Carleton is celebrating its most successful Relay for Life fundraiser yet after raising more than $128,000, surpassing the goal of $125,000.
The all-nighter to fight cancer, held from March 3 to 4, marked Carleton’s eighth-annual Relay for Life. The fundraiser aims to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS)
Students continued a streak of raising more money than the previous year since the school’s first Relay event in 2010, said Andrew Croll, a youth program specialist at the CCS.
Carleton has been a leader among university Relay fundraising, Croll said. This year is the fifth-straight year that the university has been the top post-secondary fundraiser in Canada. In 2014, Carleton became the first post-secondary school to ever raise more than $100,000 from Relay fundraising.
This year, 65 teams and 780 participants were registered, said Tania Gomes, a co-chair of the event.
Carleton’s champion fundraiser status comes in part from its large Greek community, Gomes said, citing about half of the registered teams this year are members of fraternities or sororities. For the third year in a row, Phi Sigma Sigma was crowned top fundraising team with almost $16,000 raised, according to Gomes.
“Our school is very competitive and they thrive on that competitive nature and they thrive on that philanthropic nature and want to see Carleton continue to have that identity,” she said.
Susan Phillips, a Carleton professor and philanthropy expert, said the school owes its fundraising success to a broad extracurricular community.
“Carleton has a strong clubs program. It has the unique Student Philanthropy Council. [Relay] has been very well organized and has the kind of leadership that can take events like this forward,” Phillips said.
Croll said donations from the event go directly to the CCS, which funds the “most promising” cancer research in Canada and offers support programs for cancer patients and those closest to them.
“The funding is so, so, so needed right now that if people want to make the biggest impact they can make in the fight against cancer, getting involved with Relay is one of the best ways,” he said.
Among many different types of charities, Phillips said the CCS has a consistent fundraising advantage because fighting cancer is a common battle.
“Many people give for very personal reasons because they’ve been touched by the cause . . . it creates an important donor base that is committed to the organization, and I don’t see that changing,” Phillips said.
Croll estimates that the youth program—which includes high school and university students—will raise up to five million dollars in the 2017 Relay events alone.
But Phillips said it’s unlikely the CCS will use all money raised at Relay events for cancer research and programs, citing overhead and staff costs.
“We see charities and fundraisers saying it all the time, that 100 per cent goes to the cause. That is an enormous fiction, because it almost always takes money to raise money,” she said.
According to the CCS’s 2015-16 Impact report, of the $190 million the organization took in that year, $120 million went to supporting the CCS’s mission, $63 million went to fundraising, and $7 million towards administration.
Phillips said while fundraising is important, Relay makes an impact beyond simply raising money.
“In events like this where you’re asking people to come out and give their time—not just make a donation—that in itself has value. It’s building awareness of the issue and it makes people feel good,” Phillips said.
Gomes said fundraising will continue until mid-April, but said she’s happy with the current success of the event.
“This year, we pushed boundaries. We broke records and I’m super proud of the Carleton community for raising so much money and continuing to do so even though our event is over,” Gomes said.
– Infographic by Shanice Pereira
