Chequebooks open before doors open

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/09/2014 (4275 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Let’s ring those phones!

With the days ticking down until the grand opening of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a number of high-profile donors has once again dusted off their chequebooks.

On Monday, it was the RBC Foundation donating $1 million, a decade after it made the same gift.

“We knew we would make a second gift closer to the museum opening. It was a matter of timing,” said RBC spokesman Robb Ritchie.

“The museum is right in our own backyard. We really do believe in the mission, message and goals of the museum.”

Last week, corporate giant Power Corp., along with its Winnipeg-based subsidiaries, Great-West Life and Investors Group, as well as Canada Life and London Life, donated another $1 million, bringing its total up to $3 million.

And late last month, the Jim Gauthier Automotive Group upped its support by $500,000, for a total of $1.5 million.

That’s $2.5 million in less than three weeks and $5.5 million since last December. To date, the Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights has raised $147 million toward the capital campaign, leaving it just $3 million short of its $150-million goal.

Viv Draward, director of communications and marketing for the Friends, said having six- and seven-figure donations rolling in isn’t completely unexpected. The museum will welcome its first visitors on Saturday, Sept. 20.

“Friends has received tremendous support over the course of the campaign and with generous supporters like Jim Gauthier, Power Corp. and the RBC Foundation, it doesn’t surprise us at all that they’ve chosen to increase their gifts and show their continued commitment to the museum,” Draward said.

Museum spokeswoman Maureen Fitzhenry said workers and volunteers are putting the finishing touches on the museum’s exhibits as what is easily one of the most anticipated openings in Winnipeg’s history draws closer.

“We’re fitting up all the digital assets so the projections are going on the right screens, we’re putting artifacts into the cases and doing last bits of installation of the exhibition pieces. The greenery is also being planted in the Garden of Contemplation,” she said.

“We’re preparing for our opening weekend, which is a gigantic undertaking.”

If things go as hoped, more money could be coming in over the next little while as the Friends have been “actively speaking” with new prospects and existing donors to line up pledges. It’s one thing to promise to support a concept, but putting money behind an actual facility could be much easier for many potential donors.

“We know that once people experience the museum for themselves, they will come away with why it’s so important to learn about human rights,” Draward said.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

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