Private Giving to UC Santa Barbara Hits Record

The Campaign for UC Santa Barbara — a long-range fund-raising push with a $1-billion goal — had its most exceptional year ever in 2011-2012, and is now nearly three-quarters of the way to its target.

Due in part to a single extraordinary $50-million gift, total donations to UC Santa Barbara reached $112 million in fiscal year 2012. The Campaign for UC Santa Barbara now stands at $745 million, and has attracted close to 60,000 new donors to the university since it first launched. The campaign is led by co-chairs Jeff Henley and Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree, with Academy Award-winning alumnus Michael Douglas serving as honorary chair.

“We are tremendously encouraged by the vision and generosity of our devoted alumni, parents, friends, community members, and also our own faculty and staff who have stepped up to support our university during these challenging economic times. We are especially grateful for the $50-million gift from Oracle Chairman Jeff Henley and Judy Henley, the largest gift in UC Santa Barbara’s history,” said Chancellor Henry T. Yang. “Last year’s record level of philanthropic support –– an average of more than $2 million per week –– provides momentum and inspiration for us to strive even harder this year as we move forward with our Campaign for UC Santa Barbara. We appreciate the leadership of Chairman Bruce G. Wilcox and our UC Santa Barbara Foundation Trustees in supporting this exciting endeavor, as well as the hard work of all of our colleagues and partners across the campus.”

The University of California continues to face unprecedented reductions in state funding. Historically, well over half of UCSB’s operating budget was funded by the State of California; today, only 15 percent of the campus’s operating costs are funded by the state. Helping to address the increasingly crucial need, UCSB’s donor community has significantly stepped up on behalf of the campus’s core asset: students. Gifts for scholarships, fellowships, and other forms of student support have risen significantly; and giving of all kinds is up across the board, including corporation and foundation gifts. Notably, UC Santa Barbara saw a significant rise in large individual donations in 2011-12. These leadership gifts –– many of which came from the increasingly essential constituency of alumni donors –– benefitted programs and students across the campus.

“Fiscal year 2012 has been a truly tremendous fund-raising year for UC Santa Barbara and represents renewed and deeper investment from our alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and friends in the university,” said Beverly J. Colgate, Associate Vice Chancellor of Development. “Both undergraduate and graduate student support remains critical in today’s higher education environment. Private giving makes a significant difference to students, especially in their ability to access a premier university like UCSB, and their opportunities to succeed here. Our community of donors appreciates this, and their generosity reflects that spirit. We are truly grateful for their support.”

Bruce Wilcox, the UC Santa Barbara Foundation chair, added, “We are deeply gratified by the inspirational level of support received in fiscal 2012, and remain committed to capitalizing on this momentum to further broaden our donor constituencies in order to maintain the standards of excellence for which UC Santa Barbara is increasingly recognized.”