Giancarlo Iannicello knows first-hand the value of donor support. The fourth-year business student has benefited from a number of scholarships and awards, he told a reception Tuesday for campus contributors to the Annual Giving Program.

“Scholarships validate your academic efforts,” he said. “Scholarships acknowledge your athletic pursuits; scholarships provide the financial freedom to focus more on my studies; scholarships allow me the freedom to volunteer in my field of study; scholarships really give students the opportunity to go the extra mile.”

With a theme of “Gateway to Student Success,” Tuesday’s event celebrated a record number of donors—615—contributing an average of $540 each, also an all-time high. Since inaugurating face-to-face canvassing seven years ago, the University’s fundraising campaign has seen the rate of participation among employees double from 17 to 34 percent.

One hundred percent of staff within Athletics and Recreation Services made a donation to the effort, earning special recognition for the department and its volunteer canvassers. Its employees will receive a catered coffee break.

Other awards included:

• a catered lunch for the Faculty of Nursing and the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry – Windsor program, for increasing donor participation by 12 percent;
• a catered lunch for the finance and human resources team for an 81 percent participation rate;
• a commemorative campus bench for Deb Goulding, a $100 gift card for Alisa Giroux-Souilliere, a package from local wineries for Marg Piche, and an extra vacation day for Evelyn St. Pierre, all drawn at random as door prizes.

This year’s $332,327 raised by the campus campaign tops a seven-year total of $2,046,303 in support of scholarships and departmental priority projects.