Fundraising & Campaigns
Cary and Will Singleton give UC Irvine $23 million for dementia research, through a donor-advised fund
The gift, made through a fund at the Orange County Community Foundation, pays for part of a new building for UCI MIND and $10 million in brain scanners.
By The Editors · The Game of Giving
Cary and Will Singleton have given $23 million to the University of California, Irvine, for its dementia research institute, UCI MIND, the university announced on October 26. The gift was made through the couple's donor-advised fund at the Orange County Community Foundation.
UCI MIND, the Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, studies Alzheimer's disease and related conditions. Its Alzheimer's Disease Research Center is one of 35 funded by the National Institute on Aging and the only one in Orange County, according to the university and the institute's own site.
What does the gift pay for?
It splits between a building and equipment. The shares below are our own arithmetic from the university's figures.
| Use | Amount | Share of gift |
|---|---|---|
| Construction of Ann Hutchinson Quilter Hall, the future home of UCI MIND | $13 million | About 57% |
| Advanced MRI and PET scanners | $10 million | About 43% |
| Total | $23 million | 100% |
The building is scheduled for completion in 2029. The university says the scanners will let researchers study the living brain, track disease changes over time and test whether treatments work, and that the added space and imaging will support larger clinical trials. It did not give the building's size or total cost.
How does it fit the institute's fundraising?
The gift builds on nearly $80 million in philanthropic support that UC Irvine announced in 2025, led by more than $50 million from the Quilter family. By our arithmetic, that brings the announced total past $100 million. The university says more money is still needed for construction, research technology, clinical trials and faculty.
"This gift will allow us to ask more ambitious questions and answer them with greater precision," said Joshua Grill, director of UCI MIND, in the announcement. Will Singleton said he would "like to see significant progress made in the understanding of the causes of the various forms of dementia."
What the donor-advised fund route means
A donor-advised fund, or DAF, is an account at a sponsoring charity, here a community foundation, from which donors recommend grants. Shelley Hoss, the foundation's CEO, said it is "a privilege to help donors translate their philanthropic passion into lasting impact." In our view, the gift is a reminder that large naming-level gifts increasingly arrive through intermediaries, so development teams should know which local sponsors hold their donors' funds. Our guide to donor-advised funds, explained for charities covers how DAF grants are acknowledged. Research gifts of this size have come in several forms this year, including the Baszucki Group's $20 million to McLean Hospital.
General information for donors and nonprofit leaders, not legal or tax advice. How we report is set out in our editorial guide.
