The UC Regents launched a crowdsourcing fundraising campaign entitled “Promise for Education” last month aimed at generating public donations for UC student scholarships. Promise for Education allows for anyone to set a fundraising goal, make a “promise” to fulfill if it is met and share it amongst social media in order to garner funds from public contributions. Every UC chancellor in the system has set a $10,000 goal and their own creative promise to go along with it. UC Irvine’s Chancellor Michael V. Drake was the first of the chancellors to reach his goal and currently stands first on the list of top promises.
Chancellor Drake promised to lead a cycling tour of Irvine on the day of homecoming if his $10,000 goal was fulfilled. In a remarkable 72 hours after posting his promise, the chancellor reached $10,000 in donations and continues to raise funds as his total currently stands at $17,398 and rising.
According to Drake, he wanted to make this promise not only to promote the health benefits that come with cycling but to support UC students and the institution as a whole. The chancellor hopes this cycling event will draw over 30 participants and promises to hold a reception for those involved at the ARC after the tour is over.
Promise for Education was launched on September 18 and sought to raise $1,000,000 by the end of October, yet that goal was fulfilled before the first of October. The program’s website features a countdown to the end of the campaign on Oct. 31 and a ticker that stands at $1,059,352 as of Sunday, Oct. 6
Other pledges include promises from celebrities including actor Jamie Foxx, “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston and Beach Boy Mike Love.
Some of the more creative and intriguing promises include Regent Sherry Lansing’s pledge to work a concession stand for a day and Governor Jerry Brown’s promise to hold a brown bag lunch with one student from every UC campus.
These efforts are all aimed at public contribution no matter how small. Anyone can donate on the Promise for Education website at any amount to the UC campus of their choice or to the University of California system.
