Giving, not getting, for the holidays

Dec 1, 2020

As most of you know, Giving Tuesday – December 1, 2020 – is the global day of giving. It’s the day when charities, companies and individuals join together, rally and give to their favourite causes. In 2019, Giving Tuesday generated a whopping $1.9 billion in donations from 27 million people worldwide, and you’re invited to be one of them this year.

Huge though donations raised through Giving Tuesday are, they are dwarfed by two other mammoth days in the year. And that’s our point. Because unlike Black Friday and Cyber Monday – which accounted for $729.1 billion and $9.4 billion in consumer spending respectively last year – Giving Tuesday is about giving, not getting.

And that’s where you come in.

Giving Tuesday & the Vancouver Island University (VIU) Foundation

Don Tamelin is VP and General Manager of Coastal Community Private Wealth Group and one of the founders of Everything Retirement, and currently sits as Chair of the Board of Directors at Vancouver Island University Foundation. VIU Foundation is leading the charge to make the 2020 Giving Tuesday event the biggest and most relevant ever.

The purpose of the Vancouver Island University (VIU) Foundation is to oversee management of the foundation’s endowment. Working with the Office of Advancement & Alumni, they raise money to support Vancouver Island University’s scholarship and awards program and VIU fundraising activities. Their focus this year is to support a group of individuals who have been particularly hard hit by the consequences of COVID-19 – their students.

Students need support more than ever

VIU’s Giving Tuesday campaign this year is about reducing the impacts of the pandemic on this vulnerable group. Since March, VIU has supported more than 1,400 students with emergency funds to ensure they can continue their studies without interruption. A significant need still exists, and that need is not just financial.

What follows are just a few of the problems their students are facing now that approximately 80% of classes are conducted online:

  1. Learning and development have been interrupted and disrupted.
  2. The pandemic has exacerbated well-documented opportunity gaps that put low-income students at a disadvantage relative to their better-off peers.
  3. One of the most critical opportunity gaps is the uneven access to the devices and Internet availability critical to learning online. This is known as the digital divide and it’s crushing the hopes of disadvantaged students.
  4. Students are increasingly reporting deterioration in their mental health and emotional wellbeing.

How your donations help

New this year, several highlighted campaigns will be featured on VIU’s newest fundraising initiative: Access. Innovate. Matter. Otherwise known as (AIM). Similar to other crowdfunding initiatives, AIM will allow donors to track the impact of their donation and share it easily with friends and supporters.

All gifts made through the AIM Platform are eligible for a charitable receipt and AIM does not charge any fees. Here are just a few of the individual initiatives you can support:

  • Emergency bursaries supplying financial aid to our most vulnerable students (goal: $350,000)
  • Laptops needed to bridge the damaging digital divide and support student success (goal: $10,000)
  • Mental health support to help combat depression and loneliness – a very real challenge for many students (goal: $10,000)
  • High Impact Practices (HIP) recognizing and celebrating student scholarship, research, and creative activity (goal: $16,500)

On December 1st, give back in a meaningful way

No matter where or how much you donate, Giving Tuesday brings together the collective power of a unique blend of partners – nonprofits, civic organizations, businesses and corporations, as well as families and individuals – to encourage and amplify small acts of kindness. Where your donation is applied – from gifts of food for the homeless, to iPods for seniors with dementia to enjoy music – is up you. So if you have a preferred alternate use – other than VIU and their students – for your gift, that’s fine with us. Any giving is encouraged and appreciated!

The point is across Canada and around the world, Giving Tuesday unites communities by sharing our capacity to care for and empower one another. We already have two days – Black Friday and Cyber Monday – that are good for the economy. Now we have another day – Giving Tuesday – that is good for the community too.

To learn more about the Giving Tuesday campaign and how you can make a difference in the life of VIU students please visit http://www.viu.ca/givingtuesday. Or, contact Dave Forrester at 250.618.1319 or email david.forrester@viu.ca.

The information contained in these reports was obtained from sources believed to be reliable; however, we cannot guarantee that it is accurate or complete. These reports are provided as a general source of information and should not be considered personal investment advice or solicitation to buy or sell any mutual funds and other securities.

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