Giving
Funding Priorities
The IHA welcomes support from our generous and passionate supporters to advance our mission. Below are areas of need for the IHA to advance innovative and transformative research and training, attract the best talent nationally, and elevate the IHA as the national leader in positioning agriculture as the solution to the world’s greatest health challenges.
Director’s Excellence Fund
An investment to the Director’s Excellence Fund will provide crucial resources to assist with the ongoing operating and new programmatic efforts of the IHA that will help elevate IHA on a state, national and international platform. This includes:
- Convening statewide and national workshops and symposia in partnership with influential organizations such as the Chicago Council of Global Affairs and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, which advance a national research and policy agenda positioning agriculture as the solution to our society’s health challenges with Texas A&M AgriLife as the leader.
- Informing elected officials at the state and national level of how agriculture can solve human, environmental and economic health challenges and the need for investment in these areas.
- Positioning Texas A&M AgriLife agriculture and life sciences researchers as national leaders and spokespeople.
- Seeding new initiatives that bridge the urban-rural divide by making agriculture relevant and valued by all Texans.
Major endowment gifts to the Director’s Excellence Fund will have naming opportunities that strengthen the prestige of the IHA and serve as a legacy for the donor. Naming opportunities include:
- The Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture
- Precision Nutrition Focus Area
- Responsive Agriculture Focus Area
- Healthy Living Focus Area
- The Individualized Dietary Exposure Assessment, IDEA, Center
- Healthy Living Mobile Units
Endowed Graduate Fellowships ($250k+)
These fellowships are awarded to students who collaborate with researchers within IHA, providing each student with career-changing opportunities that can only come from working alongside the best scholars in their fields. Endowments for fellowships will increase the number of students who team with these outstanding scholars. Additionally, the donor will be associated with top doctoral graduates who will likely make significant contributions to mankind.
Endowed Undergraduate Internship Fund ($25k+)
Students learn best by having high-impact, hands-on experiences. Summer- and semester-based internship experiences within the IHA will provide transformative learning opportunities and enable undergraduate students to work alongside world- renowned researchers, in the community and with producers. This will help excite and motivate the next generation of agriculture and food researchers. Endowments can be specified for first-generation and underrepresented students. Endowed support for these programs begins at $25,000.
Visiting Scholar Program ($200k+)
Bringing the very best visiting scholars to the IHA will elevate the profile of Texas A&M AgriLife and agriculture as the solution to our world’s health challenges, create global ambassadors for the IHA, help nucleate new ideas and collaborations within the IHA, and serve as a recruitment tool to attract the very best scientists to the IHA.
Programmatic Funding Needs (Individual Gifts of $25k+)
Crop Improvement: Focused support is needed to develop novel technologies and differentiated food and feed from crops. These efforts would enhance nutritional value and increase yield potential as well as resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses for Texas’ producers and consumers.
Community-based dissemination: Diet-related chronic diseases are not evenly distributed throughout the population. Some communities have significantly higher rates of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Focused attention is needed to encourage the adoption of precision nutrition recommendations in low-income populations and communities of color.
Recruiting the Best Faculty
Among the greatest needs for the IHA is funding to recruit and retain world-class faculty members who conduct research that positions agriculture as the solution to human, environmental and economic health challenges for the benefit of producers and consumers. Your investment will enable agriculture and life sciences leadership to recruit and retain world-class faculty.
- Endowed Institute Director ($5M)
- Endowed Associate Director for Precision Nutrition ($2M)
- Endowed Associate Director for Responsive Agriculture ($2M)
- Endowed Associate Director for Healthy Living ($2M)
Promise of Health Through Agriculture Symposium ($1.5M)
Your support will bring to life the world’s first symposium specifically focused on bringing together precision nutrition, responsive agriculture and social and behavioral research. Through this symposium, top academics and researchers will come together to discuss and highlight the challenges and opportunities for agriculture to solve the environmental, health and economic issues connected to our food systems. A symposium of this stature is $1.5 million and can only be made possible by the generosity of philanthropists.
Other Giving Opportunities
If you wish to give in other ways not listed, please consider the form below. Once submitted, someone will reach out to you.
Contact IHA to discuss your potential impact
IHA Donor Contact
Potential donor contact info submission form
Kyle Brock ’96, Director of Development
Texas A&M Foundation
Office: 979.845.9582
Mobile: 979.777.8434
