This text is part of the special section Philanthropy
The Arbor Foundation offers scholarships of $13,000 and $20,000 to Quebec students at the master’s and doctoral levels in computer science, engineering and management. Created in 2005 by businessman Pierre Arbour, it has already awarded a total of $5.5 million to more than 400 students.
“We choose deserving students who have an average of at least 75% and who have urgent financial needs,” says Diane de Champlain, administrator and spokesperson for the Arbor Foundation. “These are our two basic criteria, but the social and humanitarian side weighs heavily in the assessment. »
Last year, the Foundation awarded 30 scholarships for some 250 applicants. Eleven partner universities — ETS, HEC Montréal, INRS, Polytechnique Montréal, Bishop’s, Concordia, Université de Montréal, Université de Sherbrooke, UQAM, Laval and McGill — preselect approximately sixty candidates, who are all auditioned individually by the selection committee of the foundation.
“We follow a dozen criteria, which we keep secret,” explains Diane de Champlain. We don’t want candidates to be over-prepared. »
By browsing the website, however, one can guess that the foundation is looking for hardworking, tenacious, disciplined, dedicated, positive and competent students. Explicitly, it advocates the great ideas inherited from the Age of Enlightenment: positivism, rationality, freedom of expression and meritocracy.
These values are those that were most dear to Pierre Arbour. Born in 1935, he was the first manager of the common stock portfolio of the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec. In 1980, he had changed careers by embarking on oil and gas exploration.
The Foundation distinguishes itself by being one of the only organizations of its kind in Canada to consider the application of foreign students. But since Pierre Arbor had the development of Quebec at heart, scholarship recipients who do not speak French are forced to take courses. “If they don’t make an effort, the second half of the bursary isn’t paid to them,” explains Diane de Champlain.
Several developments
The Foundation, created with a starting capital of 9 million dollars (i.e. two thirds of the fortune of Pierre Arbour), has already undergone several important developments in its short history.
In 2016, Pierre Arbor came to find Diane de Champlain when she was CEO of the Polytechnique Montréal Foundation. “Pierre said to me: ‘We offer great scholarships, and no one talks about us.’ I suggested that he go through the universities. The Foundation then experienced a major boost. Between 2016 and 2017, the number of applicants quadrupled at once, from 38 to 169.
Upon his death in 2018, Pierre Arbor bequeathed the rest of his personal fortune to the Foundation, whose current endowment is approaching $20 million.
Faced with this windfall, the Foundation therefore extended eligibility to applicants in health management. “We are also thinking of broadening our mission towards a social project, such as mental health, a problem that affected Pierre Arbor a lot. »
The Foundation has also established a $15,000 “Alumni Scholarship” which will be funded from personal donations.
“It’s important to encourage people’s generosity,” says Diane de Champlain. Corporations and foundations give a lot. Recently, the University of Montreal received $159 million from the Courtois Foundation and $40 million from Quebecor. But people have to give more. »