{"id":6562,"date":"2026-09-24T15:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T19:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/?p=6562"},"modified":"2026-09-24T15:53:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T19:53:29","slug":"benefaction-renews-funding-for-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/2026\/benefaction-renews-funding-for-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Benefaction Foundation Renews Funding for MPNL Students"},"content":{"rendered":"    \n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-max  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n        \n                    \n                    \n            \n    <div class=\"cu-wideimage relative flex items-center justify-center mx-auto px-8 overflow-hidden md:px-16 rounded-xl not-prose  my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 bg-opacity-50 bg-cover bg-cu-black-50 py-24 md:py-28 lg:py-36 xl:py-48\" style=\"background-image: url(https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2026\/09\/2025-and-2026-MPNL-Cohort1600-1600x700.jpg); background-position: 50% 50%;\">\n\n                    <div class=\"absolute top-0 w-full h-screen\" style=\"background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.600);\"><\/div>\n        \n        <div class=\"relative z-[2] max-w-4xl w-full flex flex-col items-center gap-2 cu-wideimage-image cu-zero-first-last\">\n            <header class=\"mx-auto mb-6 text-center text-white cu-pageheader cu-component-updated cu-pageheader--center md:mb-12\">\n\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold mb-2 text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] cu-pageheader--center text-center mx-auto after:left-px\">\n                        Benefaction Foundation Renews Funding for MPNL Students\n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                            <\/header>\n        <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n    \n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"453\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2026\/09\/Karlee_Thomas400.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman (Karlee) with curly black hair and a blazer smiles at the camera.\" class=\"wp-image-6565\" style=\"width:466px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2026\/09\/Karlee_Thomas400.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2026\/09\/Karlee_Thomas400-320x362.jpeg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Born and raised in Montreal, Karlee Thomas (she\/her) graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Arts in International Development Studies and is now the Coordinator of Stewardship and Donor Relations at the Jewish General Hospital Foundation. She received a Benefaction award.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The MPNL program is happy to announce that the Benefaction Foundation will provide another $20,000 grant to its &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/2023\/benefaction-awards-for-mpnl-students\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Benefaction Foundation Travel Fund for the Summer Institute<\/a>&#8221; for 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Their generous creation of the Fund in 2023 has increased access to the Summer Institute and made access for students more equitable,&#8221; said Dr. Anil Varughese, Graduate Supervisor of the MPNL program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Travel Fund assists full-time and part-time students accepted into the <a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/programs\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"726\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DPNL and MPNL programs<\/a>, helping them with travel costs related to the program\u2019s Summer Institute, a two-week, in-person series of courses and events at Carleton University. <a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/advisory-council\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"1245\">Keith Sj\u00f6gren<\/a>, Chair of the MPNL program\u2019s Advisory Council, worked closely with the Foundation to increase support for the program&#8217;s students. This past summer, 27 students from across Canada, including those in financial need, received support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2026\/09\/Olayinka_Ademuyiwa400.png\" alt=\"A woman (Olayinka) with a red jacket and hoop earrings looks at the camera.\" class=\"wp-image-6567\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2026\/09\/Olayinka_Ademuyiwa400.png 400w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/90\/2026\/09\/Olayinka_Ademuyiwa400-320x410.png 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Born in Ikeja (Nigeria), Olayinka Ademuyiwa has a degree in Cell Biology and Genetics and has worked internationally and in three levels of the Canadian government. She&#8217;s as a Case Manager for the City of Ottawa and is the Founding Director of BSL, a nonprofit providing settlement services to Ontario\u2019s Afro-Caribbean immigrant community. She received a Benefaction award.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;For many of our students, the combined costs of travel, accommodation and time away from paid employment present a significant financial challenge,&#8221; Dr. Varughese added. &#8220;The Fund helped ease that burden, allowing recipients to participate more fully in the Summer Institute without the added stress of significant expenses. Last year, students&#8217; financial pressures included job loss, reduced employment income and caregiving for children and elderly family members.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.benefaction.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Benefaction Foundation<\/a> is a registered charity that helps Canadians and their advisors harness the advantages of strategic giving. It provides support for its Travel Fund, as well as for the &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/2023\/benefaction-awards-for-mpnl-students\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Benefaction Award for Philanthropic Leadership<\/a>&#8221; ($5,000), which is awarded annually to an outstanding, full-time graduate student who\u2019s entering the MPNL program, with preference given to racialized students. This year, both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/yinkade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Yinka Ademuyiwa<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/karlee-thomas-6a03aa19b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Karlee Thomas<\/a> received Leadership awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We&#8217;re deeply grateful for the additional support of the Benefaction Foundation,&#8221; Dr. Varughese said. &#8220;It&#8217;s having a meaningful impact on students and the Summer Institute.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em class=\"myprefix-text-italic\">Each year, the MPNL program and Carleton University offer graduate students a number of <a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/scholarships\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">awards and scholarships<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The MPNL program is happy to announce that the Benefaction Foundation will provide another $20,000 grant to its &#8220;Benefaction Foundation Travel Fund for the Summer Institute&#8221; for 2027. &#8220;Their generous creation of the Fund in 2023 has increased access to the Summer Institute and made access for students more equitable,&#8221; said Dr. Anil Varughese, Graduate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":3661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1178,39],"tags":[988,1001,1391,49,191,1006,68,69,70,82,17,81,18,19,994,1390],"class_list":["post-6562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awards","category-news","tag-benefaction","tag-benefaction-award-for-philanthropic-leadership","tag-benefaction-foundation-travel-fund-for-the-summer-institute","tag-carleton","tag-dpnl","tag-keith-sjogren","tag-leadership","tag-masters","tag-mpnl","tag-panl","tag-philanthropy","tag-pnl","tag-school-of-public-policy-and-administration","tag-sppa","tag-summer-institute","tag-travel-fund"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6562"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6569,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6562\/revisions\/6569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mpnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}