Photo by Ian Kucerak/EPSB
The Ben Stelter School Fundraiser’s (BSSF) internal team is leveraging AI in their mission to build Canada’s first center for Proton Therapy in Edmonton.
The campaign has hired a team of 50 members so far with the goal of fundraising in support of the Ben Stelter Centre for Proton Therapy & Neuroscience. It will be the first of its kind in Canada and is projected to be completed in 2028.
The Technology department’s BSSF GPT is currently progressing internal advancements. The model is trained on every person’s unique role in the organization, and can be messaged or invited to communication channels for information and assistance.
The agent acts as a perfect shortcut for the team’s workflow: instead of having to look through complex documents and charts, the organization can simply have the answer pulled out of their system.
And the student initiative has an AI blueprint for long-term scalability. The BSSF is growing fast, already going from 10 schools to 50 in 2025, as they try to partner with 100 schools for 2026. Stinner says a public 24/7 AI assistant can answer questions with accuracy and efficiency.
Stinner took this to detail for us, building on its function for teachers and student leaders as they organize their own campaigns .
“For example, someone could ask how to begin planning an event, get fundraising ideas, create a timeline, understand a specific process, or solve a problem they encounter. Instead of waiting for a response, they can receive clear, personalized guidance immediately, based on past fundraisers, and supported with a lot of data.”
When this tool goes live potentially in September, users can ask questions through a simple chat interface on a chatbot website. Using information and resources approved by the BSSF, the assistant can provide relevant responses.
Stinner adds that it’s meant to support their team without replacing human contact, with complicated or sensitive questions directed towards humans.
And the BSSF is not stopping at plans of a basic chatbot system as they look at an intelligent context-based support system that Stinner emphasized.
“The goal is to create something that can understand what stage of the fundraising process someone is at and give them practical next steps. It could eventually become a central support system for schools to improve the fundraiser experiences of hundreds of people!”
As their AI solutions specialist, Mustafa Ali stated the student campaign’s advantage as they bring Proton Therapy to Canada alongside AI.
“Our internal bot puts us apart from any other fundraiser, especially as a student led initiative while we float on advancements. As students we do not have access to enterprise grade AI solutions […] but are able to utilise today’s tech to achieve this at the fraction of the price with student creativity, innovation and teamwork.”
As the BSSF integrates AI into its operations, it sets a new precedent for student-led non-profits. The Edmontonian initiative is redefining how fundraising is approached in Canada as technology goes hand-in-hand with students bringing Proton Therapy to Canada.
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