This text is part of the special Philanthropy section
Concerned about the well-being of the elderly, Jean-Luc Gravel and his wife, Brigitte Breton, have created a foundation in their names. They thus granted a large donation of $ 500,000 to finance a new research chair in aging at the University of Sherbrooke.
The chair aims to promote healthy aging through better exercise recommendations based on the needs of seniors, explains the dean of the Faculty of Human Kinetics and professor, Isabelle Dionne. She and her colleague Éléonor Riesco are leading the project.
“The research angles are extremely interesting,” recounts Foundation co-founder Jean-Luc Gravel and Brigitte Breton on his motivations to fully support the chair with a donation from his foundation.
For his part, Mme Dionne believes that she “teams up” with the philanthropic couple. “I have expertise, research capacity, students who want to work. They have financial capacity. We have the same intention of contributing to the advancement and transfer of knowledge, ”she explains.
Live older, healthy
The pandemic has highlighted health care issues and a lack of research funding, Gravel said. The health crisis meant that research on long-term issues did not get the necessary attention from donors. “The chair’s projects will not have results tomorrow morning, but it is research that will lead to new approaches in the future,” he hopes.
Thus, in his view, better physical condition of seniors would help reduce the pressure on the health system. Mr. Gravel wants the chair’s research to ensure that patients can live longer and stay in good shape.
For meme Dionne, the chair will allow academics to devote themselves to the issue of aging in order to take up the torch and push research further in turn. “The chair offers us a very important lever to recruit quality students who will devote themselves to their studies,” she explains.
A foundation for better giving
The one who himself graduated from the University of Sherbrooke in physical activity sciences in 1978 has had the well-being of people at heart for a long time. And this, even if he quickly turned to finance to pursue his career, after a brief stint in teaching.
“I have always maintained a strong link with physical activity, health and nutrition,” explains Mr. Gravel. He continued to follow the discoveries in this area at the University of Sherbrooke, during the years he was employed by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ).
This is not his first donation for the establishment. “A few years ago, I met a professor of finance at the university. We worked together to launch a program to develop the best students in the Faculty of Management Sciences, ”he recalls. This program supports students in their training, by also offering them an internship with the CDPQ.
It was in 2015 that Mr. Gravel and his wife set up their foundation. “We’ve always had a long-term view and tried to make things sustainable,” he says. Thus, by creating this organization, the couple wanted to establish a certain stability in their donations. “We wanted to give ourselves a framework where the foundation makes it possible to establish a budget. And from that, we make a minimum of donations each year, ”he explains.
The creation of a foundation also helps, according to him, to better plan the financing of projects. “When there is a problem or a big economic downturn, organizations often have difficulty finding funds. But the beauty of a foundation is that the money is there, available, ”he observes.
Invest in something concrete
By becoming a donor for the University of Sherbrooke, Mr. Gravel was also keen to fund research projects outside institutions located in large cities. “People tend to be more attracted to universities in large centers. There was this desire to help a university that needs it more, ”explains the one who lives in Bromont.
Smaller classes, different mentalities, regional establishments bring a “more human” dimension to teaching, he believes. According to him, the University of Sherbrooke stands out for its promotion of education to a large number of students and its access to people in need of funding.
For Mr. Gravel, university knowledge also requires concrete learning. “What universities should be teaching are aspects designed to bring academia closer to real needs in the workplace. And we can help them apply this philosophy. “