Posts Tagged: Development and Gifts
Donors dig deep to give UC ANR $99,000 for Big Dig Day
BIG congratulations! Together we raised over $99,000 in new support across the state with our second annual Big Dig Day campaign. This is an increase of more than three times the individual giving tally from last year. In these unprecedented times, this show of support demonstrates the impact UC ANR is having in our communities and the value that donors place on our work.
More than $82,000 of support was designated to 50 counties and research and extension centers. We received 843 gifts from 738 donors.
We thank all of our donors for their participation, which extends our reach and helps us fulfill our mission for a healthier California. Please view our thank you video and share it with your contacts!
The following are the top recipients of Big Dig donations.
Top 5 counties:
1. San Luis Obispo
2. Sonoma
3. Contra Costa
4. Orange
5. Sacramento
Top 5 programs:
1. UC Master Gardeners
2. California 4-H
3. UC ANR
4. UCCE
5. California Naturalists
Find your 2020 gift reports by county and by program at https://ucdavis.box.com/s/opup3bdtb98nrntqzzxs6s5pjb6h3b6r.
Happy McGivins thanks you for sharing your Dig Deep messages! With several outstanding entries in these counties, Happy is sending gift cards to these winners!
1. Lauren Hull, UC Master Gardeners
2. Ventura County, 4-H
3. Stanislaus County, MG
4. San Mateo/San Francisco, 4-H
UC ANR supporters give over $85,000 on #GivingTuesday
Thanks to everyone who participated, UC ANR's #GivingTuesday campaign was a tremendous success.
“We surpassed our goal of $60,000, raising $85,168,” said Mary Maffly Ciricillo, director of Annual Giving and Individual Gifts. “This is close to a 24 percent increase over last year's Giving Tuesday total of $68,322.”
As an added incentive to potential donors, ANR received over $37,000 in donations toward match challenge funds supporting all of UC ANR programs.
The California 4-H Foundation alone brought in over $32,000. Compared to 2016, there was a 250 percent increase in giving to UC ANR programs – including Master Gardeners, Master Food Preservers, IPM, the REC System, and county offices – totaling over $15,000.
The number of gifts received also rose, from 224 gifts in 2016 to 318 gifts this year. “We even received a gift designated to urban horticulture!” Ciricillo said.
In addition to raising money, the #GivingTuesday social media campaign helped raise the visibility of ANR programs. The Master Gardener Program team made a video of the unselfies posted on social media by their supporters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI_tVcNhBcQ.
“We appreciate everyone's cooperation in this fundraising effort and hope we can continue to build on our success for the next #GivingTuesday,” Ciricillo said. “These private funds will help us expand UC ANR's reach.”
Below is a list of funds donors selected to receive Giving Tuesday their gifts:
ANR - Master Gardener Annual Giving Fund |
Alameda County Master Gardener Endowment Fund |
Elkus Ranch Fund |
San Mateo - 4-H Program - Various Donors |
Statewide Master Gardener Endowment Fund |
Sacramento County UCCE - Master Gardener Fund |
Los Angeles County UCCE Fund |
Orange County UCCE Fund |
El Dorado County UCCE - Rangeland Fund |
San Mateo/San Francisco UCCE - Master Gardener Fund |
ANR - Giving Tuesday Match Fund |
San Mateo County UCCE - MG Greenhouse |
KREC - Kearney REC - Fund |
SFREC - Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center Fund |
Sonoma County UCCE - Citizen Science Projects |
"urban horticulture" |
Los Angeles County UCCE - Master Gardeners |
LREC - Lindove Field Station |
El Dorado County UCCE - Master Gardeners - Various Dnrs |
San Mateo/SF UCCE - Master Food Preserver |
Fresno County UCCE |
4-H Undesignated |
"REC System" |
Riverside County UCCE - Master Gardeners |
Sutter-Yuba Counties UCCE - Master Gardeners |
Merced County UCCE - Master Gardener Fund |
UC California Naturalist Program |
Ventura County UCCE - Master Gardener Fund |
HREC - Hopland REC - Fund |
"Marin Master Gardeners Opportunity Fund" |
IPM - Program Fund |
4-H Foundation UC Donor Funds |
DREC - Desert REC FARM SMART Fund |
Merced County Agriculture Extension and Research Endowment |
Alameda County UCCE - Master Gardeners |
UCCE Master Gardeners of Orange County |
Orange County UCCE - Master Food Preserver Fund |
Kern - 4-H Program - Various Donors |
Colusa County UCCE - Master Gardener Program |
Central Sierra - UCCE |
Ventura County UCCE Fund |
"Ventura County Master Gardeners" |
San Joaquin County UCCE - Master Gardener Fund |
ANR - California Naturalist Scholarship Fund |
Statewide Program - Nutrition, Family and Consumer Sciences Program |
ANR Informatics and GIS Fund |
Nutrition Policy Institute General Fund |
Plumas County UCCE - Project Learning Tree |
ANR - Master Food Preservers Fund |
California Institute for Water Resources |
San Mateo County UCCE Fund |
Santa Barbara County 4-H - Various Donors |
Contra Costa County UCCE Fund |
ANR launches third annual Giving Tuesday Nov. 28
On Nov. 28, ANR will again participate in #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving, powered by our social networks. Celebrated on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season. For ANR, Giving Tuesday is an opportunity to raise funds for UC Cooperative Extension county programs, research and extension centers and statewide programs. As a result of the ongoing effects of the drought, recent wildfires and persistent pockets of poverty, California's needs in the coming year will be great, and year-end giving is an opportunity for donors to assist.
“UC Cooperative Extension professionals have a deep passion for their work and a dedication to the communities they serve. While most deliver their research and programs quietly every day, it is especially incredible to witness their response to disaster; for example, recent wildfires saw local UCCE offices responding immediately with vital information for coping with the fires, care for livestock and pets, as well as service in food banks and other volunteer needs,” said VP Glenda Humiston.
UC Cooperative Extension staff and 4-H members helped rescue livestock in Sonoma County as people evacuated. The UC Master Gardener Program connected volunteers throughout the state who wanted to provide relief to the 17 UC Master Gardener volunteers who lost their homes in Solano County.
“UC Master Gardener volunteers are true to their generous nature and have offered tremendous support to fellow volunteers who have lost homes in the fires. With compassionate hearts, they have offered lodging, supplies and words of support,” said Missy Gable, UC Master Gardener Program director. “In the future, we will look to replant what was lost and find healing in the care and establishment of new landscapes and wild spaces.”
“Giving Tuesday gives us an opportunity to talk about our research and outreach to enhance food systems and create thriving communities, as well as all the other positive things everyone in ANR is doing to make life better for Californians,” Humiston said.
For UC ANR stakeholders, Giving Tuesday presents an opportunity to support the many programs and services that strengthen California communities each day and more importantly, during times of crisis. Last year, over $64,000 was raised on Giving Tuesday to support UC ANR programs including the 4-H Youth Development Program and UC Master Gardener Program.
“Last year, the 4-H Foundation recorded a 430 percent increase in donations over the previous fiscal year, raising over $30,000 in one day from 37 counties!” said Mary Ciricillo, director of annual giving for UC ANR. This was due in large part to a match challenge from an anonymous donor.
“This year, I'm excited to share that we will have two match challenge funds. One supporting the California 4-H Foundation and one for all UC ANR.” said Ciricillo.
A website is being created with links to all of ANR's programs, Research and Extension Centers and UCCE offices: ucanr.edu/givingtuesday. It invites donors to designate programs or locations to which they wish to donate.
As of Nov. 1, the website will contain a toolkit for county offices and programs to participate. It will include:
- A customizable letter to send to stakeholders
- Templates for “unselfies.” Donors may take photos of themselves holding an unselfie sign and share on social media how they are giving.
- Sample tweets and social media posts
- Sample thank you note
The UC Master Gardener Giving Tuesday website is at http://mg.ucanr.edu/givingtuesday.
The 4-H Youth Development Program also has its own website at http://4h.ucanr.edu/GivingTuesday. Last year, 4-H programs in 17 California counties participated.
Although not as well-known as the shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday appeals to people who are swept up in the spirit of giving at the end of the year.
This year Development Services has set a goal of collecting a total of $60,000 for 4-H and UC ANR from 300 or more donors on Giving Tuesday. Last year UC ANR and 4-H received 224 gifts.
“The #GivingTuesday campaign is a fun way for people in all ANR programs to supplement their funding with private donations,” said Andrea Ambrose, acting director, UC ANR Development Services.
Grateful for the feedback on condition changes
Thanks so much to all of the Program Team Leaders and members, the Statewide Program Directors and the Strategic Initiative Leaders for the hard work they completed to review and improve upon our divisionwide condition changes. The timeline was short; it's never long enough, the timing was poor; end of summer is not a good time to pull people together, and the work was a challenge; something new for UC ANR to do this at a division level, but they did a tremendous job and really stuck it out despite the challenges!
These groups have submitted their ideas for condition changes to be coded into Project Board. Katherine Webb-Martinez, Mark Bell and I have reviewed the recommendations and compared the proposed variations for the original 19 that were proposed by multiple groups as well as new condition changes that were recommended. The recommended changes were not drastically different from the original, but changes were proposed and adopted with the final list is now a bit longer, but still manageable. The next step is for a group of 12 self-identified Program Team Leaders, SI Leaders, Statewide Program and Institute Directors to work together and, using this new list plus the 2025 Strategic Vision, revise the Public Values Statements drafted back in May. I so appreciate those that have stepped up to continue this work process – not surprising given the commitment and leadership ingrained in so many across UC ANR!
I suspect this iterative process of drafting and revising is a bit frustrating for many but, as we use this information to convey the importance of your work to those who don't know us and we seek to find increased support for your work, it is important to put forth compelling Public Value Statements and be able to ‘bucket' our impacts so that the stories behind the condition changes are readily available to share with decision-makers, prospective funders, and each other. These benefits are above and beyond that which comes from aligning our work with the 2025 Strategic Vision in order to position ourselves to achieve the Vision and support our achievement with stories of how we have made a difference, even to those who don't know us. So THANK YOU to all for the commitment to the process and the enthusiasm you've demonstrated for continuing excellence in UC ANR!
Along the lines of “identify the performance objectives and then determine the design” that I have talked about previously, I've been thinking about the upcoming 2018 Position Call. Program Council has discussed the process a few times and soon we will need to have that nailed down. Below are what I believe to be the key attributes of the ideal process:
- Considers needs/gaps across the state and across program areas
- Engages clientele/stakeholders in the need identification process
- Seeks input from all UC ANR academics
- Builds recognition of needs across program areas through a collaborative process
- Results in decisions that reflect ‘hearing' academics, partners, stakeholders
- Makes it easy for Program Council to recognize high priority positions
What am I missing? Thanks in advance for your feedback!
[This article was originally published Oct. 24 in the ANR Adventures blog at //ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=25473.]
Nov. 6 deadline to apply for SI leader positions
Nov. 6 is the last day for ANR academics to apply for one of the open Strategic Initiative leader positions.
Three SI leader positions are scheduled to rotate off, opening up opportunities for other ANR academics to take the lead for Endemic and Invasive Pests and Diseases, Sustainable Food Systems and Sustainable Natural Resources.
The SI leaders play key roles in advocating, convening and communicating to strengthen UC ANR's research and outreach agenda. Given the evolving role of the UC ANR Strategic Initiatives (SI), the current SI leaders have agreed that it would be beneficial to conduct an open search for the next set of SI leaders from across the breadth of expertise of the division.
Strategic Initiative leader positions are appointed by the vice president on a rotating basis for three years, with a possibility of extension. The positions are open to all ANR academics, including Agricultural Experiment Station faculty and Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists.
Endemic and Invasive Pests and Diseases is currently led by Cheryl Wilen, David Doll leads Sustainable Food Systems, and John Harper leads Sustainable Natural Resources. Doug Parker, who leads Water Quality, Quantity and Security, and Keith Nathaniel, who leads Healthy Families and Communities will continue to serve in those SI leader positions.
To apply for one of the SI leader positions, complete the form at http://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=21548. Applications will be accepted until Nov. 6.
Applicants will be contacted for interviews in late November or early December. The new leaders are anticipated to start on Jan. 2, 2018.
For information regarding the roles and responsibilities of the Strategic Initiative leader position, see the Terms of Reference for Strategic Initiative Leaders. If you have questions, contact Mark Bell, vice provost of Strategic Initiatives and Statewide Programs.