UC Davis Foundation chair Bruce Edwards ’60

Dear UC Davis Supporters:

On behalf of the UC Davis Foundation Board of Trustees, thank you for your interest in and support of UC Davis — an academic enterprise that is innovating across disciplines, working to solve the greatest problems of our day and educating the leaders of tomorrow.

As chair of the Foundation Board, I am honored to lead a distinguished group of volunteers who are committed to supporting the university as it fulfills its “Vision of Excellence” to be an engine of innovation, to foster learning and scholarship of the highest quality, and to create a sustainable future.

I, like all of the Trustees, know how important philanthropic support is to fulfilling this vision. That is why the board steadfastly supported the launch of The Campaign for UC Davis, the university’s first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign. The campaign seeks to advance excellence, innovation, opportunity, public service and quality of life by inspiring 100,000 donors to contribute $1 billion in philanthropic support by 2014. This campaign will help take UC Davis to even greater heights of distinction, scholarship and service, and we invite all UC Davis friends and supporters around the world to take part.

Philanthropy is not new to UC Davis, however. The tradition of philanthropic giving to this university goes back to 1906, when George Pierce, Jr., the Central Valley’s first UC alum, persuaded the Davisville Chamber of Commerce to contribute $4,516 — about $100,000 in today’s dollars — to secure the water rights necessary to build the campus. Ever since, the generosity of thousands of donors — including individuals, corporations and foundations — has greatly leveraged the university’s core state funding, building an institution that is making important strides on issues from agricultural sustainability to telemedicine to energy efficiency. 

There are so many ways people can support their passions by giving to UC Davis. I give to UC Davis for many reasons. I am an alumnus, and I give back out of gratitude for the fine college education I received. But I also give because I know the contributions of UC Davis supporters both near and far will help shape the future of this state-supported public research university. These contributions will facilitate new discoveries in the lab, will enable a UC Davis education to remain accessible to all qualified students, and will keep the university’s research and knowledge connected to the wider community it serves.

I invite you to explore the rest of this website, or to contact the university’s professional development staff, to learn how you can make an impact at UC Davis. Whatever your passion is, you can support it by giving to UC Davis.

Thank you,

Bruce Edwards ’60
Chair, UC Davis Foundation