With steady philanthropic support, donors have once again affirmed their enduring confidence in the California State University’s ability to elevate the lives of students, families and communities through the transformative power of higher education.
In fiscal year 2022-23, the CSU received more than $557 million in gift commitments and almost $466 million in gift receipts. The CSU’s cumulative endowment market value reached an all-time high, at over $2.5 billion. The impact of this generosity resonates throughout the CSU and its 23 universities, enriching campus communities and providing support for the CSU’s work in creating social mobility for our students, their families and communities across the nation.
In simple terms, social mobility means how much your life situation changes compared to your parents’ or during your own life. A CSU education allows our students to move into a better socioeconomic position, an outcome validated by several university rankings. CSU graduates are career-ready and poised to lead, joining the community of over four million alumni who are changing the world for the better. In turn, their success allows their families and communities to thrive. The CSU is a powerful engine of this change, and donor support is a key fuel.
Many remarkable donations have contributed to the success of CSU students. For example, California State University, Northridge received over $7 million from Autodesk Inc. to fund the new Autodesk Technology Engagement Center, where students will learn, create and innovate.
Over the past year, philanthropy has assisted students and their families across California. For instance, a $20,000 grant to California State University, Monterey Bay will help studentparents cover housing expenses.
These generous donations impact the surrounding communities as well. Thanks to a monumental gift from the Ballmer Group, California State University, Dominguez Hills will launch two programs that will prepare more than 1,000 new preschool and early elementary school teachers to serve the Golden State.
These gifts and thousands more—some of which you will read about in this report—continue to propel students forward, as the CSU remains the nation’s largest and most ethnically and economically diverse public four-year university system…and its most powerful driver of social mobility.
Gifts Received
The California State University system
quantifies philanthropic productivity
with two concurrent measures: gift
commitments and charitable gift receipts.
Gift commitments are an accrual
measure that represents new gifts, as
well as commitments through multiyear
pledges and support promised from
testamentary provisions in wills, trusts
and beneficiary designations.
Charitable gift receipts are a cash
measure that represents all gift income
received in the form of cash, securities,
in-kind contributions, irrevocable
future commitments and private
charitable grants.
Donors’ generosity in the 2022-23 fiscal
year resulted in almost $466 million in gift
receipts. Of that, 98.4% was designated
by donors toward specific programs
or areas, with only 1.6%—about $7.4
million—being unrestricted.
Donor-designated support of $328 million for current programs included:
- $93.7 million for faculty support and
academic enrichment
- $44.8 million for student scholarships
- $29.7 million for athletics;
- $17.3 million for academic research;
- $5.5 million for student affairs and
student life, supporting a wide range
of co-curricular programming that
promotes community service, student
leadership and career development,
among other areas; and
- $137 million for additional university
priorities.
For long-term and capital projects, the CSU
received $49 million that supplements
other funding for building projects and
enhances educational spaces with
elements such as cutting-edge technology,
lab equipment and studios.
CSU endowments, which provide support
in perpetuity, grew by $79 million in
new donor contributions. In 2022-21,
endowments distributed over $81 million
to fund areas across the university system.
Donors committed an additional
$1.8 million in irrevocable deferred gifts,
through vehicles such as charitable gift
annuities and charitable remainder trusts.
The categories for gifts received are
mutually exclusive and represent in general
terms the many programs, projects and
initiatives that our donors’ generosity—
often concurrently—support.