University of California, Davis
IN-40: Sustainability Projects Fund

The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF), a campus program hosted by the Office of Sustainability and supported by student fees, offers students the opportunity to develop and launch innovative sustainability projects on campus, and to have a greater impact on sustainability within the UC Davis campus and the immediate region. The Fund awards between $100,000 and $200,000 each academic year to projects that positively impact students through increasing educational opportunities, promoting environmental awareness, engaging in sustainability research, advocating for climate and environmental justice, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing energy and water efficiency, limiting the amount of waste created on campus, and encouraging healthier, more planet-friendly lifestyles.

TGIF funds are available to UC Davis students, faculty, and staff. Undergraduate students are encouraged to submit proposals. Staff, faculty, and graduate students may also submit proposals. To be considered, proposals must articulate the undergraduate student role in the project proposed for funding. Priority is currently given to projects that involve undergraduates and that are located on the central UC Davis campus. Projects awarded in 2017-18 involved students from 19 different majors.

Grant proposals are currently accepted three times a year. The proposals are evaluated by an annually appointed Grants Committee that includes students, faculty, and staff (students hold a majority).

The TGIF Committee reads and evaluates submitted grant proposals three times a year and decides on awards; provides guidance and project management oversight to funded projects; conducts campus outreach to spread word of TGIF funds; works with the TGIF Grant Manager to administer the TGIF funds; and works in subcommittees and conducts weekly full committee meetings during the academic year to accomplish the work of the Committee.

The TGIF Committee welcomes applications from students in all majors and seeks to build a collegial team that represents the diversity of the UC Davis campus while making wise use of student funds to support projects across the full spectrum of campus sustainability. Students are appointed to the Committee by an application process developed by the 2017-18 TGIF Committee and staff in the Office of Sustainability. The majority of the Committee’s voting seats are held by undergraduate students, with up to two graduate students. The Committee’s appointed members include a staff member (voting seat), a faculty member (voting seat), an ASUCD Environmental Policy and Planning Commission representative (ex-officio), a student representative from the Committee on Student Activities and Fees (ex-officio), the Director of the Office of Sustainability (ex-officio), and the Student Engagement Program Manager (staff to the Committee).