The Role of Private Gifts
The State of California requires that UC Merced fund many crucial campus needs through private donations. Although it once provided most of UCs budget, the state now funds only about a third of the operating costs for each campus.
The state funds instruction and research facilities only. Housing, recreation programs and other essential elements of university life are supported largely with non-state dollars from sources such as student fees and private giving.
Your financial support for UC Merced is a strategic investment to improve society and secure a bright future for California, and especially the San Joaquin Valley, through higher education.
A Unique Opportunity
If you had offered a gift in the earliest years of UC Berkeley or another of the world's great universities, imagine the legacy your gift would have today. Perhaps a building or a scholarship would carry your family name -- a name that would be on the lips of university students to this day and beyond. In the annals of history, your gift would live on through its lasting impact, and the university with its generations of faculty and students would forever benefit from your generosity.
Established Giving Opportunities
UC Merced has established several ways to direct your donation to the area of your choice.
Unrestricted Gifts
Allow UC Merced to direct your gift to areas where support is most urgently needed.
Academically Directed Gifts
Support the advancement of knowledge and the preparation of California's next-generation workforce.
- Endowed Chairs
- Gifts to a Specific School or Research Institute
- Supporting an Existing Scholarship
- Endowed Scholarships
Other Gifts
While cash gifts are always more than welcome, UC Merced also encourages alternative giving strategies such as the following:
- Matching or matched gifts
- Securities
- Real estate
- Bequests in a will or living trust
- Income gifts such as annuities or trusts
- Flexible endowments
- Art or artifacts
- Retirement plan assets
- Patents, royalties or copyrights
- Life insurance with accumulated cash value
- Collectibles or tangible personal property
- Equipment or inventory
For in-depth information on any aspect of giving, please contact the UC Merced University Relations Office by phone at (209) 228-4401.
