The giving list: supporting science with annual donations

This post was authored by by Donna Kridelbaugh, (@science_mentor) a communications consultant and founder of ScienceMentor.Me. Her mission is to create an online field guide to self-mentoring in science careers. She offers writing, editing and marketing services for early-career professionals who are ready to advance their career to the next level. Learn more at http://sciencementor.me/. The post originally appeared on ASBMB Today.

A season for giving! (Image Credit: asenat29/Flickr CC BY 2.0) Fundraising campaigns — from ice bucket challenges to pink cleats on the football field –have been all the craze lately, saturating our social media feeds and news headlines. While it’s refreshing to see people pitching in to support groups that return a portion of funds to biomedical research, these donation fads can quickly fizzle out. Plus, many nonprofit research and science-education programs rely on consistent, year-round donations. I use the end of the year as a mental reminder to plan my annual giving list comprised of worthy science and education causes. Also, I have transitioned to making donations in lieu of giving materialistic holiday gifts to maximize my donation potential and promote a philanthropic culture. If you care about grassroots science initiatives or supporting young scientists, you too can adopt a year-end tradition and include science on your annual giving list.

State funding for public colleges and universities continues to decline across the nation. At one of my alma maters, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, direct state support has decreased from 50 percent in 1987 to 11.9 percent in 2014. Dick Norton, a regional director with the University of Illinois Foundation, explains the vital role of alumni support in continuing university operations: “In FY14, alumni were the second-largest source of donors to the University of Illinois. They designated $35.8 million for student support. That funding helps defray some of the educational debt that now saddles students.” Norton adds, “The burden of debt frequently has repercussions on students’ future employment, dictating when and where they work. There are many financial ways for alumni donors to support students at their alma mater. Endowed scholarships, for example, can provide student assistance in perpetuity.” When I graduated from college, I made a promise to contribute to the Chemistry Alumni Scholarship fund that supported me during my undergraduate days. I now give annually to that scholarship fund. Plus, I am a contributing member to the alumni association at my former graduate school institution. In addition to supporting students, active involvement with alumni associations provides endless benefits. Alumni connections are strong and provide an important networking avenue, while many alumni associations offer career-development resources to support you throughout your lifetime.

If you are strapped for cash, you can volunteer with citizen science projects to help speed up research, provide valuable data and interpret data sets. SciStarter features a collection of more than 850 projects open to the public.Darlene Cavalier, founder of SciStarter and Science Cheerleader, explains, “There is something for everyone: bird lovers, armchair astronomers, nature enthusiasts, concerned citizens, pet owners, DIYers and hobbyists.” Projects range from playing online games to tracking wildlife in your backyard. Cavalier says she sees an advantage for scientists to be involved with citizen science projects, especially for projects in need of community leaders or that require data interpretation. She also said she has observed the emergence of a new project type where the public directly provides input on science policy issues (e.g., Informing NASA’s Asteroid Initiative). [Editor's note: There is ONE hour left to donate to SciStarter's first ever fundraising campaign to help support citizen science journalists!]

Nonprofit research and education centers depend on private donors to sustain their operations. I make a yearly contribution to Discover Life in America, a nonprofit that runs citizen science projects in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. DLiA is on a mission to identify all the living species in the national park to inform biodiversity and conservation efforts. Read the full post on ASBMB.org.