Annual Giving Donor Recognition Societies

The Institute values every gift received, as well as continuity of giving. Caltech annual giving societies acknowledge the significance of our donors and their contributions of unrestricted funds in an annual Honor Roll. In Annual Giving, we recognize those who make gifts up to $2,999 in unrestricted funds in a calendar year. For alumni and friends who would like to support the Institution at a higher threshold, please consider membership in The Associates, Caltech's premiere support organization.

Throop Society $1,250 - 2,999

Caltech also recognizes those dedicated alumni who give every year to the Alumni Fund. Those who have given consecutively for five or more years are included in the Institute's 1891 Society and acknowledged in the Caltech Honor Roll.

Caltech's donor recognition societies are named for the Institute's founders and leaders. In November 1891, Pasadena philanthropist Amos Throop established Throop University, the forerunner of Caltech, with 31 students and a six-member faculty. Throop might have remained just a good local school had it not been for the arrival in Pasadena of astronomer George Ellery Hale.

The first director of the Mount Wilson Observatory, Hale became a member of Throop's board of trustees in 1907, and envisioned molding it into a first-class institution for engineering and scientific research and education. Under Hale's leadership, Throop's transformation began.

By 1921, Hale had been joined by chemist Arthur A. Noyes and physicist Robert A. Millikan. These three men set the school, which by then had been renamed the California Institute of Technology, firmly on its new course.

If you would prefer not to be included in the Honor Roll, please send your request to the Caltech Alumni Fund
Mail Code 5-32
Pasadena, CA 91125