‘FundOne has a tremendous impact’

With projects that benefit everything from composting initiatives and athletes to neuroscientists and more, Concordia’s FundOne crowdsourcing platform is an easy way for members of the community to raise funds and spread the word about what matters to them most.

As part of the Campaign for Concordia: Next-gen. Now., the platform currently hosts 16 active projects — including one of the projects that appeared when the platform first launched in 2014, the Stingers men’s baseball team.

“I was honoured when they first offered it to the baseball program because we’re like the baby brothers of the university: we’re not on campus and there are a lot of other things that make it difficult for us to have a successful program,” says the team’s head coach Howie "Skip" Schwartz, MA 82, who started the baseball program back in 1995.

“FundOne has had a tremendous impact. From that point on, the program really took off and gave the athletes more of a sense of belonging.”

Concordia’s crowdfunding platform accepts projects submitted by fundraising students, researchers, alumni and faculty. FundOne makes it easy for Concordians to present their projects to potential donors and demonstrate how their donation will make a difference. It also makes it simple for participants to spread the word online, via email and social media.

Projects of all types are accepted, as long as they’re based at the university with a staff or faculty member to administer them, and they support the Concordia’s mission to educate, advance research and enhance student life.

If you’re looking to support the next generation, or if you have an innovative university project that needs funding, here are eight successful FundOne projects for inspiration:

Nadia Chaudhri Wingspan Award

The Nadia Chaudhri Wingspan Award is the platform’s biggest and most moving initiative to date. Total contributions to her award have reached $616,014 from 8,641 donors. That number includes her contributions to Shuffle 32 and other contributions made in her honour.

She continues to inspire countless donors to get involved by her altruistic determination. 

Following a diagnosis of advanced ovarian cancer at the age of 42, Nadia Chaudhri, a professor in the Department of Psychology, set up the fund to back an annual scholarship for Concordia students. The award will provide crucial funding to behavioural neuroscientists unable to participate fully in their field due to prejudice and other systemic barriers. 

Men’s Stingers Baseball Team

Under the head coach’s leadership and with the help of FundOne, the baseball club has evolved over the years, earning a spot in many national championships. To maintain its edge by recruiting top athletes and providing opportunities for them to train and compete both at home and abroad, the club also aims to set up a financial awards program. 

Waste Not, Want Not

Engineering PhD student Keroles Riad, BEng 14, MSc 16, founded and launched Waste Not, Want Not to increase and improve composting practices and culture at Concordia. The initiative resulted in composting locations increasing from nine to 45, and Concordia increasing its organic material collection by 60 per cent.

Ange-Aimée Woods Memorial Bursary

Ange-Aimée Woods, GrDip 02, BFA 00, was a former a producer at CBC Radio before her sudden death due to heart failure at the age of 41. Her family and friends created the Ange-Aimée Woods Memorial Bursary in her honour to fund an in-course bursary for undergraduate journalism students. Before it closed, the fund raised $15,000.

SAE Competition Team

Every year, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International hosts the Collegiate Design Series, where engineering students can apply their classroom knowledge to real-life situations and design, manufacture, test and compete with a prototype vehicle. From 2018 to 2019, the SAE competition teams raised $7,114. Currently, the four participating teams are fundraising to purchase a new truck to transport both themselves and their equipment to the competition.

Katalis

In collaboration with the Institution Mixte les Frères Nau de Bayonnais in Haiti, Katalís was originally established by Concordia students in 2019 to introduce school children to the wonders of science, technology,  engineering and mathematics (STEM). The current Katalis project is focused on covering the costs of 10 Concordia students to travel to Haiti to deliver a week full of scientific activities and to install much-needed water filters to provide clean drinking water.

Women & Leadership Student Bursary 

The Concordia Alumni Women & Leadership program provides opportunities for the university’s 112,000-plus women graduates to connect, engage and exchange with one another. The Concordia Alumni Women & Leadership Student Bursary was created to provide financial support for female students to pursue their studies and become leaders in their own fields. To date, $10,647 has been raised since the bursary was launched in 2018. 

Fine Arts Student Refugee Bursary

In 2015, Concordia first sponsored a refugee with a passion for art therapy through the World University Service of Canada (WUSC). Since then, the Fine Arts Student Refugee Bursary has helped refugees achieve their educational goals by providing them with an opportunity to pursue their studies at the university’s Faculty of Fine Arts. It additionally helped provide them with free English classes, lodging and meals thanks to the Centre for Continuing Education, student housing and Hospitality Concordia.

Visit Concordia’s FundOne page to learn about all active fundraising initiatives and how to submit your own projects.