PHILANTHROPIC SUCCESS The Cal Athletics family inspired us with its commitment to support all 850 of our studentathletes. The Cal Athletics Fund is excited to have raised $36,069,047 in gifts and pledges this past fiscal year to enhance Cal Athletics’ mission to be the model for intercollegiate excellence.
During this past year, nearly $11 million in gifts to our department’s annual funds directly shaped our student-athletes’ experiences. Additionally, we received more than $15 million in commitments for endowment support, providing long-term benefits for current and future Golden Bears.
We are grateful for everyone’s enthusiastic commitment to build our championship culture. Behind the support of 6,776 donors who accounted for 12,494 gifts and pledges, the Cal Athletics Fund surpassed its original $35 million goal and eclipsed the $30 million mark for the second straight year.
Seven gifts, which each hit or exceeded the $1 million mark, provided transformational impacts for Cal Athletics. Lynda Brothers ’68 made an estate gift of $10.8 million to support scholarships for six women’s sports teams — one of the largest single-donor gifts ever to Cal. Former Cal Director of Women’s Athletics Luella Lilly made a legacy gift of $1.275 million to create the Dr. Luella J. Lilly Academic-Athletic Excellence Award Endowment Fund and to support two current softball endowment funds. Stu Gordon ’62 & ’65 gifted $1.1 million from his estate to enhance his tremendous support of our baseball program.
With new financial challenges facing Cal Athletics due to the COVID-19 pandemic, your support is now more crucial than ever. Despite the tough times, we are pleased to report that we have raised $230 million of our $350 million Light the Way campaign goal (65.7%), through Dec. 2020, with a deadline of the end of 2023. It is exciting to see our student-athlete alumni thrive after graduation and subsequently decide to help current Golden Bears pursue their dreams. Of note, 1,487 student-athlete alumni made gifts in fiscal year 2020, including 133 first-time supporters. All told, 1,024 first-time donors collectively gave $3,865,257 (average gift of $3,775).
Dr. Luella Lilly, former Cal Director of Women’s Athletics
of the program’s first head coach — thanks to a pair of $1 million gifts from Tom Shaffer ’79 and his mother, Abby, and Emily ’81 Risberg and her husband, Jeff Risberg. Special thanks to Rodney Friedman ’56 for continuing his family’s outstanding support of Cal men’s rowing — this time with a $1 million gift to create a scholarship in honor of his late wife, Shirley Friedman. Friedman’s efforts were supported by the Rogers family, whose steadfast support and leadership are synonymous with Cal men’s rowing.
Cementing their Cal Athletics’ academic legacy, Pat and Kent ’60 & ’64 Newmark contributed $1 million to endow the Newmark Awards — recognizing team academic excellence — in perpetuity.
We took significant strides this past year towards funding new modern facilities for our softball and beach volleyball programs, driven by the leadership of Bill Ausfahl ’61, Lynda
In 2020, we celebrated the establishment of the first Cal women’s head coaching endowment — the Donna Fong Director of Field Hockey in honor
Brothers ’68, Brad Brian ’74 and many other supporters. The Gender Equity campaign has made great progress, and through your continued generosity, we hope to break ground on both transformative endeavors in 2021. Inspired by a tremendous $12.5 million lead gift from Bryan Cameron in fiscal year 2019, the Cameron Institute launched this fall after more than a year of planning (see page 17 for details). Our student-athletes depend on the passionate support of the Cal community to achieve academic and athletic success. Every gift matters and inspires us to help current and future generations reach their full potential at Cal and beyond.
2019-20 BY THE NUMBERS $36 MILLION RAISED
4,806 ALUMNI — 1,211 FRIENDS
585 PARENTS — 123 CORPORATIONS
12,494 GIFTS AND PLEDGES
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1,024 FIRST-TIME DONORS
NEARLY $11 MILLION TO ANNUAL FUNDS
MORE THAN $15 MILLION IN SUPPORT FOR ENDOWMENTS