Celebrating UC Berkeley’s record-breaking fundraising year

Chancellor Rich Lyons sent the following message to the campus community on Aug. 15:

I am thrilled to share with you, our faculty and staff, the remarkable achievements we reached in fundraising for the 2023–24 fiscal year thanks to the generous support of Berkeley’s community of alumni, parents, and friends. Together, we raised an impressive $1.31 billion in philanthropic support, marking the highest annual fundraising total in Berkeley’s history.

Contributions from donors make a significant impact on our students, faculty, and programs. Thanks to this year’s success, students will benefit from scholarship and fellowship support, faculty positions will be strengthened and sustained, and Berkeley’s extraordinary research enterprise will be enhanced with new resources for work in many areas. Our donors recognize the positive impact their philanthropy has on our campus and beyond. Their shared values with Berkeley’s mission drives them to partner with us on realizing a united vision of a better world.

Notable achievements enabled by the generosity of the Berkeley community include the opening of Helen Diller Anchor House for transfer students, the forthcoming Bakar ClimatEnginuity Hub, and significant programmatic investments that will enhance the student experience and further our research excellence. Last year, the Graduate School of Journalism received a transformative $10 million pledge, enabling the school to substantially increase its support for students, including doubling the financial aid offered to incoming students in the fall of 2024. While undergraduates benefitted from scholarships and programmatic support, including an $11 million bequest providing flexible student support and new resources for the Department of Music and the Center for African Studies. Investments in health and environmental research, such as the Innovative Genomics Institute’s Audacious Project and the Molecular Therapeutics Initiative, reveal the impact of our donors on cutting-edge research.  

We are also grateful for the contributions of other donors, including the Charter Hill Society (CHS) members and Big Give donors. CHS members provided more than $750 million in gifts last year to a range of departments and programs, while Big Give has raised more than $115 million in gifts over its 10 years, and brought 25,000 new donors to campus. These efforts underscore the importance of every gift, regardless of size, in supporting Berkeley’s mission and help us forge an ever-stronger culture of philanthropy.

While a small portion of gifts are directed to be used at the discretion of campus leaders, the vast majority of donations are designated for specific purposes per the donors’ intentions, such as endowed chairs or capital projects. This means that, despite this year’s record-breaking fundraising total, we still face budget challenges insofar as philanthropy—as critical as it is—cannot address our rising costs nor fully make up for reductions in other sources of support. All this being said, the generous partnership of our donors remains one of Berkeley’s most important resources.

Every donation to Berkeley tells a story of our strong and vibrant community, one that continues to respond to the challenges of a changing world. Thank you for your dedication and hard work in making these achievements possible. Let us continue to build on this momentum, ensuring Berkeley’s continued excellence for generations to come.