Thompson Rivers University is hoping to raise another $9-million over the next year, as part of the largest-ever fundraising campaign in the university’s history.

Guy Mallabone, the interim Vice President of Advancement at TRU, says the campaign called Limitless – has already raised $41-million of the $50-million goal.

He says about $3-million of that will be used to finish the new nursing building at the university.

“The rest of the money is going towards primarily scholarships and bursaries for students. It will also focus on some research excellence,” he said. “It will also be focused on some particularly important projects like our ‘All my Relations’, which is an Indigenous project.”

Mallabone adds the the campaign coincides with the TRU’s 50th anniversary – which he calls a significant milestone for Kamloops.

“My optimism is heightened when I see conversations that I’m having with people not only in this community but in surrounding communities like Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton – all looking at what excellence looks like, and they are looking at TRU,” Mallabone said. “So I am quite bullish on our ability to raise $50 million.”

In the three years since the campaign’s silent launch, there have been 20,245 donors who have helped raised the money so far. Mallabone says the campaign has also seen a significant boost in donations in the last 18 months.

“I am making this donation to help educate, among others, your children, grandchildren and succeeding generations, and to provide money for much-needed research, said Kamloops businessman and major donor, Ken Lepin, in a statement.

“It’s going back to the original mandate of Cariboo College back in the day where we’re trying to be open and accessible to all students that want to take a post secondary education,” added Mallabone.