Giving
Donations to LAS
Gifts in Action: Lauren M. Pintor, B.S. '97 Sciences and Letters, Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution
Believing in Good Stewardship
Lauren Pintor believes in the importance of good stewardship-of caring for what we have and leaving things better than we found them. It is certainly true in the work she pursues as a Ph.D. student in ecology, and it's equally obvious in her financial stewardship to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Lauren was an undergraduate studying ecology when she first became involved with the college's Annual Fund. As a student caller soliciting donations, she enjoyed talking with alumni and answering their questions about the campus and current student life. Later, as a supervisor of student callers, she came to appreciate even more the willingness of alumni to make donations to assist current students and programs.
"Sometimes, when I would call, people would apologize for making what they considered a small contribution," says Pintor. "But I talked with them about how important each gift is and how every little bit helps."
So when she moved to the University of California at Davis in 2001 to work on her Ph.D. and found herself on the receiving end of an annual fund drive call, she remembered her own advice.
"I made a small contribution, but I believed it was important," Pintor says of her donation. " I wanted to support the fundraising program that I had been a part of, but even more than that I wanted to give back in some way. So I made a gift to the Odum-Kendeigh Fund, which supports graduate students' research projects in ecology, as a way to show my appreciation to the ecology faculty."
It's one of the ways Pintor is leaving things better than she found them.