Private financial commitments to UC Santa Cruz for the fiscal year ended June 30 topped $50 million for the first time, bringing the total for The Campaign for UC Santa Cruz to more than $180 million.
The record sum came in the same year UC Santa Cruz publicly launched its comprehensive fundraising campaign to add essential resources dedicated to key initiatives supporting the student experience, coastal sustainability, data sciences, the Institute of the Arts and Sciences, and the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute.
"It's gratifying to receive such strong support during the year we launched the campaign," said Chancellor George Blumenthal. "Our donors believe in the work that's taking place at UC Santa Cruz, and their generosity is making a lasting difference for the campus, our students, and faculty."
Alumni and other friends of the campus contributed $19.2 million, 38 percent of the total; foundations added $21 million, 42 percent; and corporations gave $8.7 million, 18 percent.
Notable gifts will support UC Santa Cruz's leadership in sustainable agriculture, environmental studies, and experiential learning. An anonymous donor contributed $4 million to establish an endowment for the Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture. Founded in 1967, it is the longest-running, university-based organic-farmer-training program in the United States.
A $2-million gift from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation will help ensure that UC Santa Cruz continues as a leader in natural history and at the forefront of educating students to become environmental leaders. It will support hands-on learning and the Museum of Natural History Collections on campus.
A $1-million gift from Julie Packard, a UC Santa Cruz alumna, will support programs that help underrepresented minority students excel in the sciences and mathematics.
Approximately $7 million of the $50 million in gifts recorded for fiscal year 2013-2014 are bequests made in donors' estate plans. A $1-million pledge bequest from alums Gary Sloan and Barbara Komas will create two endowments at Crown College; one to provide support for students and faculty in undergraduate research and another for scholarships for Crown students from their freshman through senior years.
Also included in the total is approximately $13 million from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation supporting construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The funds are part of a nine-year, $200 million commitment the Moore Foundation made in 2007 to the University of California and the California Institute of Technology, who, with an international consortium, are building the most advanced and powerful optical telescope on Earth.
In fiscal 2014, The Campaign for UC Santa Cruz received 14,492 gifts from 10,893 donors, including 3,539 alumni who contributed 4,708 gifts.
The Campaign for UC Santa Cruz provides critical resources to support the Student Experience and the other key initiatives in Genomics, Coastal Sustainability, Data Science Leadership, and the Institute of the Arts and Sciences. In these initiatives and in each academic division, gifts support what education and research mean at UC Santa Cruz: bold, fearless inquiry that benefits our students, our community, and our planet.
