A new transitional shelter for students experiencing homelessness, a class engaging students in COVID-19 testing, more student research opportunities at the UC Davis Coffee Center and improving disaster rescue for wildlife are among more than 25 projects featured in next month’s Crowdfund UC Davis campaign.

Crowdfund UC Davis debuted one year ago as a twice-a-year platform — February and October — to strengthen university programs and their positive community impacts. Student, faculty and staff teams apply to be part of the platform and are responsible for marketing and networking their projects for fundraising success.

Honey Bee Haven, the Engineers without Borders student club, the Aggie Dream Fund for undocumented students and Cal Aggie Camp’s 60th anniversary are among other projects seeking support in the new campaign, Feb. 1-28.

With COVID-19 impacts ongoing, a number of projects focus on basic student needs. One of them, a new transitional shelter called Aggie House, seeks to serve the growing number of students at UC Davis, who — like many other students nationwide — are experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity. Scheduled to open in fall 2021, the student-run facility will offer shelter and relocation assistance for up to a dozen students at a time for a maximum of 10 weeks (one academic quarter), meaning it can serve at least 48 students per year. Aggie House will occupy a two-level townhouse at CA House, a multifaith living community run by the Cal Aggie Christian Association.

Another project, COVID Experiential Learning, run by the College of Biological Sciences, approaches the pandemic as a learning and service opportunity. An example is an ongoing two-credit class in which undergraduates assist staff performing COVID-19 testing at the Activities and Recreation Center. There they learn about the science of saliva-based testing as well as other aspects of coronavirus spread, treatment and prevention while performing duties that improve testing kiosk efficiency.

Meanwhile, the Coffee Center — home of “The Design of Coffee,” one of the most popular general education classes on campus — seeks to expand research efforts as well as provide scholarships to students interested in attaining hands-on research experience.

Crowdfund UC Davis is a fundraising effort of the Annual and Special Gifts Program within Development and Alumni Relations. It is the first university-managed crowdfunding platform at UC Davis.

1st-year total: $121,000

Michelle Poesy, senior director, Annual and Special Gifts Program, said she is heartened by the program’s rapid growth. The program debuted with 12 projects a year ago, grew to 14 in October and is nearly double that number this time around.

“It’s been amazing to see students and faculty from all parts of the university embrace Crowdfund UC Davis,” Poesy said. “We’ve been able to raise truly significant funding for wonderful projects that otherwise may not have come to fruition or grown so successfully.”

The two Crowdfund UC Davis campaigns run thus far raised a total of some $121,000 from nearly 1,200 donations for 26 projects.

The Annual and Special Gifts Program, in cooperation with Advancement Services, reviews applications and provides the platform, guidance and some publicity.

The application period for the October 2021 session will open in early March.

Follow Dateline UC Davis on Twitter.