Last Thursday, Nov. 5, was a monumental day in Carleton University history.

At a campus reception, attended by over 250 community partners, Carleton publicly launched the most ambitious fundraising initiative in school history. Collaborate: The Carleton University Campaign aims to raise $300-million by the year 2018.

The campaign is comprehensive, which means it will not go to a specific project or designation. Instead, the entire university—including each of Carleton’s five academic faculties—seeks to benefit from this groundbreaking initiative. Entrepreneurship, athletics, health and social sciences, the environment, philanthropic leadership, music and technological innovation are just some of the areas in which we aim to maintain the margin of excellence.

In the quiet phase of the campaign, Carleton fundraised over $176-million, proving that the cause has momentum and support from key community partners. Now, our invitation is being extended to all of our local and global partners to help us deliver good for generations to come.

“A gift to Carleton is ultimately a gift through Carleton towards a greater good,” said Roseann O’Reilly Runte, president and vice-chancellor at the Nov. 5 launch. “Carleton was founded in 1942 with a mandate to serve the community, and this campaign furthers our ability to meet that commitment.”

As the story goes, Carleton’s first president, Henry Marshall Tory, and local businessman William Connor met on a downtown Ottawa street corner to discuss how they could help Ottawa’s growing youth population to continue their education in the midst of the global focus on World War II. Their intent to give back laid the foundation, literally and figuratively, for what Carleton stands for.

Nearly 75 years later, Carleton has grown into a dynamic research and teaching institution and has held itself to that commitment to good. Today, our students, faculty and staff are just as devoted to the ideas and principles on which Carleton was founded—but our mission has grown.

“We’re here for the good of the community, and our supporters have a vision for what the community needs,” said Dr. Runte. “We are delighted to partner on new ideas that will make a difference in the world.”

Nearly 19,000 donors have already given to the campaign, many of whom are Carleton alumni, including Ottawa developer Wesley Nicol, whose investments have established a program for student entrepreneurs and kickstarted an effort to build a new home for the Sprott School of Business.

Other supporters are not graduates but have chosen Carleton as the best place for new research or academic programs that serve a community need. For example, the late William Barton, a distinguished Canadian diplomat, chose Carleton to advance his lifelong passion for the study and practice of diplomacy and peacekeeping.

Many donors also give through Carleton’s pioneering crowdfunding platform, futurefunder.ca, which engages social media to unite a crowd of like-minded supporters and enables them to give directly to student-led projects that match their philanthropic interests.

No matter where funds are directed, all philanthropic gifts made to Carleton will count toward the campaign goal.

Our vision: To rally others to collaborate with us to continue our social commitment to make a difference in the world, and to grow our capacity to deliver good for generations to come.

Our purpose: To support the causes of prosperity, community and discovery by funding key research, academic and student-oriented initiatives.

But, it is our promise that sets us apart from other post-secondary institutions:

As a pillar of the local community, and as a platform for donors and philanthropists to bring positive change across the globe, Carleton is Here for Good.