Sports
UC Davis Holds Annual Endowment Dinner
Story Links DAVIS, Calif. – This past week on May 14, UC Davis athletics hosted its annual Endowment Celebration at the ARC Ballroom, a great event that brings together student athletes and the donors that have played important roles during their time at Davis. This year, close to 100 donors, student-athletes, […]
DAVIS, Calif. – This past week on May 14, UC Davis athletics hosted its annual Endowment Celebration at the ARC Ballroom, a great event that brings together student athletes and the donors that have played important roles during their time at Davis.
This year, close to 100 donors, student-athletes, coaches and members of the senior administration were in attendance with the entire event being hosted by Director of Athletics Rocko DeLuca.
UC Davis athletics holds 76 endowments supporting grant-in-aid scholarships, programmatic needs and three coaching positions.
During the evening, student athletes and donors connected to share stories about how endowments and support of UC Davis athletics has impacted them positively. Providing opportunities to compete at the Division I level while also gaining an education from one of the top schools in the world.
Speakers during the event included Jamey Wright and Hodgens Family Director of Women’s Water Polo Kandace Waldthaler and former Aggie Jenn Thatcher O’Reilly. O’Reilly spoke about a new award her donations have gone towards, with the Jenn Thatcher ’88 Women’s Cross-Country award now available to assist future Aggies.
“The endowment dinner is always a special evening because it’s one of the few chances we get to connect donors directly with student-athletes,” said Senior Associate Athletics Director, Chief Development Officer Liz Gullett. “We not only use this opportunity to show how wonderful our student-athletes are to the people who support them, but we use this as an educational opportunity for our student-athletes to teach them about networking and etiquette in real time.
“At the end of the night, it is so great to see donors leaving feeling proud of UC Davis and the student-athletes gaining a better understanding of the support system they have around each of them.”
This story is an example of UC Davis Athletics’ commitment to the Ignite Strategic Plan Pillar of “Revenue Generation” by increasing the donor population and creating a best-in-class stewardship experience. Read more about our strategic plan here; IGNITE.
