What is the fund raising goal?
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To establish an endowment that will support spinal cord injury research in perpetuity.
The initial endowment of the Reeve-Irvine Research Center was established through a lead gift of $1 million from the Joan Irvine Smith & Athalie R. Clarke Foundation and other individual contributions totaling $2 million. The phase II goal is to establish an endowment of $10 million, interest from which would be used to provide stable support for long-term research projects focusing on chronic spinal cord injuries.
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To raise $300,000 per year for ongoing research projects that focus on the most promising current research strategies or on translational research projects aimed at bringing new therapies to the threshold of a clinical trial.
Do you have a fund raising strategy?
The Center depends critically on individual donations. We thank our benefactors for their continuing annual contributions.
We also work with third party fundraising groups that hold special events to benefit the Reeve-Irvine Research Center. We also continue our efforts to raise funds from corporate and foundation programs.
What are the University of California's financial responsibilities to the Center?
The University of California has committed space, faculty lines, and administrative support to the Reeve Irvine Center , and will continue to develop research programs and clinical efforts in spinal cord injury.
How will the money be spent?
The Smith/Clarke Foundation's initial gift of $1 million established the Center's endowment. The interest income will provide a stable source of support for the center's spinal cord injury research programs. The gift also established an endowed chair (The Reeve-Irvine Chair), to which Dr. Steward was appointed Chair in 1999. As these endowments grow, interest generated provides more funding that can be applied toward research.
Contributions have enabled the Center to create animal facility for regeneration research. Studies of spinal cord injury are especially challenging because of the high level of care that injured animals require, and the highly sophisticated testing that must be done to assess the benefits of novel treatments. To the best of our knowledge, there is no core animal facility of this type anywhere in the world.
Basic research at the Reeve-Irvine Research Center is about to translated into clinical trial process. As with much research in this area, but especially clinical trials, money is a rate limiting factor.
Donors will be recognized for their gifts and are encouraged to discuss naming and other recognition opportunities.
For more information about contributions and development activities, please contact
Tania Cusack, tcusack@uci.edu (949) 824-5925