Student Experience
Spring Give 2026: A look at the impact
Whether raising funds for rental space, team uniforms, travel costs, or printing costs, the Spring Give directly supports students, allowing them to fundraise for resources specific to their teams and organizations.
The Spring Give took place from April 9-20 and raised more than $61,000 with the support of over 900 donors.
Key takeaways
- The Spring Give took place from April 9-20 and raised more than $61,000 with the support of over 900 donors.
- Students from the UC Santa Cruz Dance Team, Sol Womxn’s Ultimate Frisbee Team, and Matchbox Magazine share how funds raised during the Spring Give will impact their organizations.
The Spring Give, an annual fundraising initiative at UC Santa Cruz, took place April 9-20, featuring over 900 donors and more than $61,000 raised.
Fundraising initiatives like Spring Give directly support students, allowing them to fundraise for resources specific to their teams and organizations and empowers project teams to take the lead in reaching out to their personal connections and communities.
The 11 day initiative took a new approach this year, specifically featuring 36 student-focused and student-led project teams associated with the Division of Student Affairs and Success, who sponsored this year’s challenges. Challenges throughout the fundraising initiative encouraged friendly competition and energized teams to rally their communities. Challenges included rewards for the team with the most unique donors throughout the campaign, and time based challenges at the kick-off and close-out of the event.
Athletics and Recreation took home the most dollars raised at $12,065 and was the team with the most donor support at 161 donors. They won first place in the Spring Give Champion challenge and also received second place in the Closeout Challenge and Slug Surge. The funds raised will support teams and facility revitalization projects.
The UC Santa Cruz Dance Team raised 4x more than their original goal of $1,000 during the Spring Give and took first place in the Kickoff Challenge. Fundraising Chair for the team Mia Tokunaga (Merrill ’27, cognitive science) says that funds raised during Spring Give will support many different aspects of the team including rental space costs for the team’s end-of-year Spring Show on May 29th at the Porter Dining Hall.
“Our team is deeply grateful for all the contributions from our friends, family, alumni, and others who are part of the UCSC community,” Tokunaga said. “We are so excited, as this is the best Spring Give turnout our team has had, and it means a lot to us to have such abundant support. Our team is fully student-led and filled with extremely talented, passionate, and intelligent individuals who work hard at everything they do.”
The funds will also support costs associated with apparel the Dance Team wears while representing UCSC at Basketball games, costumes for various performances throughout the year, and allows the team to support members needing assistance with paying dues at the beginning of the year.
“Our student captains, Sabrina Digne, Emma Kelly, and Lola Lefebvre, work hard to manage and run our team throughout the school year, whether it be through performances in the community, basketball games, or our end-of-year showcase,” Tokunaga said. “Their dedication to the team is seen and appreciated. So knowing that a large community showed up to support our dance family means the world to us and allows us to continue building a team where dancers feel safe expressing themselves and can carry their passion into college.”
Sol Womxn’s Ultimate Frisbee Team raised over $7,000 with the support of more than 100 donors, took first place in the Closeout Challenge, and second in the Spring Give Champion Challenge. Funds raised will go towards transportation, tournament bid fees, lodging, and other travel expenses.
Third year member Madeline Trilling (Porter ’27, chemistry and Spanish) says that the success of Spring Give will allow the team to focus on practices leading up to National Championships instead of fundraising.
“We are very excited about the donations we collected through this year’s Spring Give,” Trilling said. “This support from our alumni community and the family and friends that have contributed allows us to travel to the National Championships for the third time this year, where we will get to compete with the best frisbee teams from across the country.”
Matchbox Magazine entered the Spring Give with the goal of raising $1,000 to help with costs associated with printing their annual, UC-wide arts and literary magazine. With the support of their community, they raised 125% of their goal and took second place in the Kickoff Challenge.
“My fellow signers and I are thrilled about our success from Spring Give,” said Bridgette Leaverton (Merrill ’27, politics), chief financial officer of Matchbox. “The support students, family, alumni, and friends have shown make us that much more motivated to keep going. This year marks 20 years of Matchbox Magazine, and we’re so grateful people hold enough respect for the work we do to make this anniversary possible.”
The funds Matchbox received from Spring Give will help the magazine meet their needs for printing and distribution costs.
“The support people have shown us demonstrates that art and literature have a place on campus. We’re grateful to be able to spread the stories and perspectives of students across all UC campuses!”
UC Santa Cruz’s 24-hour fundraising campaign, Giving Day returns on Wednesday, November 18, 2026. Last year’s Giving Day raised nearly $2 million with the support of over 8,000 donors. Every gift, big or small, adds up to create lasting change and transform the student experience.
If your UC Santa Cruz team, department, organization, or project is interested in participating in Giving Day this November, complete the registration form linked below.
Registration is open through June 30.