October 9, 2006

Green and Gold Gala crowd gets good news:
$4.7 million in gifts to Sacramento State

An event billed as “an evening of art, music and the unexpected” delivered with the announcement of nearly $5 million in gifts during Friday’s Green and Gold Gala at Sacramento State.

The annual event in the University Union Ballroom celebrated the University’s 60th year of instruction and prominently featured Sacramento State student artists and their work. It also honored philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad who contributed $2 million to build a new field house, named the Broad Athletic Facility.

Last year marked a milestone fundraising year at Sacramento State, and 2006-07 looks to be off to an equally promising start. University President Alexander Gonzalez used the Gala to announce several new gifts:

• A $3 million bequest intention from an anonymous donor that will endow undergraduate scholarships, awards and programs.
• A $1 million endowment from the Bernard Osher Foundation to provide scholarships for 20 re-entry students. Sacramento State was one of only five universities nationwide to receive these funds.
• A $400,000 gift from Paul and Renee Snider to begin program planning for a new museum of natural history adjacent to the planned Space and Science Center.
• A $150,000 commitment over three years from the RCA Community Fund of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation to establish a new scholar in ethics.
• A $150,000 gift from Vision Service Plan for the Broad Athletic Facility. In recognition, a meeting room in the facility will be named for outgoing VSP President and CEO Roger Valine.

The evening also included numerous acknowledgements of the generosity of Sacramento State donors, including a video tribute to Eli and Edythe Broad.

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