Navigating Through Change

Welcome to our 2020 Crowdfunding Campaign! The theme for this year's campaign is Navigating through Change. Student Open Circles helps McMaster University students reflect on ways to practice sustainability in their own lives and in making a difference through service in the community. You can find more descriptions of how we practice sustainability on each of the team pages.

This year, every dollar you donate will be matched by an anonymous donor (first $5,000), doubling your impact! Our goal is to raise the entire matched amount, for a total of $10,000 to support our life-transforming programs.

“University is a great opportunity but without guidance it can be very overwhelming,” wrote one undergrad. Student Open Circles reaches out to students at McMaster University, and they in turn reach out to thousands of people at community organizations throughout Hamilton.

Student Open Circles creates a supportive community for a diversity of students to reflect personally and spiritually. Students grow into compassionate leaders who care for others. Facilitators Jeff and Marybeth meet with students one-on-one, in small groups and in workshops and retreats. With the help of an intern, they take on the enormous task of organizing 300 students volunteering weekly in over 20 teams at community organizations.

Your support really matters: while Student Open Circles is well-known on campus, we are not funded by the university. Thank you for supporting our campaign!

“Open Circle supported me to embark on the journey to discover who I am. As an alumni, there are so many practices that I gained in Open Circle that I still use every single day - I am so grateful for the opportunities I had with Open Circle in my Undergrad.” (Kathryn – Open Circle alumni)

“It is great to have a reliable and 'ready-to-go' group of volunteer [tutors for high school students] each semester. This is very helpful in alleviating the need to independently recruit volunteers and ensure we have a group of young and eager volunteers, often with the high value skills of doing advanced math and science.” (Jack Bernacki, coordinator of Pathways to Education at North Hamilton Community Health Centre)