The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Greater Toronto Chapter honoured long-time Trent supporter and honorary University Board member, Ana Lopes, with the prestigious 2008 Outstanding Volunteer Award at the annual AFP Philanthropy Awards luncheon held in Toronto on November 26.
“Ana Lopes is a long-standing champion of Trent and a truly dedicated and remarkable volunteer to all organizations she is involved with. We all share in the pride she and her family must feel in her being honoured with this prestigious award,” said Trent University President Bonnie Patterson, who was in attendance at the awards to congratulate Ms. Lopes. “Philanthropy plays an important and strategic role in building our communities and outstanding volunteers, like Ana, help to make it all possible.”
Ms. Lopes is a communications consultant raised in Lisbon, Portugal and a graduate of the University of Toronto. In 1995, she established Saralex Communications, focusing on promotion, marketing, and event management to help clients with strategies to reposition their companies in the global economy. She also served in a number of senior positions within the Ontario government and the City of Toronto including the role of executive assistant to Premier Bob Rae from 1992 to 1995.
At Trent, Ms. Lopes served as a member of the Board of Governors from 1998 to 2005. She was also a member of the Executive Committee and is currently an honorary member of the Board. Along with her husband, Don Tapscott, she co-created the Don Tapscott and Ana Lopes Business and Society Lecture fund to support a lecture once a year to bring prominent speakers to the Trent University community to address issues of values and ethics as they pertain to business and society. The sixth annual Tapscott-Lopes Business and Society Lecture will be held at Trent in February 2009.
An active member of the Board of Directors of the TSO (Toronto Symphony Orchestra) since January 2002, Ms. Lopes became the first woman in the 86-year history of the organization to serve as chair of the Board of Directors, beginning in January 2007. She also leads the Development Steering Committee, which oversees all the fundraising activities which are critical to sustaining the organization. In addition, she is a cabinet member of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Transforming Lives Capital Campaign, and recently elected member of the CAMH Foundation and a Member of the Governing Council of the Sunnybrook Foundation, following fours years as Director for the Foundation. She has also served as director and vice-chair of the Fundraising Committee for Women’s College Hospital Foundation.
The AFP is the professional association for individuals responsible for generating philanthropic support for a wide variety of nonprofit, charitable organizations. The organization presented Ms. Lopes with the Outstanding Volunteer Award in recognition of her exceptional skills in coordinating and motivating groups of volunteers for fundraising projects for the benefit of non-profit organizations and a commitment to the advancement of philanthropy.
Photo caption: Ana Lopes (centre) poses with her family at the 2008 AFP Philanthropy Awards
Posted on Thursday, November 27, 2008.