Support DRI Archives

Desert shrubs and wildflowers are visible on the side of a mountain on a cloudy day.

Five Simple Ways to Support DRI This Giving Season

By DRI Communications | Dec 4, 2025 | Donor Stories

A year-end donation, no matter the amount, provides immediate support for our scientists’ work and DRI’s strategic priorities. Here are five simple ways that you can help support DRI this giving season: Donate to mission support, gift curiosity lab season tickets to a loved one (or yourself!), donate appreciated stocks, make a qualified charitable distribution, and leave your legacy through a planned gift. Your support makes our important work possible. Thank you!

Sunset over the mountains with a yucca plant in the foreground.

Support Science That Matters Now

By DRI Communications | Nov 13, 2025 | Donor Stories

Recently, in celebration of Nevada Day, DRI highlighted the work that our scientists do across this great state. And while our home has been in Nevada since our founding in 1959, our work has grown to touch nearly every corner of the globe. Whether it’s analyzing ice cores in the Alps, working with local communities to ensure access to clean water in Ghana, or supporting K-12 educators as they bring high-quality, hands-on STEM education to Nevada's classrooms, the projects our scientists undertake are tied together by a common goal – to help create a more sustainable and resilient environment for all people to live, grow, and prosper.

People standing in front of a water tower.

Leonard and Sara Lafrance: Champions of Clean Water in Ghana

By DRI Communications | Sep 8, 2025 | Donor Stories

Leonard and Sara Lafrance have pledged their support for the continuing work of DRI’s Center for International Water and Sustainability (CIWAS). Their two-year gift will support Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services in the North and North East Gonja District of the Savannah Region of Ghana. Specifically, this gift will fund project components that include WASH entrepreneurial empowerment for women, increased WASH services for health care facilities, well drilling for water access, water quality management, and overall project management.

Eco Electrical Joins DRI’s Corporate Partners Program

By DRI Communications | Aug 13, 2025 | Donor Stories

The DRI Foundation is excited to announce that Eco Electrical Systems has joined the 2025 DRI Corporate Partners Program. Eco Electrical Systems has been designing and manufacturing bird guards for power lines for over 23 years. Their industry leading flame-retardant, track resistant and UV resistant products reduce avian and wildlife electrocutions, wildfires stemming from avian electrocution, and momentary and permanent power outages for some of the largest electric utilities. The Corporate Partners Program brings together a select group of organizations to collaborate with DRI leadership, scientists, engineers, and students.

An open Green Box displaying STEM materials for the Chemistry of Fire Emissions Lesson.

MGM Resorts International Support for DRI STEM Education Program’s Green Boxes

By DRI Communications | Jun 12, 2025 | Donor Stories

MGM Resorts International has generously donated funds to support the purchase of over 100 Pelican hard-sided cases for the DRI STEM Education Green Box Program. These cases will replace the hard-shell suitcases previously used to house these self-contained teaching kits.

Leave Your Legacy in Science, Through a Gift to DRI

By DRI Communications | May 13, 2025 | Donor Stories

Including DRI in your estate through a planned gift is a remarkable testament to your belief in the powerful impact of science to develop solutions to address how humans are impacting their environments and how the environment impacts humans. A planned gift could be a bequest in your will or living trust, a charitable remainder trust, or naming DRI as a beneficiary of a retirement plan fund, life insurance policy, or other.

Teresa Wriston outside in front of trees holding a piece of equipment and wearing a DRI hat.

New Fund Established to Support the Geoarchaeology Lab at DRI

By DRI Communications | Apr 16, 2025 | Donor Stories

Stanley Shumaker, a retired civil engineer and an amateur archaeologist, initiated the Geoarchaeology Lab Fund with a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) at the end of 2024. The fund will support Dr. Teresa Wriston’s Geoarchaeology Lab, and her research centering on how past cultures coped or adapted to changing environmental conditions.

DRI Launches New Corporate Partners Program

By DRI Communications | Mar 19, 2025 | Donor Stories

DRI is thrilled to announce that Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix is our first official Corporate Partner. “Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix is excited to join DRI’s Corporate Partners program. This partnership aligns well with our sustainability goals and we look forward to working with DRI in the year ahead.” – Lori Nelson-Kraft, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.

A researcher pours liquid from one beaker into another in a lab.

DRI Raises Funds to Ensure Groundbreaking Science can Continue in Perpetuity

By DRI Communications | Jan 14, 2025 | Donor Stories

Thank you to the generous donors who supported the Innovation Research Program Endowment through DRI’s 2024 year-end giving campaign. These gifts brought us significantly closer to raising the $5M needed to fully fund the IRP Endowment and ensure support for innovative research is available to DRI scientists for generations to come.

Researcher in the lab wearing gloves and using equipment.

This Giving Season, Please Consider Supporting the IRP Endowment

By Paula Loop | Dec 12, 2024 | Donor Stories

This giving season, please join us in supporting bright minds and their best ideas by donating to the IRP Endowment, which was established earlier this year to ensure that innovative science continues for generations to come. Your gift will bring us one step closer to our goal of raising $5 million to fully fund this endowment. To date, this program has supported more than 20 research teams and several successful research programs have grown out of IRP-supported preliminary research.