Ryerson Planning Alumni Association celebrates a fundraising milestone

The Ryerson Planning Alumni Association (RPAA) has celebrated many milestones. Founded in 1998, it has a very active membership and recently surpassed a financial giving milestone. They provided over $100,000 to establish endowment funds that support undergraduate and graduate student awards. They continue to raise annual funds from their events to help planning students attend conferences and networking events. The RPAA is the very first alumni association at Ryerson to reach this level of funding. The university will recognize this achievement by adding the RPAA to its donor wall this spring.

Recently I was able to talk to Taylor Gascoigne (external link, opens in new window)  and Neil Loewen (external link, opens in new window)  of the RPAA about this milestone and how they have shifted their programming during the pandemic. 

“We balance the funding between graduate and undergraduate funding,” said Gascoigne. “Most years, we support students to attend networking events and conferences. That’s a little bit different this year.” 

“We have a very involved group,” said Loewen. “A committee of 20 voting members helps plan, organize events, seek sponsors, and participate in deciding where the money goes. In addition to a vibrant and active committee, we also generally get high-level enthusiastic participants to our events.”  

“Yes, it’s been great,” said Gascoigne. “Most of the corporations we go to for sponsorships, in the past, have been excited to support the RPAA -- they appreciate the level of talent that they are supporting when they sponsor a Ryerson event. They appreciate our forward-looking, solutions-oriented, real-world approach. It also really shows us how our school actively sets us up for success.”  

“That benefits us. There is a strong sense of community within the school. Our faculty and student organizations are always making efforts to help us build strong connections with each other, and so staying in touch after they graduate is something we find most students want to do,” said Lowen. 

“This is something we think is really exciting. At the same time, it’s important to realize that this is 22 years in the making. It was a long-term initiative. It’s a sign of the creativity that our volunteer group has brought to the events, like our spring reception, every year,” said Gascoigne. “Their popularity also helped with our sponsorship initiatives, which also helped to bring in larger dollar amounts, beyond the individual ticket sales.”   

“We had to cancel last year’s event, but we are known for keeping it fun,” said Loewen. “This goes a long way to increasing participation and networking opportunities which benefit all participants. And we are always looking for new volunteers to join us with their ideas. That’s how we got here, and we’re excited for and looking forward to the new ideas that the next graduates will offer.” 

“There are several ways students and alumni can get involved,” said Gascoigne. “The co-chairs frequently check the rpaa@torontomu.ca email address. Things are all digital now, but many people still report hearing about us by word of mouth. We have a website, a podcast (external link, opens in new window) , and we’re on Facebook (external link, opens in new window) , Twitter (external link, opens in new window) , and Instagram (external link, opens in new window) . We’re currently looking at how to move our event to a digital format for spring 2021.”  

Looking forward, the RPAA is strengthening its emphasis on equity and inclusion. The RPAA hosted a town hall in June, 2020 attended by 70 students and alumni who came to discuss anti-Black racism in the planning field, barriers to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) planners, and how they can deploy RPAA’s programming and support in response to those issues specifically. “At our AGM in September, we elected our first equity coordinator and now have two members participating in SURP's Anti Systemic Racism and Discrimination Working Group and reporting back to the RPAA,” said Loewen. “A priority discussion within the RPAA right now is creating specific financial or other supports for Black and Indigenous students. There is a community-led initiative for an award for Black planning students that we have recently joined forces with and plan to deliver funds to students in the next year.”