Academic Centre
The donation kiosk (in Latvian – ziedotne) opens up an opportunity for people to donate using a bank card, and the UL Foundation is the first among the Baltic countries to introduce this donation method. Everyone is invited to support six different projects, including the UL Alumni Trail to be built in the UL Botanical Garden. The term “donation kiosk” was rendered in Latvian as ziedotne with the assistance of the UL Faculty of Humanities student and Kristaps Morbergs scholar Līva Kukle.
The Rector of the UL Indriķis Muižnieks says that the introduction of the first donation kiosk of this kind in the Baltic region strengthens the UL’s position as a donation centre among other higher education institutions in Latvia. “It is important to emphasize that the donation for the UL projects of science, education, sports, and infrastructure collected at the ziedot.lu.lv portal and the donation kiosk is a nationwide investment into the society of Latvia. We must continue to encourage the donation culture within the people of Latvia in order to create and strengthen the graduate students’ donation traditions similar to those in the Western Europe and USA,” emphasizes the Rector.
“Will the introduction of the donation kiosk in the University’s foyer change our graduate students’ relationship with their Alma Mater? I believeso, although some sulky sceptics would say that the “Alumni Trail Project” can also be supported by money transfers even from the mobile phones, as until now. With Alma Mater donation kiosk the UL Foundation’s team aims higher. While working together, we have to establish the new donation kiosk as a gift giving totem for every UL student of the approximately 250 thousand alumni, a place to visit each year for a simple, brief ritual. A ritual for higher self-esteem and support to development of Latvia. Simple calculations show that if all of the UL alumni of the latest years would donate only 0,15% of their annual income, the University’s Writing House in Torņakalns could be built in less than two years,” underlines the UL Foundation’s Chairman of the Board Ivars Lācis.
The UL Alumni Association’s Chairman of the Board Mārtiņš Brencis invites the people linked to UL not only by a diploma but also by heart, to support the current large-scale project – the Alumni Trail to be implemented at the UL Botanic Garden. The culmination of this campaign will mark the UL Alumni Day on May 18, 2018. The Alumni Trail is a pathway that will wind through the garden, passing by different design elements and environment objects. It will be a place for meeting, enjoying the beauty of nature, art, and culture. The project will be implemented with the support of the UL alumni and partners’ donations.
 Foundation now provides an opportunity to donate to the UL projects and the most aspiring students by even easier and contemporary method, using the new donation kiosk, which is located in the main building’s foyer.){kind=link}