NNMCC ‘Resilience Fundraiser’ Campaign Concludes, Surpassing $250,000 Goal

Community support has been overwhelmingly positive, and echoes the importance and desire for Nikkei Centre to serve as a place of community gathering, historic preservation, and cultural exchange.

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic created great challenges for individuals, families, businesses and organizations. The Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre (NNMCC) was no exception, and faced significant uncertainties and financial challenges. However, through resilience, resourcefulness and the generous support from all of our Resilience campaign donors, the Nikkei Centre persevered through the year, and found new ways to remain operational and serve the community. 

The NNMCC launched the ‘Resilience Fundraiser’ campaign on April 1, 2020, and concluded in the new year on January 22, 2021, to raise essential operational funds. The support of community members was overwhelmingly positive, and echoes the importance and desire for Nikkei Centre to serve as a place of community gathering, historic preservation and cultural exchange.

We are pleased to announce that the Resilience Fundraiser campaign raised over $306,000, surpassing our target by over $55,000! Thank you to all our supporters for believing in our cause.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors [of the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre], I would like to thank you – our Community – for your extraordinary support of our aptly-named Resilience Fundraiser. As a result of your incredible generosity, we are better positioned than many charitable organizations to meet the unprecedented operational challenges that we continue to face during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Board would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the very generous group of anonymous donors who graciously provided the matching donations.”

— Herb Ono, President of the NNMCC Board


Photo Credit: Manto Artworks

The generosity of donors provided a lifeline for the NNMCC, and helped ensure we could continue to fulfill our mission to honour, preserve and share Japanese culture and Japanese Canadian history and heritage for a better Canada. While many public facilities closed or became unavailable due to pandemic restrictions, the Nikkei Centre, with approved safety plans, was able to re-open and allow limited activities such as: martial arts, Japanese language school, small-scale outdoor markets, and visits to the Broken Promises exhibit, while many locals enjoyed the beauty and tranquility of Nikkei Garden. We expanded our online shop and online programs, presentations and workshops, and educational resources for distance-learning.

As a gathering place, the Nikkei Centre was able to provide some semblance of normality to an abnormal year. All of these opportunities and achievements could not have been possible without the generous support from all of our Resilience campaign donors.

The NNMCC will continue to work hard to fulfill our mission and continue to meet the needs of our seniors, families, individuals and community.

To conclude our Resilience campaign, we gratefully acknowledge all our donors on our Resilience Fundraiser Donor Wall (also viewable in the February issue of The Bulletin and soon to be on display in the Nikkei Centre lobby).
ご支援いただき、誠に有難うございました。