Support the College

The Case for Creative Expression

Today you have the opportunity to change the world. Education in the arts and humanities ignites creativity, critical thinking, and academic improvement. Yet, across America, public access and education in the arts and humanities is disappearing when we need it the most. Governmental support for the arts and humanities has been on the decline for decades. In most classrooms today, music and art are considered elective, rather than core to the learning process. This despite critical evidence that shows the benefit of art education develops parts of the brain that facilitates reading, writing and math skills:

Students who took four years of arts course work outperformed their peers who had one half year or less of arts course work by 58 points on the verbal portion and 38 points on the math portion of the SAT.
Students consistently involved in orchestra or band during their middle and high school years performed better in math at grade 12.
A study of high school age students shows those who studied dance scored higher than nondancers on measures of creative thinking.
A group of 162 children, ages 9 and 10, were trained to look closely at works of art and reason about what they saw. The results showed that children’s ability to draw inferences about artwork transferred to their reasoning about images in science.*

In the College of Humanities and Fine Arts we are taking this challenge seriously. Please join with us in advocacy and support of creative expression. As our Advancement Director, it is my privilege to work with you to assure your contribution is as rewarding to you, the donor, as it is to our students, faculty and programs that receive it. Please call me at 530-898-4054 or email me at dbooth3@csuchico.edu to discuss how your gift can help change our world.

Daria Booth
Director of Advancement

Our Priorities

Make a Gift

We believe giving is a rewarding and highly personal experience, and we are committed to working as partners with you to assure your gift honors your passion and interests, while fostering excellence in our College. A gift may be large or small, unrestricted or specifically designated to support a scholarship, department, program or performance venue. No matter the size or scope of your tax-deductible donation, your gift offers the greatest gift of all: education.

There are many, many ways you can support our College. Below are some of our priorities, including a list of the departments we serve. If you have questions, please contact us as listed above.

Scholarship support

As a student-centered college, we continually seek new scholarship and award opportunities to recognize and encourage student achievement. As the cost of attending college continues to increase, so does the importance of scholarship funding.

A donation of $10,000 or more creates a permanent endowment that can be named in honor of you, your family or other loved one. If you prefer, you may choose to fund your scholarship annually or you may create a flexible endowment that allows you to award scholarships while also building toward a permanent endowment. We also welcome contributions to existing scholarships.

Dean's Special Opportunity Endowment

Every year our talented students and faculty are honored by invitations to perform, debate or present at venues around the world. Without private support participation in these special opportunities often would not be possible. Help us say yes to student and faculty excellence by contributing to support these and other similarly unexpected opportunities.

Endowed Chairs & Faculty Fellowships

Outstanding teachers inspire student excellence. We seek legacy gifts from special donors to create powerful incentives to attract and retain gifted faculty. The impact of such a gift is huge - it allows our students to learn from the best by providing resources for the college to compete in today's global market for superior teaching talent.

Humanities Center

The Humanities Center continues to stimulate creative thinking and engage faculty, students and the community at large with thought-provoking lectures, film series and discussions from some of the most innovative minds on the planet. Support for such a program says you believe in the importance of intellectual debate. The Center refreshes faculty while preparing students to enter the workplace as enlightened and engaged citizens. The Humanities Center offers its thanks to New Urban Builders, who has provided generous support for the program.

North State Symphony

Donor contributions strengthen the foundation of support for our fabulous North State Symphony. There are many ways you can help support the presence of classical music in the North State, from annual donations to the personal sponsorship of a Musician Chair in our orchestra. Music Chair sponsors provide significant support to the symphony, while also celebrating the high-quality musicians who make the orchestra possible, and can be funded annually or through a private, named endowment.

The Turner

The Turner (Janet Turner Print Museum) is arguably both the North State's most valuable art asset and its best-kept secret. With more than 3,000 fine art prints, from 40 countries and spanning six centuries, we are now seeking a permanent home for this world-class collection and we need your help.

Please join us as a volunteer or donor in our campaign to find a permanent home for The Turner.

College Department Gifts

Gifts can be specified for each department, or programs within our departments.

Ways to Give

Make a Gift

Gifts to the Annual Fund

The College of Humanities & Fine Arts and each department and program has an annual fund account. A gift to an annual fund account is for the unrestricted use of that area; it may be used whenever and wherever needed to maintain a strong and balanced educational program. Such gifts may serve at one time, for example, to augment part-time faculty or to provide scholarships, and at another time to purchase new art equipment or musical instruments, or to meet many of the other needs continually confronting the college and its programs.

Gifts of Equipment

One of our college's greatest challenges is to remain current with ever-changing advances in technology. This is an area where alumni, parents, and friends can be especially helpful. Gifts designated to purchase equipment will help us meet this challenge. We have also found much support from our friends in industry; often they are able to secure gifts of used equipment from the corporations for whom they work. Examples of need include recording equipment for Recording Arts or stage lighting for the Department of Theatre.

Planned Gifts & Pledges

There are a variety of strategies available that allow the donor to minimize taxes or increase income. At the same time, planned gifts and pledges provide significant help to College of Humanities & Fine Arts students, faculty, and academic programs. Donors can select from the following benefits:

Multi-year pledges
Income-tax savings through the charitable deduction for the value of the gift
Avoidance of the capital-gain tax on long-term capital-gain property
Retained income rights for the life of the donor and/or other beneficiaries
The possibility of increased spendable income with certain arrangements
Elimination of federal estate tax on the value of the interest in property, passing to charity upon the donor's death
Reduced estate settlement costs

To receive more information on ways to support the College of Humanities & Fine Arts, contact Daria Booth.

*Critical Evidence: How the Arts Benefit Student Achievement by Sandra S. Ruppert. Published in 2005 by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies in collaboration with the Arts Education Partnership.