Corporate and Foundation Relations 2020 ANNUAL REPORT
From Our Executive Director
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he URI Foundation & Alumni Engagement Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations finished off another productive year. Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, corporate and foundation giving totaled more than $4.8 million (including gifts in kind) in calendar year 2020, and 115 proposals were submitted through our office for a variety of projects, programs, and initiatives across the University.
Support for URI from private and family foundations came from both Rhode Island-based organizations such as the Rhode Island Foundation (including significant gifts made from donor-advised funds), the Champlin Foundation (see pg. 5), and the Fred M. Roddy Foundation (see pg. 9), and as well as regional and national organizations such as the Democracy Fund and the Tufts Health Plan Foundation. Corporate giving continues to have a significant impact on the University. The Corporate and Foundation Relations team continues to increase corporate giving to URI with contributions from long-time supporters and partners such as Ocean State Job Lot, HarborOne (see pg. 7), and Blue Cross Blue Shield Rhode Island (see pg. 8). We are confident, given the level of proposal activity and collaboration across the University, that 2021 will be a great year for corporate and foundation gifts to URI, despite the challenges we have faced both globally and nationally in 2020. The work that we do, promoting corporate and foundation funding opportunities to members of the University community and partnering with them to access and win grant funding, is an increasingly vital component in elevating the reputation of URI. On a broader level, philanthropic support from corporations and foundations plays a significant role in supporting faculty and students across URI and in enhancing the overall academic experience at the University. In the year ahead, the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations will continue to focus on establishing new foundation relationships and new corporate partnerships with the goal of securing future support for the University. We look forward to continuing to meet with administrators, faculty, staff, and students so that we may work together to provide important opportunities for all of URI. Please reach out to any member of the Corporate and Foundation Relations team if you have questions or would like to know more about what we do and the impact we have on URI. On behalf of the entire Corporate and Foundation Relations team, we look forward to working with you again this year and for a better year in 2021!
Sincerely,
Katharine Hazard Flynn Executive Director Corporate and Foundation Relations
URI photo by JOE GIBLIN
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
Photo courtesy of URI HARRINGTON SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA
Photo courtesy of JYOTHI MENON
The Champlin Foundation awards $500,000 to URI for educational technologies
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he Champlin Foundation, one of the oldest philanthropic organizations in Rhode Island, has funded projects at URI for more than 30 years that cumulatively total more than $15 million. This year they supported three multidisciplinary proposals spanning engineering, biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, chemistry, and the Graduate School of Oceanography. “The Champlin Foundation has demonstrated a strong commitment to URI and our students by supporting technological resources that provide an outstanding educational experience,” said Donald H. DeHayes, URI provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “New technologies are costly, but they are essential to the intellectual advancement of our students and the contemporary skills they need to build as we prepare them for the future of work.” “We are grateful to The Champlin Foundation for their continued generosity,” said Katharine Hazard Flynn, executive director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at the URI Foundation & Alumni Engagement. “The Champlin Foundation has consistently supported proposals from the URI faculty that build essential technological resources that benefit our students and this state, as well as encourage hands-on learning opportunities.” Projects funded by the Champlin Foundation this year: Anywhere/Anytime Access to Engineering Computer Tools: $185,000 to improve the undergraduate engineering 5
experience for all students by providing 24/7 online access to specialized engineering computing software on any personal computer. This “virtual desktop environment” is run remotely on a College server and ensures that students from all socioeconomic backgrounds will have similar educational experiences to aid their learning, even if they do not have physical access to the College’s computer center. Acquire Robotic Equipment for Field-Oriented Robotic Education (FORE): $130,000 to acquire an unmanned surface vehicle, an unmanned ground vehicle, and a suite of cutting-edge sensors. These land and sea robotic instruments will figure prominently in new classroom experiences, outreach opportunities, and extra-curricular activities, enabling students to use real-world applications and gain meaningful experiential learning to prepare for a career in robotics. Growing New Organs: Tissue Engineering Technologies for Hands-on Learning and Research: $185,000 to establish a facility that provides practical and conceptual training in cutting-edge tissue engineering technologies. Pharmacy, engineering, and chemistry students will ethically create custom tissues or organs using 3D printing technology, and then use a state-of-theart human emulation system to get hands-on experience in the exploration of tissue and organ function and their responses to therapies. Original article taken from University of Rhode Island on January 12, 2021.
Photo courtesy of GRETCHEN MACHT
Efficient in-person voting observed by URI VOTES research team
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rofessor Gretchen Macht, director of the URI Voter OperaTions and Election Systems (URI VOTES) project, was awarded several grants totaling $700,000 to conduct research and recommend steps to help polling locations across multiple states execute successful in-person voting. Funders for this research include the Democracy Fund, the Stanford-MIT Project on Healthy Elections, and other anonymous donors. URI VOTES was established in 2017 at the University of Rhode Island’s College of Engineering as part of the RI VOTES project. The aim of URI VOTES is to use data and technological advances to shorten voter wait times and improve procedures. Working with faculty and students from Auburn University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Macht’s research group collected data in Rhode Island, Nebraska, and Los Angeles. Besides recording how long people stood in line to vote, the researchers also documented how much time it took voters to check in, how long it took them to vote, and the time of day they arrived, to determine the peak voting time at each location.
“Using simulation modeling software, we planned specific layouts for each location, taking into account social distancing, sanitization procedures, and other logistical changes meant to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” said Macht. The professor and her students also posted an opensource library of software tools on the URI VOTES website to assist election administrators in making data-driven decisions regarding layouts and allocation of resources. The tools, which can be utilized in future elections, include voting system timers, a data importing and processing tool, polling location diagrams, and visual simulations.
Well before the election, Macht worked closely with polling locations in Rhode Island and elsewhere in the country to ensure voting took place as efficiently as possible. Original article taken from University of Rhode Island on January 21, 2020.
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URI photo by NORA LEWIS
HarborOne Foundation, Rhode Island’s $50,000 gift to help Talent Development students
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RI’s Talent Development program was awarded $50,000 from the HarborOne Foundation Rhode Island to support their work in providing educational opportunities to students from underrepresented and educationally disadvantaged communities in Rhode Island.
are introduced to college life before their first semester through an intense summer program and are provided advisers and mentors throughout their college career. From a first class of 13 students in 1968, the program has grown to boast more than 3,700 graduates.
Talent Development, which marked its 50th anniversary in 2018, makes college possible for about 1,200 students annually. HarborOne Foundation’s financial commitment will allow more Talent Development scholars to enroll in summer and winter intersession courses and will support technology expenses for students. It will be augmented with a series of financial literacy classes for scholars through the bank’s educational services division, HarborOne U.
Phillip Kydd ’81, vice president of the HarborOne Foundation and deputy director of the R.I. Department of Transportation, said he hopes the $50,000 HarborOne Foundation investment will serve “as a catalyst that encourages others to embrace the important mission of the Talent Development program and to help sustain this important work.”
“This gift from HarborOne is a transformative gift for our scholars in the Talent Development program,” said Kathy Collins, URI’s vice president for Student Affairs. “At URI, we are focused on student success, which to us means timely graduation. This gift will assist us in helping students graduate on time while also providing them with skills such as financial literacy. We are excited for the future of our program and in seeing what our graduates will do in Rhode Island and around the world.” Established in 1968 in the aftermath of the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Talent Development was created as a special admissions program for Rhode Island students of color and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Talent Development provides a framework to help students succeed. First-year students 7
“As a board member of the HarborOne Foundation Rhode Island and proud alumnus of URI, we are excited to celebrate 50 years of investing in futures,” Kydd said. “The Talent Development program is a unique and extraordinarily important approach towards advancing the educational experience at the state’s flagship university. The program has influenced many non-traditional and firstgeneration college students in incredibly positive ways. I have witnessed firsthand the lasting impact this program can have on a student’s capacity to learn, lead, persist and succeed.”
Original article taken from University of Rhode Island on February 10, 2020.
Photo courtesy of SAMANTHA CLARK
URI partners in program to increase digital access for older adults
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he University of Rhode Island’s Engaging Generations Cyber Seniors program will provide smart devices and internet services to older adults in the community, and will work with community and senior centers to increase digital literacy in neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, thanks to a partnership among URI, the Rhode Island Office of Healthy Aging, and Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. The digiAGE Initiative aims to connect more older adults to digital tools, giving them greater access to information, connecting them to others and contributing to the fight against the pandemic. The program will enhance efforts to equip residents living in areas hard hit by the crisis with smart devices, internet services, and related training to help them access online resources, work remotely, and virtually communicate with family and friends. URI students and faculty members will provide tech support and training. There is no cost to participants. “Our team at URI is excited to expand the reach of this intergenerational program to include those hardest hit by the pandemic so that we can further enhance communication and problem-solving skills among our university students, many of whom will go on to work with older adults in their careers,” said Skye Leedahl, associate professor of human development & family science and leader of the Engaging Generations program. “For students, this service-learning opportunity promotes leadership skills, builds confidence and empowers them to work with the diverse older population.”
With substantial investments in the Rhode Island Geriatric Education Center, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and intergenerational programs like Cyber-Seniors, URI has made a concerted effort to expand access and opportunities to older adults in the community. Those efforts were validated when the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education named URI an Age Friendly University, one of only 14 universities in the country to earn the distinction.
“We are buying into a commitment to make the University a more hospitable place for older people,” said Phillip Clark, professor and director of the gerontology program at URI. “It’s a great opportunity for URI to show leadership in the state and the country. We’re thinking big about aging in new ways.”
Original article taken from University of Rhode Island on December 7, 2020.
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URI photo by NORA LEWIS
Roddy Foundation supports Ryan Institute for Neuroscience
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he University of Rhode Island received a $200,000 gift from the Fred M. Roddy Foundation to fund new equipment for the George & Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience. This is one of the largest private foundation grants to the Ryan Institute since it was established in 2013. The Roddy Foundation funding will be used to purchase imaging equipment and an incubator to support the research of Dr. Claudia Fallini. In year two it will purchase innovative behavioral equipment and a protein extraction instrument to support the research of Drs. Jaime Ross and Giuseppe Coppotelli. One instrument will shear DNA, RNA, and extract proteins, and other pieces of equipment will reliably monitor cognitive decline and dysfunction over time. “The Fred M. Roddy Foundation supports research that can improve or cure health issues, and their funding for the Ryan Institute reflects their optimism about the work taking place here,” said Katharine Hazard Flynn, executive director of corporate and foundation relations for the University of Rhode Island Foundation & Alumni Engagement. “We are grateful for their support of this important work.” Fallini, an assistant professor in the College of the Environment and Life Sciences, is investigating the molecular and cellular changes that lead to neurodegeneration. Ross, an assistant professor in 9
biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, and Coppotelli, an assistant professor of research in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, are addressing fundamental questions regarding the aging process and age-related diseases, especially brain aging disorders. There are nearly 10 million new cases of dementia each year, totaling 50 million people worldwide, and the World Health Organization projects this number to reach 152 million in 2050. The Ryan Institute is focusing on finding new treatments. Recent research at the Ryan Institute has uncovered a significant overlap in the pathobiology of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, frontotemporal dementia, and ALS. Fred M. Roddy Foundation President Elizabeth McIntyre noted: “The foundation board chose two projects from the URI Ryan Institute we believe are on the cutting edge of dementia research. We are hopeful this work will lead to new treatments for those suffering from age-related dementia in RI and across the world.”
Original article taken from University of Rhode Island Foundation & Alumni Engagementon September 2020.
About Us Philanthropic support from corporations and foundations takes many forms, including gifts for facility construction, scholarships, fellowships, and faculty, as well as research, public outreach, internships, sponsorships, technology transfer, diversity programming, and access to education for underserved audiences. As a major office within the URI Foundation & Alumni Engagement, the Corporate and Foundation Relations staff offer expertise and guidance to members of the University community in funding strategies, proposal writing and editing, and building relationships with corporations and foundations. We promote the development of interdisciplinary partnerships and help coordinate an effective, University-wide approach to corporate and foundation donors. URI photo by NORA LEWIS
Visit us at urifae.org/cf for more information.
Contact Us Katharine Hazard Flynn Executive Director 401.874.7084 khflynn@uri.edu Sharon Pavignano Associate Director 401.874.5124 spavignano@uri.edu Katie McGwin Assistant Director, Communications 401.874.9509 kmcgwin@uri.edu Jenn Brackett Grant Writer 401.874.5809 jbrackett@uri.edu Elise Oberley Administrative Assistant 401.874.5631 elise_oberley@uri.edu
79 Upper College Road Kingston, RI 02881-2023