Giving Day starts now!

What a difference a day can make!

We’re thrilled to kick off UCalgary’s second annual Giving Day this morning. The immediate, enthusiastic response to last year’s first-ever, 50-hour campaign was astonishing. More than 1,300 donors — many first-time supporters — stepped up to make gifts that supported 170 scholarships.

Giving Day brings into focus the generosity and desire to make a difference that already lives large on campus, in our community and within our alumni family around the world. It’s an opportunity for us to amplify and widely share a strong, unified message about our vision and priorities, and an exciting chance for supporters of our ongoing Energize campaign to see their critical, collective impact on the future of this university.

No doubt, it will be a joy to watch the philanthropic dollars grow over the next 24 hours. The true measure of our success, however, is the number of supporters, new and returning, who are moved to elevate the student experience through scholarships, transformational learning, and student health and wellness.

A gift to support transformational learning opportunities can support initiatives that encourage students to go beyond the boundaries of their textbooks to apply what they’ve learned in real-world environments.

Andrew Phung, BA’06, award-winning actor and star of CBC’s acclaimed comedy, Kim’s Convenience, is a well-known alumnus who credits such opportunities for his success. For Phung, every step he’s taken to stardom has been carefully rooted in what he learned as a student at the University of Calgary.

“I learned [from my economics and business course] to see the connection between strategic thinking and intentional outcomes,” Phung says. “And, as a result, my success as an actor and artist was because I ran my acting career like a business. I always tell artists… You are an entrepreneur and acting is your business.” 

Robbie Babins-Wagner, MDipl’05, PhD’11, is another inspiring alumna whose student experience and subsequent career was elevated by philanthropic support. She’s the CEO of the Calgary Counselling Centre and adjunct professor with the Faculty of Social Work at UCalgary. A scholarship recipient herself, Babins-Wagner knows first-hand the transformative power of a scholarship. With that in mind, when her friends, family and colleagues asked how she wanted to celebrate her 25th anniversary at the Calgary Counselling Centre, her response came easily: she wanted to create a scholarship for Master of Social Work students.

This Giving Day, you can stand alongside individuals such as Andrew Phung, Robbie Babins-Wagner and many others by making a donation — gifts of every size spark meaningful change.

When you support UCalgary students today, you empower them to change the world tomorrow. Go to www.ucalgary.ca/Giving Day to make your gift!