Cal shows philanthropic gains in 2022-23 report, fundraising over $42 million
The California Golden Bears did okay in raising money last financial year. They will need to continue to get better.
Slightly old, but it’s the giving season:
The Cal Athletics Fund giving report for 2022-23!
Some highlights:
In the 2022-23 fiscal year, Cal Athletics received total of $42.2 million in gifts and pledges through 10,016 contributions made by 5,545 donors. This marked a notable 6.5% increase in philanthropy compared to the previous fiscal year.
A significant portion of the total support, amounting to $12.8 million, was directed toward the operations of sports programs. Notably, men's water polo, men's swimming & diving, and men's crew, all benefited from this generosity and secured national team championships during the 2022-2023 academic year.
The Cal family's support extended to key programs, with a focus on Championship CALiber for Cal Football, the Men’s Basketball Excellence Initiative for new head coach Mark Madsen, and The Golden Way, dedicated to supporting Cal Women's Basketball operations. Noteworthy alumni contributions included a $10 million estate gift from the Shipman Family to endow the Cal Football Offensive Coordinator position and a $1 million gift from Jerry Siebert ('61) to the Athletic Director’s Excellence Fund.
The Rogers family continued their historic support with a $10 million pledge for Cal men’s rowing, along with a $5 million matching challenge. Their commitment has propelled men’s rowing to back-to-back national championships. Additionally, The Witter Rugby Field Enhancement Project received substantial support, with lead gifts of $1 million each from the Witter Family, Steve and Karen Ellis, and Doug and Corrine Cole.
Cal Athletics did also mention NIL efforts from the California Legends Collective, shouting out Ron and Stephanie Rivera, Kevin and Jeanette Kennedy, and Lance Cooper. The Cal Legends Collective established a successful 72-hour matching challenge that garnered over $1.2 million in donations that’ll help provide Cal football players the funds they need.
Perhaps the biggest highlight: The department received over $330 million in gifts and commitments during the Cal Athletics Campaign for Excellence, aiming to achieve a collective goal of $350 million in support of Cal student-athletes by December 31, 2023. It still hasn’t been updated since May, so unclear if that goal has been met, but all those funds will be crucial in the move to the ACC.
It’s safe to say that these goals are going to have to be even more ambitious in the coming years. Cal Athletics is going to be changing a lot, and the Cal Family is going to have to step up in new ways to ensure its long-term survival.
Thank you for sharing this information, and to all the donors, particularly the major donors. I hope my small contributions will be part of a groundswell to support the Bears.
A huge shout out goes to AD Jim Knowlton for his style and leadership in raising a very large portion of this money. We are lucky to have an AD (as a West Point grad) with such an in depth knowledge of and appreciations for the challenges of succeeding as a student athlete at a world renown academic/prepare students for the rigors of life in the real world institutions such as UC Berkeley and West Point. He also understands and appreciates the uniqueness of and how to best approach Cal alums for the money necessary to support the “ Olympic” sports at Cal , and how to best tap into the massive prestige (and.fund raising potential ) such sports bring to the overall reputation of Cal.