UC Davis received 29 Awards of Excellence — including six golds — in this year’s District VII Council for Advancement and Support of Education, or CASE, judging of development, marketing and communication efforts.

Jane Eadie, a senior director in the UC Davis Office of Development and the District VII awards chair, said in a memo to the UC Davis award winners: “One of our objectives is to share best practices among our colleagues, and your efforts will be recognized as an example for others to emulate.”

More than a third of the projects UC Davis entered into the competition won an award, and the university earned more honors than any other institution in the district, which comprises Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah, as well as Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The gold award winners are eligible for grand gold awards to be announced during CASE District VII’s annual conference in March.

Last year, UC Davis won 13 Awards of Excellence from CASE District VII, including three gold awards.

Here are this year’s winners:

Gold

Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art Legacy Dinner

• By Ceremonies and Special Events in collaboration with the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, and the Office of Development and Alumni Relations

• In the category Special Events: Individual Special Events

Prior to the opening of the Manetti Shrem Museum, UC Davis hosted a Legacy Dinner as a night of celebration with the museum’s premier donors. The event included a sneak peek of the museum and inaugural exhibitions as well as a series of performances, projections and music in celebration of UC Davis’ legacy. In addition to a dinner that featured produce from the Student Farm, guests saw a private presentation of Professor Emeritus Wayne Theibaud’s Delights, a series of 17 prints in bound form.

Centralized Gift Processing at UC Davis — Our Journey to GREATness

• By the Office of Development and Alumni Relations

• In the category Advancement Services: Best Practices

Last year Advancement Services created its own centralized gift processing system, making it quicker and easier to track, receipt and distribute philanthropic gifts to UC Davis while also creating a more positive donor experience. The system is called the Gift Reporting, Entry and Tracking web application and electronic cashier system — or GREAT — and, among other improvements, it has reduced gift processing time by more than 80 percent: from 45 days to seven. This gold award winner advances automatically to the national CASE Circle of Excellence competition.

UC Davis 2016-17 Viewbook

• By Students Affairs Marketing and Communications, and the Office of Strategic Communications

• In the category Marketing: Student Recruitment Publications (print)

While many universities try to make recruiting materials as big as possible, the new UC Davis viewbook stood out by going small. The 8-inch by 6¼-inch book reflects the university’s commitment to sustainability, and is filled with prominent photography, student profiles and information tailored for various audiences.

Graduate Student Fellowship Matching Initiative

• By the Office of Development and Alumni Relations

• In the category Fundraising: Targeted Campaigns

In an effort to encourage donors to establish more endowed funds for graduate fellowships, UC Davis launched the Graduate Student Fellowship Matching Initiative — a program that has since made a positive impact on UC Davis graduate students for generations to come. In addition to winning a gold award in the Targeted Campaigns category, this initiative also won silver in Best Practices in Fundraising Campaigns and bronze in Best Practices in Fundraising.

Grand Canyon Website (two golds)

• By the Office of Strategic Communications

• Gold No. 1 in the category Digital Communications: Individual Sub-Websites

• Gold No. 2 In the category Innovative Use of Technology

A writer and photographer-videographer from the Office of Strategic Communications rafted down the Colorado River with a watershed sciences class, and then tackled the challenge of how to tell the story of their trip. The answer: They teamed up with in-house web designers to create an immersive, mobile-friendly website full of interactive elements like 360-degree videos and audio clips, as well as text.

Silver

• Authentic Aggies at Picnic Day, Development and Alumni Relations, category Alumni Relations: Best Use of Social Media/Technology
• UC Davis Chile Partnership Project, Development and Alumni Relations, category Alumni Relations: Programming for Special Constituencies   
• Alumni Volunteer Programs, Development and Alumni Relations, category Alumni Relations: Best Practices
• Membership Power (BI) Up: Cal Aggie Alumni Association Membership Reporting (with Business Intelligence, or BI), Development and Alumni Relations, category Alumni Relations: Best Practices in Advancement Services
• Graduate Student Fellowship Matching Initiative, Development and Alumni Relations, category Best Practices in Fundraising Campaigns
• Connecting to Diverse Audiences, five news releases, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, category News Writing
  1. “Students Breeding a Better Organic Popper Pepper”
  2. “Forgotten Crops May Hold Key to Nutritional Security”
  3. “Better Berries”
  4. “Fighting Fire In a Warmer World”
  5. “Working Together to Help Agriculture Manage Nitrogen”
• ​UC Davis Sexual Violence Awareness and Education Campaign, Student Affairs, Student Affairs Marketing and Communications, Strategic Communications, Compliance, Center for Advocacy, Resources and Education, and Student Health and Counseling Services; category Strategic Communications: Public Relations, Media Relations and Community Relations Projects — See earlier coverage of a separate award for this project.
• Leadership Giving Society’s Second Annual Gratitude Gala Opportunity Knocks: A Celebration of the Doors Philanthropy Opens, Development and Alumni Relations, category Special Events: Individual Special Events

Bronze

• African and African American Alumni Association Scholarship Fundraiser, Development and Alumni Relations, category Alumni Relations: Best Use of Social Media/Technology
• Authentic Aggies at Picnic Day, Development and Alumni Relations, category Alumni Relations: Marketing and Branding
• Cal Aggie Camp, Development and Alumni Relations, category Alumni Relations: Programming for Special Constituencies
• Restructuring the UC Davis Foundation Board for Optimal Volunteer Engagement, UC Davis Foundation, category Alumni Relations: Volunteer Engagement and Leadership
• UC Davis Video Stewardship Program, Development and Alumni Relations, category Advancement Services: Donor Relations/Stewardship
• (A)Head in the Cloud and Feet on the Ground: DO (Development Officer) Metrics Reporting at UC Davis, Development and Alumni Relations, category Advancement Services: Best Practices
• UC Davis Home Site, Strategic Communications, category Marketing: Best Practices in Communications and Marketing
• Graduate Student Fellowship Matching Initiative, Development and Alumni Relations, category Fundraising: Best Practices
• “_____ by philanthropy,” Development and Alumni Relations, category Marketing: Branding Programs — Read Dateline UC Davis article.
• Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing Magazine: Power in Partnership, School of Nursing, category Magazines: Digital Magazines
• A Decade of Innovation, 10th anniversary publication celebrating the UC Davis Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Graduate School of Management, category Publications: Institutional Relations Publications (general)
• Henlight (third photo from the top), Strategic Communications, category Design and Photography: Individual Photography
• Students at Nankoweap, Strategic Communications, category Design and Photography: Individual Photography
• AggieXtra Fall 2016, Development and Alumni Relations, category Periodical Staff Writing
• UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences 28th Annual College Celebration, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, category Special Events: Individual Special Events

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