History
Years before the establishment as an autonomous campus in 1972, UP Los Baños was already known locally and abroad as a rich sources of ideas, innovations, techniques and manpower in support agriculture and rural development. Thus, it was not surprising to find that in 1975, UPLB’s personnel had rendered 63-man-years of service to various national government agencies as technical advisers of their various development programs and projects.
Faculty and research personnel were either tapped on special details arrangement, on leave of absence from the university, having been commissioned directly or through consulting firms by international organizations, corporations or individuals to work for them. These experts were serving either as planners, implementors, managers, advisors, evaluators or performing other important roles in agricultural and rural development projects of the organizations that hire them. The fact that private consulting firms fielding UPLB experts were making good money gave top officials of the university the idea of establishing a foundation allied with the university. Thus, the Generator of Integrated Resources Development (GIRD) Foundation, Inc., from which UPLBFI trace its roots, was organized on May 24, 1977.
The Foundation was intended to be an instrument for institutionalizing a rational system of utilizing UPLB expertise and other assets for generating additional revenues and other resources needed by the University. Its main purpose was to assist UPLB in expanding and optimally utilizing its human, financial, and material resources towards a focused thrust in agriculture, biotechnology, engineering and environmental sciences and related academic programs and activities. To formalize the arrangement in 1977, the Foundation and UPLB executed a Memorandum of Agreement which allows the Foundation to use available facilities for its activities and UPLB to designate from among its staff such personnel needed by projects. This Agreement has been superseded by Memorandum of Agreement signed by the President of UP and the President of UPLBFI in October 2009.
Responding to increasing demand for expert services by a widening variety of clients, the Board of Trustees passed on September 18, 1981 a resolution amending its Articles of Incorporation that, among others, provided for the change in name of the Foundation from GIRD to UPLB Development Foundation, Inc. (UPLBDFI). On December 2, 1985, the Board of Trustees of UPLBDFI again filed an amended By-Laws that, among others, provided for a change in name from UPLBDFI to UPLB Foundation, Inc. or UPLBFI.
Capitalizing on its traditional strength in agriculture and related fields, the Foundation ventured into the business providing services of specialist or consultants to agricultural and rural development programs and projects. IRRI was its first client when the institute engaged the services of a taxonomist to collect and analyze rice varieties from Sri Lanka. Among earlier projects of the Foundation worth mentioning was the environmental impact assessment of the USAID-funded Botolan-Capas Highway Project in 1983. In this project the experts fielded by GIRD had to “blaze the trail” into a new field of specialization because no standard EIA protocol was in use in the Philippines at that time, Thus, the team had to devise its own system and procedures. The performance of the EIA team and results of their work met the full satisfaction of the client which led to the engagement of the Foundation to do the EIA of two more development projects.
In its more than thirty years of its existence UPLBFI has completed over 2000 projects of various nature. Through these undertakings it has developed and carved its niche in providing clients and benefactors services that cover a wide range of research and management activities. The services it now renders cover: consultancies, fund management, conduct of researches, policy studies and surveys; project conceptualization, design and implementation; design and implementation of project benefit; monitoring and evaluation systems; manpower training; statistical design and analysis cum computer applications and electronic data processing.
From a very small equity of P5,500.00 contributed by the original incorporators in 1977 UPLBFI has grown tremendously in terms of assets totaling P375.4 million as of October 31, 2011. The original two fulltime administrative staff of the part-time Executive Director has increased to 18 today. In 1992, after 17 years of sharing office space, first at the old Entomology building and then at the International House, UPLBFI built its own building on 700 sq. m. land leased from UPLB for 25 years.
In addition to financial and material donations to UPLB, the Foundation also provides incentives to the University’s faculty and other members of the staff of UPLB in the form of professorial chairs, travel grants, short-term fellowships, and financial assistance to scientific publications. UPLBFI also gives awards and incentives to outstanding students in science and technology. These endowments are in fulfillment of the commitment of support to the University within the meaning of Section 24 of Republic Act 2067 as amended by Republic Act 3589.