Give to Grape Research
This Giving Tuesday, Give to Grape Research
National Grape Research Alliance Invites Holiday Donors to Help Sustain the Grape and Wine Industry through Science
SACRAMENTO, CA, November 19, 2025 — For many people, charitable giving is a cherished holiday tradition. The national Giving Tuesday campaign, celebrated on December 2 this year, mobilizes the power of philanthropy at scale. Giving Tuesday gives donors coast to coast a way to connect to new causes or support hometown favorites in one day of collective giving, just in time for the holidays. And this year, the National Grape Research Alliance (NGRA) hopes to be added to a few new gift lists.
NGRA, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charity organization, invites consumers, colleagues, friends and family to consider giving to grape research, to help sustain the grape and wine industry through science. In a year when federal funding for research has gone unspent and wine, grapes and grape products face unprecedented challenges, NGRA is taking part in Giving Tuesday 2025 to recruit donors to support grape science. In response to this uncertainty, NGRA is actively building a funding strategy that enables the grape and wine industry to “control our own destiny,” and continue making research advances regardless of federal support.
With a 2025 Giving Tuesday goal of $3,000, NGRA aims to spark meaningful momentum for grape research. And with the USDA noting that “every dollar invested in agricultural research returns $20 to our economy,” even this modest goal represents up to $60,000 in potential economic impact through the innovations it helps set in motion. To support NGRA this Giving Tuesday, click here to make a gift to grape research and help sustain our industry.
“Wine is often a staple at holiday gatherings, and table grapes, raisins and grape juice help sweeten seasonal recipes,” says NGRA President Donnell Brown. “But few people realize how much science goes into improving and sustaining grape-growing. Our industry is under threat from wilder, more erratic weather, massive wildfires and floods, labor and water shortages, invasive insects like the westward-spreading spotted lanternfly, and more. These are all issues science can solve.”
NGRA works to align the priorities for research across the grape and wine industry—spanning wine, table grapes, juice and raisins, nationwide—and to initiate projects to address them. Through the NGRA Research Fund, the organization gathers industry representatives and academic colleagues for scientific planning meetings; launches pilot, proof-of-concept research; funds the work of a Ph.D.-level NGRA Fellow (as funds allow), and produces extension and educational programming like our recent Grapevine Improvement Workshop. Industry headwinds and tenuous federal funding puts much of this work at risk.
Grapes are one of America’s most economically important specialty crops. In fact, based on data compiled by WineAmerica, the wine industry alone contributed $276 billion to the U.S. economy in 2022. Research is the engine that drives grapes’ continued contribution to America’s bottom line.
“As the holidays approach and donors take stock of the causes they care about and that enrich their communities, Giving Tuesday is a wonderful avenue to give back,” Donnell adds. “A gift to grape research would certainly be one that keeps on giving, not just at the holidays but all year long!”
Support NGRA this Giving Tuesday by giving to grape research here.
Are you a member of the grape and wine industry and interested in joining NGRA? Explore membership opportunities here to help strengthen and mobilize our research mission.
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About the National Grape Research Alliance
The National Grape Research Alliance (NGRA) is a nonprofit membership organization that advances the research needs of all sectors and all regions of the American grape and wine industry, spanning wine, table grapes, juice and raisins, nationwide. We connect industry, academic scientists, and federal and state research agencies to initiate novel research projects and programs to solve industry challenges together. Since our founding in 2005, we’ve been instrumental in securing $65 million in funding for scientific solutions to grape and wine industry issues. Learn more at graperesearch.org.