The Schulich $5 Million Alumni Challenge, launched late last year by the Schulich School of Business at York University, has exceeded its original fundraising goal. In an announcement to the Schulich community on July 6, Dezsö J. Horváth, dean of the Schulich School of Business, declared the campaign result “a complete success.”
Between Nov. 1, 2016 and June 30, the business school raised more than $5,008,760 in gifts from 734 alumni who took up the Alumni Challenge. “This is an incredible achievement and demonstrates the strong pride and generosity of our Global Alumni Network,” said Horváth. “This tremendous result does not include the more than $3.0 million from alumni who donated prior to the challenge, as well as the contributions from our friends and corporate partners, including most notably, very generous gifts from the Waugh Family Foundation as well as Tim and Frances Price & The Brookfield Partners Foundation.
Dezsö J. Horváth
“I wish to thank all of our alumni donors and volunteers, our Leading Change Campaign Co-Chairs, and the team of staff at Schulich who rallied behind this once-in-a-lifetime challenge to help us raise a total of $10 million, which includes the Schulich Foundation match, for our new Graduate Study and Research Building,” he said.
“Of course, the challenge opportunity would not have even been possible without the incredible generosity, confidence and support of our distinguished benefactor, Seymour Schulich OC, and the Schulich Foundation. The Schulich Foundation’s extraordinary grant allowed every Challenge gift received to double its impact on the project and on our school’s next chapter of growth and innovation,” he said.
The Leading Change Campaign is the business school’s boldest and most ambitious fundraising and alumni engagement campaign in history. The campaign, which launched in 2017 and runs until 2021, is seeking to raise $50 million to support campus expansion, enhanced research and the establishment of new Centres of Excellence, the creation of chairs and professorships, as well as to increase the Schulich School’s financial aid offerings and student success-focused initiatives. Leading Change has also identified a set of exciting goals designed to deepen and strengthen the Global Alumni Network through engagement, partnership and volunteer leadership.
“I am sure you will agree: Leading Change is off to a very strong start given the success of the Alumni Challenge, as well as the generous gifts listed above and those still to be announced later this year. I look forward to sharing more updates on campaign activities and progress later this summer and into the fall,” said Horváth.