Dive Brief:
- Last Wednesday, the University of California system launched the Promise for Education initiative, a six-week crowdfunding campaign aimed at funding need-based scholarships.
- The initiative requires participants to make a personal promise that must be kept if they reach their fundraising goal, and promises suggested by the university include wearing a cow suit for a week, coaching a little league team or adopting a kitten.
- Even Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown is lending a hand, promising to host a brown-bag lunch in Sacramento with a student from each University of California campus, and campaigns in the effort have raised close to $850,000 so far.
Dive Insight:
It's no secret that schools are getting creative to make up for lost funding, but the UC system took that a bit literally in dealing with the $900 million in funding cuts made over the last five years. Still, it's hard not to applaud an effort that gets students actively involved in the process—especially when it results in some going so far as to promise to sit in a dunk tank for an entire day.