A great month for philanthropy: Give Day breaks $2 million, Employee Giving on the rise

Every April, Aggies are invited to celebrate UC Davis at the longstanding tradition of Picnic Day—and strengthen it by donating on Give Day, an accompanying fundraising event benefitting all schools and colleges across campus, including UC Davis Health.

The combination has proved to be a powerhouse. This year’s Give Day (April 12-13) brought in a record-setting $2 million dollars from 4,454 gifts from across campus and around the world.

“We’ve nearly doubled what our first Give Day brought in only two years ago,” said UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May, referring to the $1.2 million raised in 2017. “Give Day is really coming into its own as an event that the entire UC Davis community looks forward to and embraces. We are very grateful to everyone who contributed to strengthening our great university.”

The UC Davis community is national and global, May noted, with gifts coming in from 46 states and 16 countries. And Give Day garnered support from those closest to campus as well. Donors included 659 employees, 157 students, and 448 parents of students.

This year also saw a record 145 challenge gifts totaling more than $1 million. Challenge gifts are donations of $2,500 or more that “unlock” when a goal number of donations is met during the on-campus and online event.

“Challenge gifts remain the engine of Give Day because they offer an exciting opportunity for new donors to contribute to a larger group effort, allowing their individual gift to make more of an impact,” said Shaun Keister, vice chancellor of Development and Alumni Relations. “Our established donors across UC Davis and UC Davis Health were even more creative this year in coming up with challenges to help attract new donors and broaden our base of support.”

Give Day benefited all schools and colleges at UC Davis and UC Davis Health, and units and programs including the UC Davis Library, the Arboretum and Public Garden, the Manetti Shrem Museum, the Cal Aggie Alumni Association, and such student programs as We Are Aggie Pride and the Student Pantry.

Of all the schools and colleges, the College of Biological Sciences (including the Center for Neuroscience) brought in the most dollars ($310,414) and the College of Letters and Science brought in the most gifts (324). Athletics brought in more gifts than any other department (1,924) and raised $294,712.

For those who work at UC Davis and UC Davis Health, the spirit of giving extended throughout April, Employee Giving Month. The employee giving program, freshly branded as “Davis as UC It”—emphasizing how faculty and staff, through philanthropy, can help shape the university they’d like to see—is rising in prominence, visibility and participation. More than 2,200 staff and faculty participated in this year’s Employee Giving Month compared with 1,850 in 2018, an increase of nearly 19 percent.

“Our culture of employee philanthropy is changing for the better,” said Kate Shasky, co-chair of the Employee Giving Committee and past-chair of Staff Assembly. “I’m encouraged not only by the increase in gifts, but also by how proud people are in displaying and talking about where they gave. There’s growing awareness that we can help support the things we care about right here on campus.”