Giving

As a state university, our funding has been reduced immensely over the past twenty years. Therefore, we are reliant on private dollars to sustain our educational initiatives, preserve our collections, and advance our students through affordable opportunities.

This is why it so important that we partner with our industry, with our alumni, and with our friends.

We have three priorities:

1. To place our students at the forefront of all of our endeavors

Our students are our future. By providing them unique and engaging opportunities they will grow as leaders and global citizens who will learn to foster relationships with their peers, their industry, their faculty, and their university. Our aim is to equip them for this future by providing them the abilities to demonstrate innovation, work collaboratively, and generate solutions through constructive and critical multidisciplinary thinking that will make an immediate impact in their places of employment.

2. To remain true to our strengths

Our historic strengths reside in our legacy as a school for printing and packaging technology application. And, we are dedicated and committed to this industry. As our broad and ever-changing industrial landscapes widens, we also find ourselves evolving into the immense and germane world of design—most specifically—in the development of websites and mobile apps and applicability of user-interface and user-experience design. Because of our close proximity to Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach, our students who possess these talents are highly coveted and employable. So, our strengths are in the graphic communication industry and we continue to cultivate knowledge and generate students that can take all of their talents to their employers on their first day on the job.

3. To foster innovation and champion research

Research is an integral component of any educational institution. As an undergraduate program in a Learn-by-doing culture, GrC requires research opportunities that contribute to a student’s understanding of fundamental scientific, technological, aesthetical, and applicable issues and concepts that benefit the nation’s economy and enriched quality of life.

Partner with us through Giving

Through gifts
- Cash, stocks, property - You can give to Graphic Communication HERE
Through endowments
- Endowments use interest earned from donated principal to fund directorships, professorships, scholarships, laboratories, and academic programs
Through sponsored research
- Research provide students and faculty with opportunities to delve into new and innovative areas that generate insight application to further the graphic communication industry
Through equipment, software, consumables, and maintenance donations
- The GrC department is reliant on industry donations in the areas of equipment technology, innovative and industry-relevant software applications, and all applicable consumables. Please see Gift-in-Kind Acceptance Procedures and Donor Declaration of Value below.
Through donations to the Raymond J. Prince Graphic Arts Collection
- The Raymond J Prince Future Leaders Scholarship/Endowment. The funds will be used to establish annual scholarships in Ray Prince’s name - with focus on 1^st generation students - and to further growth in the Graphic Communication Department. It will support students, teaching resources, and faculty development. It also will ensure ongoing student preparation to enter a dynamic industry serving the graphic communication needs of society today and in the future. If you would like more information, please contact the Graphic Communication Department Chair Colleen Twomey at ctwomey@calpoly.edu.
- The direct link to donate to the Raymond J Prince Future Leaders scholarship/endowment is HERE:
Through recruitment
- Our student talent is stellar. Almost all of current and prospective employers report that Cal Poly GrC students are excellent on day-one. Therefore, one way to contribute to GrC and Cal Poly is to hire our students. Please go to our Industry page for more information on ways to enhance your recruitment efforts.

One primary factor in the success of the Graphic Communication department at Cal Poly is the ability to engage students in real-time, hands-on, Learn-by –doing experiences on new and relevant equipment technology and software applications that remain advanced and consistent with the ever-changing needs of the graphic communication industry. With loyal alumni, industry professionals, and friends like you, our department has the opportunity to continue to make positive change in the world.

And, we thank you for that.

The doors are always open, and the welcome mat is permanently placed at the front door. We look forward to your new and/or continued patronage for many years to come.