Honor Roll of Donors Recognizes Your Generosity

Each year GIA honors the growing number of philanthropists who have given to the Institute by printing its Honor Roll of Donors. You’ll see a complete list, through Dec. 31, 2003, of friends and fellow members of the gem and jewelry industry who are being recognized for their generosity starting on this page.

I consider each of them visionaries, really, because they understand the benefit of donating monetarily to GIA’s Endowment Campaign or giving museum-quality gems and jewelry to the Institute’s In-Kind Gifts program. Ultimately, each serves an important role that is the lifeblood of our industry: research and education.

Monetary gifts to the GIA Endowment, for example, help secure funds so that much-needed research on treatments and synthetics will continue, and In-Kind gifts and the exhibits GIA builds around them, provide wonderful educational opportunities.

Let me give you just one example regarding the need for research funds. I wrote about the high pressure/high temperature (HPHT) treatment of diamond and described it as a sobering reality of our industry last spring in this column. Today we’re faced with chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthetic diamonds. The gem and jewelry industry is moving at a much faster pace than it did 20 years ago. You can see why funding is crucial for GIA researchers to continue to keep up with these changes.

I applaud the leadership and generosity of those who are included in the Million Dollar Roundtable. Your contributions help GIA take giant steps forward in its mission to serve the public trust through the dissemination of gemological education and research. I commend the others on this very prestigious list because I’m confident each of you has given with the intent to see this mission through.

I look forward to seeing the names that will be added to the list this year as we approach the home stretch toward our $75 million goal for the Endowment Campaign. I’m excited to see who among us will reach a new donor level with an additional gift. I’d ask you to consider it today – not just for the recognition, but for the benefit of the industry.
 
Matt Stuller
Chairman, GIA Endowment Campaign