UC Santa Cruz wrapped up its ninth annual Giving Day with more than $1.3 million raised to support students across 185 project teams. The 24-hour fundraising event saw a record number of more than 6,000 donors.
Funds raised during Giving Day directly benefit student and campus projects, helping to ensure students have access to financial support, opportunities to participate in cutting-edge research, and connections that catalyze their social mobility. Jenna Hurley (Cowell ’13, psychology), campus interim director of annual giving and the main organizer of Giving Day, emphasized the positive impact Giving Day has on students.
“This year’s Giving Day has been truly inspiring, with a record number of donors coming together to support our students,” Hurley said. “It’s incredible to see so many people recognize the importance of investing in the success of our students and their transformative educational journeys.”
Time-based challenges throughout the day boosted the 24-hour fundraising effort, encouraging donors to give during select times. Projects that received the most donors during select time slots were awarded bonus dollars.
Formula Slug saw the largest number of donors during Giving Day with a record-breaking 700+ donors, raised the most money at nearly $41,000, and took home five challenge wins.
“We are feeling so incredibly grateful for every one of our supporters, and are also extremely proud of our team and community,” said Formula Slug Co-Captain Ari Jonson. The support that we were shown on Giving Day means our people want to see us succeed, which has opened up so many doors that were previously closed to us.”
Formula Slug, a student organization within Baskin Engineering, designs and manufactures an electric, formula-style car to compete in Formula SAE Electric. Jonson (College Nine ’26, film and digital media) added that the success of Giving Day opened up the opportunity for Formula Slug to look into an aerodynamics package, something that was previously not in the cards for the organization this year.
“With our club's financial situation, we were a bit unsure as to how we would be able to fund the design and production of the car we are currently working on this year FS-3,” said Formula Slug’s Finance team and Chassis team lead Aidan Lee and Electrical team co-captain and Outreach team lead Arnav Vishwakarma. “Designing and manufacturing the car takes tremendous resources both monetarily, mentally, and time-wise for all the students involved in the club. Being this successful during Giving Day has taken a huge burden off of our chest for the remainder of this year.”
The funds from Giving Day will go towards the current iteration of Formula Slug’s car, FS-3. As the group enters the manufacturing process, they will be using Giving Day funds to purchase raw materials, electrical parts, and equipment. Expenses also go towards competition lodging, gas, and transportation of members and the FS-3 car. Lee (John R. Lewis ’26, electrical engineering), Vishwakarma (John R. Lewis, ’26, computer science), and Jonson emphasized that giving Day funds opened many doors and will allow Formula Slug to explore options they thought were once unattainable.
“We greatly appreciate everyone who supported us through Giving Day,” Jonson said.
Following Formula Slug’s totals in second, the Pacific Art and Visual Studies (PAVS) Fund raised $36,780. PAVS’s mission is to support educational and professional development for students through paid internships, workshops, guest speakers, field trips, and student-faculty research collaborations. It also contributes to publishing Pacific Arts: The Journal of the Pacific Arts Association—the only international open access scholarly journal dedicated to Pacific Islands art—which is based at UCSC and published by UC’s eScholarship platform.
Associate Professor of History of Art and Visual Culture and manager of the PAVS fund Stacy L. Kamehiro emphasized the importance of supporting AAPI art and culture at UC Santa Cruz, a university recognized as an Asian American & Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI).
“Art, cultural objects, photographs, performances, and many forms of creative activity shape the ways we understand humanity—our past, present, and future,” Kamehiro said. “Because of their ability to build relationships between cultures and generations, the arts are at the center of community activism, expressing identities, healing, responding to environmental change, maintaining ties to histories and ancestors, cultural knowledge transmission, creating a sense of place and belonging, and forging sustainable futures.”
Last year, with the help of the PAVS fund, Pacific Arts supported three paid internships for History of Art and Visual Culture (HAVC) students and is supporting four interns this year. In addition to the support of the journal, PAVS supported a research fellowship for a HAVC undergraduate student in 2023 to conduct historical research, focused on Hawaiian-language primary sources. The student is now pursuing graduate school as a result of the experience.
“I am incredibly grateful for all the love and support of students, alumni, parents, grandparents, friends, colleagues, and community members who are committed to opening pathways for the study of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) art and history,” Kamehiro said. “With Giving Day support, we will be able to grow our programs and expand academic enrichment and professional development opportunities for our students.”
As UCSC celebrates this year’s accomplishments, the university looks forward to building on this momentum for Giving Day 2025. Join us next year in continuing to empower our students, support innovative projects, and create lasting change.
