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Greetings from Jeff Elman, Interim Dean
Someone asked me recently why UC San Diego does fundraising when we are a public university. Why do we need private money when the taxpayers of California are supporting us?
These are legitimate questions. Historically, UCSD has not engaged in the kind of fundraising often seen at private universities such as Stanford or Harvard. There was a time when UC San Diego enjoyed healthy support from the state of California, so much so that private fundraising didn't seem necessary.
Things have certainly changed since then.
Over the years, the state allocation to the University of California has not been able to keep up with the expenses associated with rising student enrollment and the daily cost of doing business. Today, UC San Diego receives just 12% of its annual budget from the state. Those monies primarily go toward faculty and staff salaries and facilities maintenance. The largest single source of revenue for UCSD is federal research dollars. Our faculty aggressively pursue these funds, and are extraordinarily successful on this front. These research monies do not only benefit the faculty and their students. The results of the research have had tremendous positive impacts on our local community, our nation and our world.
Monies from private philanthropy are critical in supporting new initiatives, faculty and staff retention, athletics, scholarships and graduate education. These are important activities that receive little or no support from the state and cannot be supported by research grants. But they are activities that are vital to UC San Diego’s success in teaching, research and community service. Yes, UCSD could possibly survive on just the 12% we get from the state, but we wouldn't be the nationally ranked university that we are.
We also view fundraising as a form of outreach and communication. It gives us the opportunity to explain to people why we are so excited about what we do and why it is so important—to them and to us. It’s gratifying when people support us, not just because the support helps us do our job better, but because it tells us they also think that job is an important one. And supporting us gives people an opportunity to play a role in the university’s work.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently announced plans to cut the University of California’s 2008-09 budget 10%, equal to $109 million. If this reduction is approved, it will mean that private fundraising will be that much more important to UC San Diego, and the entire UC system.
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