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Please follow this link to make your donation!

(Note: make sure to select the MacPherson Fund as shown below.)

About the Fund

As of September 1st, the 6-month Phase II of the fundraising campaign to build the Ian MacPherson Legacy Fund has started! The purpose of this fund is to commemorate the late Ian MacPherson and to further his contributions to the cooperative sector.

Our goal is to raise $80,000 funds that will be used to cover costs associated with learning opportunities such as co-operative association or sector conferences, training events on co-operatives, and research activities/events related to the co-operative economy. Priority is given to applicants who have an active role in the event (i.e; those presenting).

There are several levels to this giving opportunity and we appreciate your support. We will recognize your gift at our next academic congress in 2015, with a letter, and through a donation receipt for tax purposes from the Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada.

Monthly: $10, $20, $50, other

One-time: $25, $50,$100, $250, $500, other

With your donation, you are helping to build upon Ian’s legacy by providing support to students and young scholars in post-secondary education participating in co-operative research events and sector gatherings. As such, you will be benefitting the development of co-operative studies, and the co-operative movement at large.

Thank you for your support!

About Ian

Ian Macpherson grew up on a farm in Spencerville, Ontario. He earned his BA in History at the University of Windsor (1960). After graduation, he taught high school in Streetsville, Ontario where he met his wife Elizabeth. Ian earned his MA and PhD in History at the University of Western Ontario. In 1976, after teaching at the University of Winnipeg and in London England, the family moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where Ian would enjoy a long and successful career.

Ian was an academic par excellence, having achieved distinction in all areas of academic endeavour. He was one of the leading authorities on co-operative history in the world, authoring and editing some fifteen books and writing more than 120 academic and seventy non-academic papers. He also made significant contributions as an administrator, serving as Chair of the History Department (1981-1989) at the University of Victoria, as well as the Dean of Humanities (1992-1999). In addition he was founding director of the British Columbia Institute for Co-operative Studies (2000-2008), and served as co-director of the Social Economy Hub (2005-2012), the national voice for the Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships, a six-year, $13,000,000 research project of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council.

One of the founding members of our research association, Ian’s greatest contributions at the university were, perhaps, as a teacher and mentor. A talented lecturer who always knew how to engage his audience, Ian was a supportive mentor and supervisor to innumerable students over the years, always generous with his time and insightful with his comments.

Ian was also the exemplar of an engaged intellectual, having played leaderships roles in the co-operative sector for over forty years. He served on numerous boards including consumer and health co-ops in Winnipeg and Victoria; a childcare co-op in Victoria; and several credit unions in Victoria. He served on the Board of BC Central Credit Union, 1983 to 1992 (President, 1987-89), and the boards of the Canadian Co-operative Credit Society, the Co-operative College of Canada, the Co-operative Union of Canada, and the Canadian Co-operative Association. He was the founding President of the latter organization, 1989 to 1995. He served on the board of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) 1989-1995, chairing the process and writing the documents whereby the ICA revised the international principles for co-operatives and adopted a Co-operative Identity Statement for the twenty-first century at its Manchester Congress in 1995.