SALINAS, CA -- The National Steinbeck Center Museum, here, received a $2 million donation from Rabobank, a leading bank serving the global food and agriculture industry with retail branches throughout California, in a ceremony held March 7 at the center.

Rabobank's donation is the largest private donation ever received by the National Steinbeck Center. The $2 million gift will launch the National Steinbeck Center's capital campaign to raise matching funds for its recent $3 million grant application submitted to the California Cultural & Historical Endowment (Prop. 40).

The center's grant application for Prop. 40 funding proposes an almost 8,000-square-foot expansion, which would include more than 3,600 square feet of art and cultural exhibit space, and three multi-media learning centers. That expansion would provide the space and resources to offer multi-cultural, historical and community programs.

The National Steinbeck Center's Valley of the World agricultural wing will be rechristened as the "Rabobank Agriculture Museum at the National Steinbeck Center" under a 20-year naming rights agreement between Rabobank and the center.

The center is a museum and educational institution devoted to the life and works of Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck and the agricultural heritage of the Salinas Valley. The main museum opened in 1998, and the Valley of the World agricultural wing opened in 2003.

Of Rabobank's $2 million donation, $1 million will be used to increase the current endowment fund that supports the center's arts, education and public programs. The contribution will create the Rabobank Endowment Fund, a new permanent endowment. Rabobank also will become the official bank of the National Steinbeck Center, providing full banking and financial services for the center and its employees.

Basil Mills, former president of the board of trustees of the National Steinbeck Center and president of Salinas, CA-based Mills Family Farms, said that he's "thrilled that Rabobank has chosen to support the National Steinbeck Center."

Bruce Taylor, chairman of the board of trustees of the National Steinbeck Center and chairman and chief executive officer of Salinas-based Taylor Farms, said that Rabobank's gift "is an important contribution to the vitality and growth of the National Steinbeck Center" and that it will help the facility "to be the cultural center for Salinas and Monterey County."

Rabobank N.A. Chief Executive Officer Ronald Blok said that he is happy "to be associated with John Steinbeck" and that the bank is "proud that the agriculture museum will continue to serve local residents and visitors through Rabobank's sponsorship."

In the Americas, Rabobank is a leading financier, serving all segments of the agriculture industry, providing wholesale banking services to food and agribusiness clients; agricultural lending to farmers, ranchers, input suppliers and manufacturers; and full retail and commercial banking services to businesses, communities, and real estate developers and investors throughout Southern California and Central California. Rabobank recently acquired Community Bank of Central California, which has 14 branches located in the town of Salinas and throughout Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito and southern Santa Clara counties. Community Bank, now a division of Rabobank, N.A., is a California community bank that provides banking services to communities, agricultural customers, commercial real estate developers and investors, and small- and medium-sized businesses. With the acquisition of Community Bank, Rabobank N.A. now has 39 branches and offices throughout California, extending from the Imperial Valley northward through the Central Valley and along the Central Coast, and a major new facility opening in the Sacramento area later this month.

For information about the center's capital campaign, contact Tiffany DiTullio, director of development, at 831/775-4723 or by e-mail at [email protected].