At UCLA, a year of extraordinary giving and impact

Key takeaways

• During the 2023-2024 fiscal year, donors committed $856.5 million - the second-highest fundraising total in UCLA history.
• Alumni and friends of the university came forward with more than 68,000 gifts, 94% of which were less than $10,000.
• The philanthropy will have a wide impact across campus, benefitting students, faculty, researchers, patients and our local and global communities.

With $856.5 million in new gifts and pledges, the fundraising total for the fiscal year ending June 30 represents a 24% increase over the previous year; the highest total since the COVID-19 pandemic; and the second-highest total in UCLA history.

Donors in all 50 U.S. states and 60 additional countries contributed more than 68,000 gifts, 94% of which were less than $10,000. Alumni accounted for nearly 50% of individual donors.

"Our broad community of supporters, both alumni and friends, stepped up this year in truly remarkable ways," Interim Chancellor Darnell Hunt said. "Through their giving, they showed their continued confidence in UCLA's role as a catalyst for transformation and positive change. Our donors' gifts will elevate our work and power the university forward so that UCLA can make an even greater impact in California, our nation and the world."

Support for students

Donors provided essential financial support to undergraduate and graduate students, creating new scholarships and fellowships in 2023-24.

Among them:

• A $100,000 pledge from alumnus Andrés Snaider and Stephanie Garriga-Snaider will create study abroad opportunities for first-generation Latinx students and other Bruins with financial need.
• A commitment from UCLA Anderson School of Management alumnus Rakesh Varma and Abha Varma will establish merit-based scholarships at UCLA Anderson, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
• A bequest of $1.25 million from the late UCLA Anderson alumnus Harold M. Matheson will support future generations of UCLA School of Dentistry students through scholarships.
• The Lauren E. Phillips Memorial Scholarship, established with a gift of $150,000 from Phillips' parents, will support undergraduate history majors with financial need.

Donors also found other ways to enhance the Bruin experience.

A $500,000 pledge to the UCLA Basic Needs Center will help expand resources for students who face food, financial or housing insecurity. In the spring, 130 donors directed $25,000 to the UCLA RISE Center to provide invaluable mental health resources. Donors made nearly 2,500 gifts in support of Black life, teaching, research and service; among these was a $50,000 pledge from alumna Anita Cooke Wells to the Black Bruin Resource Center.

Alumnus Scott Galloway gave $6 million to UCLA Extension for a new program that will give non-traditional students the skills and resources they need to launch their careers. With a $5 million pledge from Berry Gordy, the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music is launching a music industry center in the Motown record label founder's name along with a specialized curriculum, partnerships with K-12 schools, and funding for the investigation of technology and streaming algorithms from a social justice perspective.

Support for faculty

Other supporters directed their philanthropy toward the university's faculty, funding 25 new endowed chairs.

In the UCLA College, a pledge of $2 million established the Robert E. Archer Chair in the Study of Religion. Gifts from multiple sources, including the California Community Foundation, provided funding for the Antonia Hernández Endowed Chair in Civil Rights and Education in the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies.

UCLA Associate Vice Chancellor for Development Laura Lavado Parker expressed gratitude for the banner year of donor support.

"By creating new possibilities in scholarship, research, collaboration and creativity, charitable gifts support talented and deserving students, world-class faculty, game-changing research, community engagement and more," she said. "This philanthropy, utilized in close alignment with campus priorities, has helped sustain UCLA as our nation's No. 1 public university. When donors are passionate about giving in support of scholarships, in particular, they help enrich educational opportunities and ensure a future of tremendous promise for generations to come."

Support for deeper understanding

A number of gifts will advance our understanding of our world and one another.

Alumni Meyer and Renee Luskin committed $25 million to the UCLA Department of History, which will now bear their name. Alumnus Irv Drasnin and Xiaoyan Zhao Drasnin pledged $2.3 million to turn a vast collection of visual and audio media into the nation's largest searchable news archive. Both gifts will enable scholars and the public to apply the lessons of the past to the events and challenges of today.

Alumni Helen and Morgan Chu pledged $10 million to the UCLA Institute of American Cultures to strengthen the university's four ethnic studies centers - the Asian American Studies Center, American Indian Studies Center, Chicano Studies Research Center and Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies - which were groundbreaking when first introduced in the 1960s as an outcome of student activism by the Chus and many others. A $1 million gift from alumna Alicia Miñana de Lovelace to the UCLA School of Law will bolster its Critical Race Studies program and efforts to promote Latino legal scholars and scholarship.

Improving human health

Many of the year's gifts will fund promising medical research.

The California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, which will be housed at the state-of-the-art UCLA Research Park, received $185 million in donations. Of this support, a $120 million commitment came from Dr. Gary Michelson and his wife, Alya, to accelerate vaccine development and explore the workings of the human microbiome.

A $10 million pledge from the Howard and Irene Levine Family Foundation will be used to establish a center at the Geffen School of Medicine for the study of movement disorders. Alumnus Ihab Shahawi made a pledge to the UCLA Department of Psychology to fund research into autism spectrum disorders and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. Research into cardiovascular and cardiometabolic health received a boost from alumnus Kirk Dunn, who gave $2 million in honor of his late son, Connor.

"UCLA is in an excellent position at the start of a bold new chapter," said Rhea Turteltaub, UCLA's vice chancellor for external affairs. "We are extraordinarily grateful to former Chancellor Gene Block, whose 17 years of committed service inspired our donor community. As we prepare to welcome Chancellor-designate Dr. Julio Frenk in January, we stand confidently on a strong foundation of philanthropic support."

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