Because part of my job includes speaking to a large number of our alumni about giving gifts to the school, I often hear people say they really can’t give much, and that they feel a small gift won’t matter toward the school’s bigger goals. The truth is, a gift of any size is important. Not only does your gift increase our giving total, but equally important, it also counts toward our alumni participation goal.

In fact, alumni participation is one of the criteria used to calculate some school rankings by publications such as U.S. News and World Report. Your support – however you choose to give, and in whatever amount your gift – is vital to the continued growth and recognition of the school.

Many of you helped us to reach a record $460,000 in unrestricted gifts to the School last year – a thirty-three percent increase over the previous year and the highest annual giving record for the School to date. Our sincere thanks for your generosity!

Of course, we have an ambitious Dean, and therefore, we’ve set an even more exciting goal for 2006 – 2007. This year we are striving to raise $500,000 through the Engineering Annual Giving Program.

Beginning this month and continuing through February, our students will begin our annual calling campaign to share information about UCLA Engineering with you and to ask you to participate in the Engineering Annual Giving Program.

I hope you’ll consider participating in this helping us to reach this goal – our friends and alumni are vital to our continued success.

Should you have any questions or if you’d like to talk with me about our upcoming goals, don’t hesitate to email me at kkbatacan@support.ucla.edu or telephone me at 310.206.3729.

Best,