It’s welcome news for students and facility at Okanagan College.

A donation of $100,000 over two years to the Okanagan College School of Business to create the Scotiabank Centre for Non-Profit Excellence.

The announcement comes ahead of Scotiabank’s 182nd annual meeting and is designed to help business students learn skills to support local non-profit organizations.

Jim Hamilton, President of Okanagan College, says donation will go towards a new project at the School of Business that will help students work with the business side of a non-profit’s operation.

“So they will go in and they will do a gap analysis and then students and facility alike will then work with non-profit groups to help them get the training that they need in order to improve their organizations' effectiveness.”

Photo: Contributed

Drew Vincent will be graduating from the School of Business this year, and was fortunate enough to engage in this new project where he applied ideas for sustainability and capacity in areas such as fund-raising, accounting and marketing for non-profits.

“We see the weaknesses of businesses and we get to go in and apply our skills to real world problems,” says Vincent. “

"While we are still able to go out and develop that social ability and see what needs there are in the community - it kind of instills both the experience and the fact we can make a change with the social end in working with non-profits.”

Scotiabank holds its annual meeting in a different city every year, during which time they try to make a donation to a project, school or organization that is significant to that community.

CEO and President of Scotiabank Brian Porter says that with over 7,500 students on the Okanagan College campus he understands the school is a big part of the local community.

“This is my first time visiting Okanagan College. I am very impressed with the outlay of the campus of how the campus looks and I was speaking with the Dean of the school and asking about the types of programs here.”

Local Scotiabank employees will be among the outside experts who engage with students to help develop and deliver the training at the Scotiabank Centre of Non-Profit Excellence.