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The University of California, Davis, today (Oct. 22) announced plans to raise $1 billion in philanthropic support from 100,000 donors to advance the university's mission and vision.

The announcement took place at a morning public celebration at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at �������ϲʿ����������ͼ.

“The Campaign for �������ϲʿ����������ͼ presents us with an unprecedented opportunity to further our bold vision for this university — to advance among the nation's top public research universities and take the lead in identifying and addressing the globe's most critical challenges,” said Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi.

A billion-dollar campaign target is an ambitious one. Only 26 colleges and universities, or about 1 percent of the nation's more than 2,500 four-year institutions, are currently in campaigns of that scale. Historically, about 75 have undertaken $1 billion campaigns.

Funds generated through the campaign will enable �������ϲʿ����������ͼ to continue to fulfill its land-grant mission to identify and solve society's problems.

Specifically, the funds will help increase student scholarships and financial aid; create new endowed chairs and professorships; enrich teaching and research; improve patient care; enhance the university environment through improvements in facilities, library materials, art and scholarly collections and equipment; and allow the campus to act on emerging opportunities.

Since July 2006, when the UC Office of the President gave approval for the university to begin a “quiet” campaign to assess support and determine fundraising goals, donors have pledged more than $605 million to �������ϲʿ����������ͼ. On Sept. 16, the UC Board of Regents gave the university the go-ahead to take the campaign public, and authorized the $1 billion goal. The campaign is expected to last until 2014.

University fundraising campaigns commonly begin with a quiet phase to seek inspirational lead gifts and set campaign goals. The “public” phase typically begins only after a university has commitments in hand for at least 40 percent of the total fundraising goal.

During the public phase, �������ϲʿ����������ͼ will seek to attract broad philanthropic support from �������ϲʿ����������ͼ alumni and other supporters throughout the state, nation and world.

"I am greatly encouraged by the campaign’s success to date,” Katehi said, “and grateful to the university’s donors, Campaign Cabinet, trustees of the �������ϲʿ����������ͼ Foundation, and other volunteer fundraising leaders, whose efforts have been vital in achieving more than half of our goal during our early, quiet-phase efforts. My thanks also go to �������ϲʿ����������ͼ’ outstanding faculty, staff and students for their involvement in this effort.”

�������ϲʿ����������ͼ now receives about 20 percent of its budget from the state, but depends on gift support to supplement this core funding. Private support accounts for less than 7 percent of the university's budget.

The Campaign for �������ϲʿ����������ͼ is the first comprehensive fundraising initiative in the university's 102-year history.

In a comprehensive campaign, every college, school, department and program across the university raises money toward a common dollar goal over a period of years. All private gift and grant support during the campaign period counts toward the total.

Private universities have long employed the comprehensive campaign as a strategy to build fundraising momentum and enthusiasm. Public universities are increasingly relying on the strategy as well.

�������ϲʿ����������ͼ backers for many years have urged the campus to undertake a comprehensive campaign.

"We are eager for �������ϲʿ����������ͼ to take on this bold initiative because we are well aware of this institution's distinguished history of teaching, research and public service, and its great potential to achieve even more in the century ahead," said Kevin Bacon, chair of the �������ϲʿ����������ͼ Foundation, which provides important volunteer fundraising leadership for the university.

“I feel — and many others do as well — a deep sense of pride in the gifts I make to �������ϲʿ����������ͼ. The university has already made remarkable contributions in so many fields — I can’t wait to see what �������ϲʿ����������ͼ will accomplish in the years ahead with the help of this campaign,” he said.

Bacon, a retired management consultant, is now a visiting professor at the University of Texas, Austin. He earned his undergraduate degree in political science at �������ϲʿ����������ͼ in 1972.

Margrit Mondavi and Maurice J. Gallagher Jr., two of the university’s most generous benefactors, are the honorary co-chairs of The Campaign for �������ϲʿ����������ͼ.

“I know of the many contributions �������ϲʿ����������ͼ is making in California and across the globe,” Mondavi said. “It is a great university, with impact in many fields. For example, through arts and cultural programs and teaching and research in viticulture and enology, �������ϲʿ����������ͼ is advancing the art of winemaking, is enriching lives and adding joie de vivre. I am proud to be part of this historic campaign.”

Mondavi and her late husband, Robert Mondavi, in 2001 gave $35 million to establish the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science and to name the campus's Center for the Performing Arts.

The performing arts center has transformed northern California’s cultural landscape, while the wine and food institute is ushering in a new, more sustainable era of wine, beer and food production worldwide.

In January, Mondavi pledged an additional $2 million to help build a new art museum that will house and display some 4,000 works that the university has collected over the past 40 years, and serve as a teaching and cultural resource for the university and the region.

Gallagher, a 1971 graduate of �������ϲʿ����������ͼ, is chairman and CEO of Allegiant Travel Co., a commercial airline and travel company based in Las Vegas. He and his wife, Marcia, gave $10 million in 2007 to name Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. Hall, the home of the �������ϲʿ����������ͼ Graduate School of Management, and to establish an endowment for the MBA program — the largest single gift from an alumnus to the university.

The largest single gift to �������ϲʿ����������ͼ was a $100 million commitment from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in 2007 — during the campaign's quiet phase — to launch a school of nursing. The Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, located on the �������ϲʿ����������ͼ Sacramento campus, admitted its inaugural class this summer.

Regional celebrations of The Campaign for �������ϲʿ����������ͼ are being planned around the country in the coming year.

For more information about The Campaign for �������ϲʿ����������ͼ, go to: (goes live Oct. 22).

About �������ϲʿ����������ͼ

For more than 100 years, �������ϲʿ����������ͼ has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, �������ϲʿ����������ͼ has more than 32,000 students, more than 2,500 faculty and more than 21,000 staff, an annual research budget that exceeds $679 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges — Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science. It also houses six professional schools — Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.

Top five donors to The Campaign for �������ϲʿ����������ͼ (2006-2010)

1. Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation: $102.4 million
2. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: $19.6 million
3. Louise Rossi Estate: $12.9 million
4. Theodora Peigh Estate: $11.1 million
5. Maurice ’71 and Marcia Gallagher: $10 million