Donors
Support the Faculty of Science
Gifts from alumni and friends of the Faculty of Science help to ensure that our students get a world-class education and faculty have access to the best facilities for teaching and research.
You can designate your gift to support student awards, research, or physical facilities. Or you can ask that your gift support the area of highest need as identified by the Dean of Science.
Gifts of all sizes are deeply appreciated and may be directed toward your specific interests.
Opportunities are available to:
- Establish bursaries, scholarships and fellowships to assist aspiring young scientists
- Endow faculty positions, research initiatives and academic programs
- Support laboratories and research groups
- Support community outreach initiatives to engage primary and secondary students with science
Gifts may be made to:
- Honor the memory of a loved one
- Pay tribute to family members, colleagues or friends
- Create a legacy in your name
You can find out about the faculty's broad fundraising priorities and the impact your gift can have or you can give now online.
Why
give
Giving changes lives
The Faculty of Science relies on the generosity of alumni and friends to help maintain our foundation of excellence and pursue innovative new ideas and breakthrough scientific solutions to meet the challenges of the future. Your investment is helping us to build our capacity to educate the next generation of physicists, chemists, biologists, mathematicians, and earth scientists who in turn will contribute to solutions for some of the most pressing questions of our time.
Support of scholarships and bursaries is critical in attracting the best and brightest minds to UVic’s Faculty of Science. Student awards assist in removing some of the financial barriers faced by our students, helping them reach their full potential while being recognized for academic excellence, achievement and leadership.
Guide to gift
opportunities
The Faculty of Science has identified many specific philanthropic funding opportunities where your support will make a real difference. All gifts to the Faculty of Science are directed in their entirety to support the area of your choice.
Gifts to the Faculty of Science allow us to:
- Attract and retain outstanding students through scholarships and bursaries.
- Recruit internationally recognized researchers and clinicians through chairs and professorships.
- Support new technology and facilities that ensure faculty and students have the resources necessary to pursue excellence.
You may choose to make a gift now, or you may consider the benefits of gift planning—gifts of property, shares, life insurance or registered assets are valuable ways to contribute to the program's success.
You may also choose to leave a legacy to the Faculty of Science through a bequest in a will or a life insurance policy. The decision to make a planned gift is a signal of a deep commitment to Science at UVic and often reflects a desire to create a philanthropic legacy that will endure in perpetuity.
Scholarships
Scholarships
Scholarships reward academic achievement. Donor support for scholarships helps us to recruit and retain outstanding students. Students who receive scholarships are motivated to continue to strive for personal excellence. Scholarships can be set up as an annual award or as an endowed fund.
Bursaries
Bursaries
We aim to remove all barriers to a student’s educational success other than academic and creative potential. Supporting those students with the greatest financial need is a priority. Bursaries will assist students with modest means and can be set up as an annual award or as an endowed fund.
Professorships and chairs
Professorships and chairs
Great people make a great university. The key to attracting outstanding faculty is providing them with the resources they need to pursue their passion for research and teaching. Endowed chairs and professorships will ensure we can recruit and retain the talented people we need.
Endowed academic positions are generally established through the generosity of benefactors who understand the need to support research excellence, while providing programs and special initiatives that promote enlightened inquiry and discourse with students.
Named endowments
Named endowments
Endowed funds are invested by the University of Victoria Foundation to generate annual income in perpetuity for the purpose specified by the donors. Only a portion of the annual return generated by each endowed fund is spent, so that the principal continues to grow.
Donors may create an endowed fund now, through an outright gift, or in the future, through a bequest or life income gift, such as a charitable remainder trust.
Endowed funds forever connect the name of the donors—or someone the donors wish to honor—with the Faculty of Science as well as with the cause they care about.
Technology and facilities
Technology and facilities
Technology continually advances science and our teaching tools and equipment must keep pace. We are seeking funding for laboratory equipment renewal and enhancement.
The Faculty of Science continues to grow and needs to revitalize its teaching and learning facilities, and even add new ones in the near future. We are looking to partner with visionary donors who can see the impact their investment in our places, as well as people, will have for advancing science.
Youth outreach initiatives
Youth outreach initiatives
Initiatives like Science Venture, Aboriginal STEM Outreach and Let’s Talk Science aim to engage primary and secondary students with science, allowing them to experience the excitement of science first-hand. The ultimate goal is to inspire them to pursue post-secondary studies in the fields of science. With your help, we can make the programs even more accessible and valuable for tomorrow's students.
Ways to
give
We welcome and appreciate gifts of all sizes—the collective support of our many generous friends provides the margin of excellence that will distinguish our teaching and research.
And because every gift—regardless of its size or type—supports our mission of educating the next generation of scientists, you are investing in the future. For that, we are very grateful.
There are many ways to support the Faculty of Science and experience the rewards of philanthropy while receiving tax benefits. The Faculty of Science Development Office can assist donors in exploring the best options for their financial and family situation.
Direct contributions
Direct contributions
Many donors choose to make gifts of cash, either by cheque or online. Cheques should be mailed to or dropped off with the University of Victoria’s Development Office. Giving online by credit card on UVic’s secure web site is fast and easy. Donors may decide to make their outright cash gift in a single payment or spread the payments over a few years through a pledge.
Pledges
Pledges
By spreading gift payments over a period of time—typically not more than five years—pledges allow donors to make larger commitments and fulfill them at a comfortable pace. Please contact us for personal assistance.
Bequests/planned gifts
Bequests/planned gifts
Bequests often enable donors to give more than would have been possible during their lifetimes. Bequests may be kept private, and they can be changed during the donor's lifetime. Bequests are relatively easy to establish, often with just a simple addition to a will or revocable trust. And bequests are tax-wise—gifts through bequests qualify for certain estate tax deductions.
Visit UVic’s Planned Giving page to learn more about gifts of retirement plan assets, real property, and the complete range of life income gifts, including charitable remainder trusts, gift annuities, and pooled income funds.
Gifts of securities
Gifts of securities
Donors who choose to give appreciated securities can receive a charitable tax deduction for the full market value of the securities and avoid capital gains tax. Publicly traded securities held in a brokerage account may be transferred electronically to the university.
Tribute gifts
Tribute gifts
Gifts made through any of the methods described above can be designated in honor or memory of a loved one or in celebration of a milestone event, such as a birthday or anniversary. If you chose to make a tribute gift, please contact us for personal assistance.
Matching gifts
Matching gifts
Many companies match the charitable gifts of their employees. To find out if your company offers a matching-gift program, please ask your Human Resources office.
Faculty of Science
funds
A gift of any size can be put to immediate use to benefit students or researchers. If you want to donate online, you can make a gift to the Faculty of Science with a credit card through UVic's secure site. Your gift makes a real difference in the quality of teaching and research. Thank you for considering a gift to the Faculty of Science.
Faculty of Science funds
You can contribute directly to established annual funds or you can create an endowment that is meaningful to you and which meets the Faculty of Science's needs.
Annual funds
Science Student Awards Fund: Your gift to this fund will help to provide financial support to graduate and undergraduate students. Awards also allow us to attract the best and the brightest students to our faculty and to recognize and reward students’ special achievements.
Science Outreach: Science and Engineering have allocated funds to assist the student- and faculty-initiated programs which encourage science, technology, engineering and math literacy. With your help, we can make the programs even more accessible and valuable for tomorrow’s students.
Please choose from one of the following funds:
- Science Venture consists of hands-on, minds-on science, engineering and technology learning opportunities for kids in Grades K-12, including week-long summer camps, in-school workshops, interactive community events and a Girls Science Club;
- Aboriginal STEM Outreach reaches Aboriginal youth in hands-on, engaging Science, Technology, Engineering and Math outreach programs.
- High School Science Outreach – more than 300 youth from local high schools visit campus annually for a hands-on day in the Faculty of Science laboratories, engaging them in the possibilities of a science degree
Dean of Science Innovation Fund: This pool of funds enables the dean to support some of the most enriching educational experiences we can offer our students, such as funding for seminar series, field schools, and undergraduate societies.
Endowed funds
Excellence in Math Scholarship
Established in 1991, this scholarship flourished under the guidance of emeritus math professor Dr. Bill Pfaffenberger. Since the first recipients of the scholarship graduated in 1995, six recipients to date have won the Governor General’s Silver Medal at UVic, which is awarded for the highest graduating average across the faculties. Donations to this fund will continue to inspire and reward excellence in undergraduate math.
W. R. (Bill) Gordon Memorial Scholarship
Bill Gordon joined the math department in 1965 and served UVic for more than 36 years until his retirement in 2001. As a highly respected and dedicated member of the faculty, Dr. Gordon served as both the Assistant and Associate Dean of Arts and Science. With his death in December 2010, colleagues and friends initiated an endowed scholarship in his name. Donations to this fund will help build the endowment for undergraduate students.
William Wowchuk Memorial Graduate Scholarship
William Wowchuk loved learning and was a UVic student in the Faculty of Science prior to completing a Master’s degree, on scholarship, in the east. This graduate scholarship in his memory supports an outstanding student in the Department of Biology whose thesis work is in the area of cell biology. Donations to this fund will continue to build the endowement.
Contact
us
We are pleased to offer a wide variety of gift vehicles to help make supporting the program of your choice a comfortable and rewarding experience. Should you have any questions about the ways of giving or if you would like assistance planning your contribution, please contact the Faculty of Science Development Office.
| Group/position | Name | Phone | Office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Development Manager | Jody Kitts | 250-853-3245 | EOW 253 | kittsj@uvic.ca |
| Development Officer | Katherine Blake | 250-721-6102 | ELL 166 | kablake@uvic.ca |
| Development Coordinator | Miranda Harvey | 250-472-4210 | EOW 203 | mharvey@uvic.ca |
| External Relations Officer | Roxane Kelly | 250-472-5717 | ECS 612 | roxanek@uvic.ca |
