Their support for science is unrestricted

“I just liked their quest,” says Violet (“Vi”) Cianciotto when asked how she and her husband, Andrew (“Andy”), first came to support Scripps Research. “I liked what they were pursuing and how they were going about it.” The long-married couple made an initial, unrestricted donation of $1,000 in the early 1990s and they’ve been supporting the institute regularly ever since.

Unrestricted donations are particularly valuable because they provide nonprofits such as Scripps Research the flexibility to quickly take advantage of research opportunities or to pursue high-risk, high-reward avenues of investigation.   

Both Vi and Andy have an interest in STEM fields. She earned a degree in biological sciences at CalPoly, San Luis Obispo. He was the first in his family to attend college and, with his degree in engineering, rose to vice president at Northrup Grumman, a global aerospace and defense technology company. They reside in Coronado, an upscale community across the bay from downtown San Diego.

“We’ve done well,” Andy says, “so we try to give back. The current tax laws make it appropriate to do so and even enable us to give more.”

Living a short drive from the Scripps Research La Jolla campus allows the couple to occasionally meet with the scientists face to face, something they both enjoy. “I think they’re doing a tremendous amount of good,” says Vi.

“Although we don’t specify that our donations go to any one area,” explains Andy, “I’m personally interested in brain research. I think it’s important that we learn how to keep the brain healthy as we age. In our lifetimes, we probably won’t see the results of the research we’re supporting. But I predict there will be major breakthroughs in the next 10 to 20 years. And Scripps Research will play a big role in that.”