FIMS Funds

Three students working together in a podcasting studio

Why give to FIMS?

The Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS) is dedicated to advancing knowledge about media, communications and information technologies. At FIMS, we understand information, media, technology and culture as essential resources in a democratic life guided by principles of access, participation, justice, and possibility. FIMS approaches these ideas through teaching, scholarly research, and community connection, blending an interdisciplinary approach with theory and practice. FIMS provides an academic environment inspired by curiosity, collaboration, creative inquiry, and critical thinking.

FIMS faculty, staff and students understand how information and media shape our everyday world—from how we express ourselves and join in expression with others, to our data doubles, our libraries, our media and economic systems, our governance, our health information, and our cultural inclusion, reconciliation, and accountability.

Media and information shape who we are in the present and future.

Donations to FIMS fuel progress. They fund significant research, enhance student learning with scholarships and experiences, and break down financial barriers to education. By giving, you invest in the future – a future of innovation, an educated workforce, and a brighter tomorrow for the next generation. 

If you'd like to support FIMS with a donation, please visit the FIMS giving page on Western's Giving website. You can specify which initiative you'd like to support. If you don't see the initiative you want to support, please select "My preferred area" and type it into the Other section.

FIMS Founders and Future Fund

FIMS Founders and Future Fund gifts support FIMS students, inspiring them to study, analyze, and critique media, to understand our ever-more complex information systems, and to communicate creatively in new ways. Gifts to the Fund help us provide our students with modern infrastructure, technology, and equipment and to offer scholarship and bursary opportunities that ensure all can learn at FIMS. Donors provide students access to learning and to communicating their work in the world beyond campus.

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Journalism Fund

Join a community of donors who are elevating the learning experience for students pursuing a Master of Media in Journalism & Communication. Your gift provides the faculty with the flexibility we need to support students with stipends for unpaid internship opportunities, financial aid including scholarships and bursaries, and field equipment to help students share compelling stories on multiple platforms.

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Askunessippi (Antler River) Scholarship

The Askunessippi Scholarship was established with a generous gift from an alumnus of the MLIS Class of 1992. The gift provides an annual scholarship to help fund an entering student in the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program, with preference given to an Indigenous student (First Nations, Métis or Inuit). The Askunessippi Scholarship recognizes the importance of supporting Indigenous students, creating a greater diversity of librarians, and better reflecting the communities who use public libraries and other information services. Everyone is welcome to contribute to the scholarship to help us change the face of librarianship in Canada and beyond.

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Starling Centre Fund

The Starling Centre for Just Technologies and Just Societies works toward more equitable and humane futures through research and policy on emerging technologies in Canada and around the world. Gifts to this fund support Starling's highest priority needs, from federal policy research to community programs that address the social impacts of digital technologies and AI on our everyday lives.

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