Baycrest & Scotiabank Team Up for Innovative Approach to Fundraising

TORONTO, ONTARIO (Marketwire -04/23/12) — As part of its ongoing commitment to support Baycrest innovations, the Baycrest Foundation announced today the launch of a new app in support of its highly popular Scotiabank Pro-Am for Alzheimer's hockey tournaments. The app, available on both Android and iPhone, allows players registered in the tournament to fundraise for the Scotiabank Pro-Am on the go from the touch of their smartphone screen and is available as a free download on iTunes and Google Play.

"The launch of this app marks an exciting new direction as we begin to roll out our mobile giving strategy at the Foundation," said Susan Sutton, President, Baycrest Foundation and Vice President, Global Institutional Advancement at Baycrest.

The Scotiabank Pro-Am app supports a player's mobile giving strategy by allowing the player to reach out to existing contacts via direct email. The app also connects with a player's Facebook and Twitter profiles, encouraging social giving. It is simple and easy to use and gives a donor options for donating and sharing the act of giving using their social networks. The app supports the upcoming Toronto and Vancouver Pro-Am as well as 2013 events across the country. New registrants can use the app for games in either season.

"The app gives players the opportunity to share their participation socially amongst their networks," said Sutton. "Players already use Facebook and Twitter to keep up with their friends and family -- now they can use our app to help share a cause that's important to them as well."

The Scotiabank Pro-Am for Alzheimer's is an innovative fundraiser that offers amateur hockey players the chance to play with and against a host of NHL alumni while raising critical funds for Alzheimer's research and care at Baycrest and has raised more than $16 million in its six-year history. Teams must raise a minimum of $25,000, and the teams that raise the most funds get to draft an NHL alumnus to play on their team.