Responding quickly and creatively to needs and opportunities that arise on campus is vital to UC Berkeley’s ongoing excellence — and to do that, the university relies in large part on unrestricted flexible-use funds. One source of that flexible funding is fueled by the generosity of Berkeley parents and families, a giving opportunity that’s also tailor-made for them and their students: the Cal Parents Fund.
Gifts to the Cal Parents Fund help to sustain and improve access to Berkeley’s excellence in teaching, research, and public service by supporting students and faculty across campus. These contributions can be put to use immediately — which can be critical, since just 13 percent of Berkeley’s overall funding comes from the State of California, with philanthropy making up a portion of the difference.
Last year, more than 5,000 families contributed $3.4 million in annual support, vital gifts that strengthened a range of programs that enhance Berkeley undergraduate life. For example, in 2021–22, donations provided essential funding for Berkeley Connect, an innovative program that builds a sense of belonging among our students. Berkeley Connect served more than 1,000 undergraduates last year, matching students with a small cohort of peers who share their academic interests, providing individualized mentoring from grad students, and offering special events and opportunities to network with professors. Donor support also provides fellowships for the graduate students who serve as mentors, and it also helped establish summer programming that empowers first-year and transfer students to discover their path at Berkeley.
Other areas that benefit from gifts to the Cal Parents Fund include:
- The Student Learning Center, which provides comprehensive tutoring, study groups, and skill-building workshops;
- Undergraduate scholarships that award vital support to promising students with financial need;
- Undergraduate research opportunities that integrate students into Berkeley’s dynamic, diverse research community; and
- The Career Center, helping students identify career direction, enhance their marketability, and form connections with alumni and employers.
The flexibility provided by the Cal Parents Fund has proven especially useful in recent years. When community-health concerns required Berkeley to shift to remote instruction during the 2020–21 school year, gifts to the fund helped to establish Berkeley’s Student Technology Equity Program, providing essential computer equipment to more than 4,700 students in need. And then in 2021–22, as the campus reopened fully to in-person instruction, the Cal Parents Fund and other annual funds helped enable the restoration of library hours.
Though the Cal Parents Fund is unrestricted, there is also a direct benefit to donors and their students — when you give to the Cal Parents Fund, a portion of that gift is distributed to your student’s school or college. This means your gift to the Cal Parents Fund not only helps address emerging needs across the entire campus, but it also strengthens the work in your student’s area of study.
Gifts to the Cal Parents Fund benefit every UC Berkeley student every day, supporting services and programs that bolster student success. Support your student through a gift to the Cal Parents Fund.