by Jennifer Bartok,
OMA Membership Department
The Ontario Medical Student Bursary Fund (OMSBF) continues to participate in innovative fund-raising events and promote recognition of its existing donors.
As well, with the success of the spring telephone fund-raising campaign, the OMSBF has gained the necessary financial support to begin approaching the corporate sector for generous contributions.
The efforts of the OMSBF are more important now than ever, with tuition rates for this academic year increasing at all five Ontario medical schools.
In particular, first-year tuition for medical students at the University of Toronto has soared to $14,000.
The most recent OMSBF fund-raising endeavour entailed a charity golf tournament, hosted by the Ottawa Academy of Medicine at the Meadows Golf & Country Club in Gloucester on September 20, 2000.
The event proved to be a success, attracting about 50 participants and raising almost $2,500.
In addition to contributing funds to the OMSBF, the tournament provided an opportunity to recognize two generous OMSBF donors from the Ottawa area. Dr. Diamond Allidina and Dr. Gail Beck were presented with certificates of appreciation for their founding contributions.
The date has already been set for next year’s Ottawa Academy of Medicine charity golf tournament, which will be held Wednesday, June 13, 2001.
The OMSBF organized a "Thank You Call" campaign in October, where 20 medical students from the University of Toronto volunteered to express their gratitude to donors. The students personally telephoned and wrote thank you letters to show their appreciation to all donors. This campaign proved to be a successful experience, enjoyed by the students and donors alike.
The OMSBF will be holding a cocktail reception on Saturday, November 25, 2000, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., in the Tom Thomson room at the downtown Toronto Hilton Hotel, to honour donors who have contributed gifts of $2,000 or more to the fund.
This event, which will coincide with the upcoming OMA Council meeting, will provide another opportunity for the OMSBF to recognize, through the presentation of certificates and plaques, the generosity of its donors.
The next phase of the fund-raising campaign will involve approaching various corporations and foundations in an attempt to attain dedicated funding. To date, preliminary initiatives have secured the Royal Bank of Canada and KPMG LLP as corporate donors.
The Ontario Medical Student Bursary Fund continues to work toward making a difference for future medical students and for the future of medicine in Ontario.
For further information about the program, please do not hesitate to contact the campaign manager, Ms. Sandra Zidaric, at 1-800-268-7215 ext. 2913 or (416) 340-2913, or by e-mail (sandy_zidaric@oma.org).