Point, Click, Give

Supporting U of T has become easier in recent months with the introduction of online donations. Since the launch late last year of the “Point, Click, Give” link at www.giving.utoronto.ca, donors have contributed nearly $70,000 through the online form, for everything from renovations to Soldiers’ Tower to tree planting on the St. George campus.

By providing their credit card information through a secure Web site, donors can choose from a list of fundraising initiatives, or specify one of their own. While the average gift size is around $300, donations have ranged from $18 (to the Wendy M. Kates Memorial Award fund for Research in Biomedical Communications at the Faculty of Medicine) to $5,000 (to the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management).

The range of gifts is matched by the diversity of those who have taken advantage of the new giving option. At the age of 76, E. Ryerson Case (BASc 1951, MASc 1967) has made two gifts online – $250 through the Annual Fund to the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering and $100 to the President’s Fund for Excellence.

A retired engineer and consultant who lives with his wife of 49 years in Scarborough, Ont., Case says it’s the “speed and efficiency” of donating online that appeals to him. “I have friends who are afraid to use the Internet for financial transactions. Once convinced that only a secure, encrypted link is used for such purposes, I think they’d be hooked.”