Virtu Project raises $25,000 for world health nonprofit group

The Virtu Project at IU tripled the money it raised this year for the Timmy Foundation, a global health and development nonprofit organization based in Indianapolis.

The project was created and is run by students in the Liberal Arts and Management Program at IU. It is “an original social entrepreneurship initiative that uses donor pledges to a mock investment portfolio to raise money,” according to an IU press release.

“One of the Timmy Foundation’s central ambitions is to support the impoverished in developing countries while concurrently instilling humanitarian values and leadership skills in college students,” said junior Patrick Onkka, the current president of the Virtu Project, in the release. “The Virtu project possesses this same ambition. I think that’s why we work so well together.”

The Virtu Project was created and launched in 2007. In April 2009, it donated $7,610 to the Timmy Foundation. Now the group will donate $25,000 to the foundation after its second year of investments — from December 2008 to December 2009.

“We are thrilled to be working directly with Virtu,” said Matt MacGregor, the Timmy Foundation’s executive director, in the release. “Virtu offers students at IU an innovative educational platform to learn, while utilizing their talents to support Timmy’s programming. It’s exactly the type of hybrid initiative that epitomizes Timmy’s mission to expand access to health care and education while empowering students to engage directly in global development.”

TIMMY / VIRTU CHECK PRESENTATION

WHEN 4:30 p.m. Friday
WHERE Von Lee Building second-floor conference room
MORE INFO Virtu Project members will present a $25,000 check to representatives from the Timmy Foundation. For more information on the Virtu Project, visit www.indiana.edu/~virtu.

— Lindsey Erdody