Poly Gives 2025 Challenge Gifts — College of Architecture and Environmental Design
The College of Architecture and Environmental Design made history last year, raising an impressive $144,471, and beating the record for the highest amount raised during Poly Gives (previously held by the College of Engineering).
In 2025, the college is back to compete on the Poly Gives leaderboards, with inspiring matching challenges to motivate supporters to give back and see their gifts matched dollar-for-dollar! Read on for more information about each challenge:
Dean's Challenge
Help the CAED break its previous record and raise $150,000 for student success! When the record breaks, Interim Dean Kevin Dong will give an extra $7,500 to the college’s departments— $1,500 per department!
College of Architecture and Environmental Design Fund For excellence — $25,000 Match
Tom Case (Construction Management, ‘86) is providing a $25,000 match gift to the College of Architecture and Environmental Design Fund for Excellence during this year’s Poly Gives.
Case said he chose the college's general excellence fund for his match challenge because it provides the dean the flexibility to choose where to allocate funds raised in order to support student success across all departments.
“As members of the Dean's Leadership Council, we want to model the behavior we expect from our industry peers," he explained. “We want to participate with the college, engage with the students, and provide feedback to the faculty. And that's with our time, but it's also with our dollars. We've benefited from the education we received there. So, it's a way to give back and it's also a way to invest in the future for these students and the faculty.”
Architecture Department — $20,000 Match
For the second year in a row, alumnus David Gilmore (Architecture, '76) is matching gifts to the Architecture Department Fund for Excellence, up to $20,000!
Gilmore said he hopes his gift will once again inspire alumni, parents and supporters to step up and get more involved with their alma mater.
“I hope I can inspire people to step one: become more engaged with the school and remember all that Cal Poly gave you,” he said. “And then step two: find a way over time to start small then migrate up, and as you get more successful within the profession, to give more. It's not about yourself. It's about giving to the future.”
“Every dollar counts. It doesn't matter how big or how small, it counts,” he added.
Architectural Engineering — $10,000 Match
Alumni Donna (Architectural Engineering, '87) and Kurt (Architectural Engineering, '87) Clandening are matching gifts to the Professorship in Architectural Engineering Excellence Endowment, up to $10,000.
Cal Poly's Architectural Engineering program is one of only few in the nation that offers a dual-track path where an experienced practitioner can become a tenured member of the faculty. Practitioner faculty are a key reason why ARCE graduates are ready for industry upon graduation.
This endowment supports the hiring, professional development and innovative activities of a named practitioner faculty member and ensures that the ARCE program will have practitioner faculty in perpetuity.
City and Regional Planning — $10,000 Match
Alumni Lisa Wise (City and Regional Planning, '01) and Wallace Gordon (Architecture, '79, BAR Architecture, '80) have teamed up to match gifts to the City and Regional Planning Department, up to $10,000!
Wise, a local business owner and faculty member at Cal Poly, said the department’s pipeline of talent is essential to her own firm’s success and the industry as a whole.
“Our first employees were Mustangs, and today, half of our team is Mustangs, including senior leaders, aspiring project managers, and interns,” she said.
“We are more than happy to support and give back to the University anywhere we can," she added. "Cal Poly represents a center point of learning, collaboration, and opportunities for forward-thinking ideas, and for young people to learn skills (inside and outside of the classroom) they need to make more prosperous, diverse and resilient communities. It’s clearly the best investment we can make.”
Landscape Architecture — $15,000 Match
Wallace Gordon (Architecture, '79, BAR Architecture, '80) is back to participate in Poly Gives challenge gifts, with a $15,000 matching gift to the Landscape Architecture Department.
Gordon is a stalwart supporter of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design and Poly Gives. In 2023, he made the college's first Poly Gives matching gift challenge gift, a $25,000 match to the college's fund for excellence, inspiring others to follow in his footsteps and directly contributing to the college's fundraising success during Poly Gives.
This year, he hopes to inspire Landscape Architecture alumni and parents to give back and support student success!
Interdisciplinary Studios Fund — $25,000 match
For the second Poly Gives in a row, Scott Gaudineer (BA Architecture, ‘79, BAR Architecture, ‘80) is matching gifts up to $25,000 to the College of Architecture and Environmental Design’s Interdisciplinary Studios and Labs & Student Support Fund, a new initiative focused on providing funding for interdisciplinary projects and activities that encourage students from all five departments within the CAED to work together to design, collaborate and innovate.
“Poly Gives has started to become a friendly competition amongst the colleges which is exactly why I wanted to up the ante, so to speak,” Gaudineer said. “I am a strong believer that you have to make the opportunity to give worthwhile and, if possible, fun. Having multiple matching gifts on our part shows that the idea is catching on. In the end, everyone wins.”
