
With Bringing Worlds Together, ±«Óătv aims to heighten that impact through the campaignâs three pillars: âÀánspiring Future-Ready Leadersâ creates clear paths for students to succeed; âEngaging in High-Impact Researchâ tackles some of the most complex issues facing humankind; and âLifting Our Communitiesâ will lead to more clinics, programs, and outreach efforts that help strengthen communities across Nova Scotia and beyond.
ⱫÓătv is a place where worlds come together,â Dr. Brooks said. âWhere scholarly excellence meets practical, hands-on learning experiences. Where students get to know world-leading researchers in their classes. And where groundbreaking research is helping us achieve a better and more sustainable future that leaves no one behind.â
World-changing impacts
Dr. Brooks added that Dal is making progress toward that future, with more than half of the campaignâs fundraising goal already raised. Itâs an achievement that exceeds the total amount raised through the universityâs last major comprehensive fundraising campaign, Bold Ambitions, which wrapped up in 2013 and raised $280 million. This initial success is making it possible for Dal to start realizing many of the goals that have been set for Bringing Worlds Together.
Gifts made through the campaign will be used to create more scholarships to ensure qualified students have the financial support they need for a ±«Óătv education. They will also enable the university to launch GMP BioLabs Eastâa specialized, small-scale biomanufacturing facility that will help turn medical breakthroughs into new treatments that change patientsâ lives. And they will fund the development of a new community clinic that will expand access to the oral care, legal, and social work services that are available to underserved populations in Nova Scotia through Dalâs existing clinics.
âOur ambitions for this campaign are to vault us even further ahead in the areas where our impact has the potential to grow exponentially and profoundly change the world,â Dr. Brooks said.
Seeking partners, rising to challenges
Since the launch of Bringing Worlds Together, ±«Óătv has been sharing the news with Nova Scotians and the world, including events in Truro, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary. The focus now is on meeting the campaignâs $750-million fundraising goal. Every gift to the campaign makes it possible for ±«Óătv to rise to the most pressing challenges facing society with innovative solutions. Â
âThatâs why we are Bringing Worlds Together,â Dr. Brooks said. âWe are seeking partners who want to drive meaningful and lasting change that leaves no one behind, who want to accelerate talent and create impact with distinction, and who know that community matters. We can make a better world. And we can do it when we bring worlds together.â