UCSD On Track To Raise $1 Billion in Private Support

January 23, 2006

By Judy Piercey

A few years ago, it was unheard of for an institution of higher education to launch a $1 billion fundraising campaign. Yet today, with declining state funds and skyrocketing budgets, there are 25 American universities - including UC San Diego - that have embarked on ambitious private support initiatives to raise $1 billion or more.

With nearly $807 million raised to date, The Campaign for UCSD: Imagine What's Next is on target to reach its goal before the campaign concludes in June 2007. In fact, according to the January 3, 2006 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, UCSD had the fifth largest gain in funds raised in November among other universities seeking to raise at least $1 billion.

The University of California, San Diego raised $24.4 million in the month of November, more than the $21.5 raised by the University of California, Los Angeles or the $18 million raised by Stanford University during the same month.  UCSD - one of the youngest universities in the nation to launch a $1 billion comprehensive initiative - has set faculty and student support as fundraising priorities for the last 18 months of the campaign.