The UC Davis Symphony Endowment was established by members and
friends in 1992 with the goal of assuring the orchestra’s access
to first-rate teachers and soloists, a handsome orchestral
library, and enhanced opportunities for travel. The remarkable
success of the Endowment—having grown in its first ten years from
about $30,00 to over $400,000 in market value—is one important
indicator of the UCDSO’s excellent artistic and financial
health. Via UC Davis’s online-giving website, we have added a
convenient way to make a gift to the Symphony’s Endowment.
The majority of the Endowment rests in the UC Davis Foundation,
locally managed and, for the most part, locally invested. Gifts
are recognized in the donor list published with each concert
program; members of the Endowment receive a newsletter and
various other forms of recognition. Memorial gifts and gifts
matched by an employer are common. Sometime each fall we update
our Financial Statement on dividends from the endowment.
The Endowed Seats program, established by UCDSO member Rebecca
Brover in 2000 on the occasion of the new millennium, recognize
gifts of $10,000 and more by naming individual seats in the
orchestra in perpetuity. As of the 2003–04 season, some 20 seats
were so named.
