Annual Fund

Brandon University received outstanding support over the past year, during our 50^th Anniversary celebrations.

Thanks to the generosity of alumni and the University community (staff/faculty/board members) more than $370,000 was received through our Annual Appeal! These funds will be used to enhance our programs and services to students, increase scholarship and bursary support, and help fund our most important needs as they arise, making the student experience that much better for each and every one of our future graduates and leaders.

Your gift makes a difference. Whether big or small, undesignated or directed to an area of special interest, you help directly improve student success and the quality of student life at BU. Read on about just a few of the available giving opportunities.

Student Travel Opportunities

Travel is one of the best learning opportunities. Attending a conference and personally meeting experts in their chosen field, or participating in cutting-edge field research are invaluable experiences for students. Through last year’s Annual Appeal, anonymous donors provided a generous gift for student travel and created the BU 50th Anniversary Student Travel Fund. Your contribution to this fund can help provide even more exciting travel opportunities for students in all disciplines.

Taylor Kotelo

• BA (Hon) ’20 (Anthropology Major/History Minor)
• Aspiration: Master’s program in Anthropology or Museum Studies

“Attending a bioarchaeological field school and helping facilitate a forensic anthropology workshop are great educational experiences that would not have been possible without the travel fund helping me along the way.”

Alexandra Mackay Brown

• ’19, BA (Hon) ‘19 (Anthropology Major/Biology Minor)
• Aspirations: Medical School

“My trips to Louisbourg, Nova Scotia for field school, and Cleveland, Ohio for data collection were integral parts of my development as an Anthropologist. These opportunities facilitated learning through participating in the collection of fundamental information, literally taking information out of the ground. These experiences are ones that I now incorporate into all my studies; the technical aspects of excavation, osteological methods, and a firm understanding regarding the life cycle of knowledge – taking information from physical remains to interpretations of the past”.

Scholarships and Bursaries

Financial awards make a significant difference to students, providing much-needed assistance and rewarding academic excellence. A scholarship or bursary allows them to focus on their studies, and helps BU attract and retain the best and brightest scholars. Give to an existing award, create a new one, or add to our general Scholarships and Bursaries Fund.

Brady Nault

• BSc ’19 (Biology Major/Chemistry Minor)
• Aspiration: Medical School

“The awards that I have received have made an enormous impact on my life. Playing volleyball means I have no time to work during the season. These awards have allowed me to focus on my studies, athletics and volunteering with little worry about paying my tuition.”

Photo courtesy S. J. McKee Archives at BU.

Ongoing Needs of Faculties, Schools and Facilities

In celebration of BU50 last year, $50,000 was raised for our Faculties of Arts, Education, Health Studies, and Science, and the School of Music. But let’s not stop there! Government grants and tuition fees cover only so much. Your donation can be applied when and where it is needed the most, helping to fund such things as lab equipment and instruments, much-needed learning space renovations, technology upgrades, library and archives needs (such as the digitization of the Quill, scrapbooks and early Brandon College/BU records) , research tools and materials, and Indigenous studies, support and programming.