Ottawa Hospital Foundation launches $500M capital campaign
The Ottawa Hospital Foundation has kicked off a campaign to raise half a billion dollars in support of construction of its new Civic Campus.
The campaign, known as the Campaign to Create Tomorrow, is the largest in Ottawa’s history.
“With the launch of the largest fundraising campaign in Ottawa’s history, each of us can be part of a moment that future citizens of our community will someday look back on and realize, together, we revolutionized healthcare for generations to come,” said Tim Kluke, President and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation. “Our donors and volunteers have enthusiastically embraced this special moment in time, as this campaign supports one of the most important community legacy projects of our lifetime.”
The fundraiser will enable to The Ottawa Hospital to:
- build the New Campus Development on Carling Avenue that will be home to the most patient-centred and technologically advanced research hospital in Canada,
- push healthcare research and discoveries to the very top tier in the world,
- usher in the most advanced digital technology, including the largest data analytics platform in the country, and
- further strengthen critical services from complex lifesaving surgeries to expertise in neurosurgery to remaining one of the largest and best-equipped regional cancer treatment centres.
Roger Greenberg, executive chairman of the Minto Group, was officially announced as campaign chair. He marked the occasion with a $25-million donation from the company’s shareholders.
“It is an incredible opportunity we’ve been given to help so many through our philanthropy,” he said. “We, along with the generosity of so many others, will completely transform how our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren living in the Greater Ottawa area will be cared for. No one else will do this for us. It’s our turn. It’s our time.”
The Minto donation is the largest single-largest healthcare donation in Ottawa’s history.
The Ottawa Hospital’s planned Civic Campus will be located on a site near Ottawa’s Dow’s Lake community. The facility is expected to cost $2.8 billion, with the provincial Ministry of Health committing to fund $2.1 billion. The remainder of the costs will be covered through the capital campaign and other revenue streams.
Plans to build the 50-acre facility are not without controversy. Nearby residents have opposed the plan, which includes a four-storey parking garage.
The hospital project is expected to be delivered through Infrastructure Ontario’s new progressive public-private-partnership model. A request for proposals to select a development partner for the project is planned for the third quarter of this year, with an agreement put in place in the first quarter of next year.
Construction should begin in 2024.