A lot has changed since Los Angeles-Orange County State College, now California State University, Long Beach, opened in 1949.

To this day, serving the public remains our mission and a declaration that we are a place of hope, opportunity, pride and excellence for generations of students and faculty.

Since our inception, we’ve produced some of the most professionally competent graduates, which is why publications like Time magazine, Princeton Review and U.S. News and World Report continue to rank us among the nation’s top universities. We build the Long Beach area, the state and the world through our faculty and alumni, and most importantly, provide the promise of a better tomorrow.

That’s why California State University, Long Beach has launched DECLARE: The Campaign for CSULB, with the goal of raising $225 million by Dec. 31, 2015.

We’re not simply asking for support; we’re asking you to make a statement to Declare for CSULB.

With your declaration, we can usher in the kind of culture that enlightens and elevates every generation. It’s time to declare what this university means to our community. It’s time to declare that accessible knowledge empowers people to accomplish monumental things, and that CSULB has the power to inspire, create and build up every one of us.

What is the Campaign?

Foremost, it’s about students.

“Campaigns have been a long tradition at private universities and are now common at public institutions as well,” says Andrea Taylor, CSULB’s vice president for University Relations and Development. “Increasingly, we rely on friends, organizations and alumni to fill gaps in funding and make the gifts that will enhance the student experience and allow CSULB to reach new levels of excellence.”

Ours is a comprehensive campaign that touches every corner of campus and where every gift is counted.

A Place for Your Gift

Support CSULB with:

• Capital gifts for buildings, equipment, renovations, etc.
• Non-capital gifts for student scholarships, program and faculty support and other purposes.
• Pledges for giving, and planned gifts through wills
  and trusts.

Your Gift’s Impact

• Provides a high-quality, low-cost education to our more than 36,000 students, 40 percent of whom are the first in their families to attend college.
• Ensures that graduates have no or minimal student debt.
• Helps students and faculty engage in research, scholarly and creative activities that take CSULB into the community, the workplace and the world.

Transformation

Transformative gifts support faculty research, program advances, and creative and scholarly initiatives.

These gifts do everything from preparing students for tomorrow’s careers, funding state-of-the art classrooms and labs, to supporting important research, creative activities and much more.

From Lab to Launch

Imagine a way to clean up toxic metals from the environment or find new treatments for neuro-degenerative diseases.

Those are closer to reality, thanks to private giving and grants to biochemistry Professor Roger Acey and his students as they continue their research into two major projects. They’re using a protein from brine shrimp to develop a “heavy metal sponge” for environmental remediation.

In addition, Acey and Professor Ken Nakayama are developing inhibitors for an enzyme called butyrylcholinesterase that may help treat conditions like Alzheimer’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and they started a new firm to commercialize the potential of these compounds.

Acey has patented these technologies and encourages students to learn more about the business side of science through such events as the CSUPERB Idea-to-Product Early-Stage Biotechnology Commercialization Challenge.

Unequaled Access

Diversity isn’t just a person’s heritage or skin color. It’s diversity of ideas, imagination and perspectives that make CSULB a vibrant melding of individuals who reflect our region and our place in an increasingly global society.

Our students are the future leaders and professionals who will advance California’s greatness if given the opportunity. That’s why passing along higher education funding reductions hurts them and society as a whole.

Declaring a quality, affordable education is built into our values. Our graduates’ debt is among the lowest in the country. Our annual in-state tuition and fees are about $6,500, nearly half of the national average.

Scholarships and support for tutoring, mentorships and learning labs help ensure that our students can focus on their coursework and graduate on time without the stress of financial burdens.

They DECLARE

Although they’re not alumni, Morton and Susan Stuhlbarg believe in the university so much that Mort is a member of the 49er Foundation Board and chairs the CSULB Campaign Committee. In 2011, the couple established the Susan and Morton Stuhlbarg Endowed Scholarship in Theatre Arts and made an additional campaign gift in 2013 to establish the Susan and Morton Stuhlbarg Fellowship within the Jewish Studies Program.

Mort notes, “Susan and I are strongly committed to public education and to the mission and future of Cal State Long Beach. We recognize the crucial role private philanthropy plays in maintaining affordability and excellence at public universities like CSULB and are glad we can support this mission.”

A Greater Community

CSULB’s reach goes far beyond its 320 acres.

It’s students who help others through volunteerism and service learning coursework. It’s CSULB-run community health clinics on and off campus. It’s faculty who bring students along to conduct field studies in the U.S. or abroad.

These projects often don’t receive state funding but are essential to our public service mission.

A Global Perspective

Nearly every profession nowadays may have an international connection through its clients, employees or suppliers, so it’s important for students to understand the impact of internationalization.

Elaine Haglund, professor emerita of the Advanced Studies in Education and Counseling Department, made a generous donation to create the Haglund Global Studies Endowment. This endowment was used to create the Global Studies Institute at CSULB, whose mission is “Making ‘international’ integral to what it means to be educated.”

Since 2012, the Global Studies Institute has conducted research on comprehensive internationalization, worked across departments and colleges to expand global content in curriculum and supported innovative international and global experiences for students.

The institute has also gained financial support from CSULB colleges and won a U.S. Department of Education curriculum internationalization grant, both substantially maximizing the impact of the gift.

Keeping Up

For decades, Californians committed to funding higher education almost entirely with their taxpayer dollars. But nowadays, competing demands for those dollars have reduced CSULB’s state income to less than 30 percent of its overall budget.

State Funding to CSULB

Beachfunder Crowdfunding: Mini Gifts, Maxi Impact

While many students across the nation spend spring break partying, a group of CSULB students and faculty led by English Professor Tim Caron and others spend their week working with community organizations in rebuilding areas of New Orleans devastated by hurricanes.

It’s been nearly 10 years since Hurricane Katrina hit and still the damage hasn’t been fully repaired. For the 2015 Alternative Spring Break service learning class, Caron raised money through CSULB’s new Beachfunder crowdfunding website to acquire iPads for students to document their work’s impact.

Beachfunder mini-campaigns generally run for up to 30 days each for various campus projects.

Check out https://beachfunder.csulb.edu to learn more.

The CSULB 49er Foundation

Encouraging and wisely managing gifts to CSULB is the responsibility of the 49er Foundation, whose board of directors consist of volunteer alumni and community members including former Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill, former California Gov. George Deukmejian and John Molina of Molina Healthcare, among others, along with university officials.

The foundation oversees CSULB’s fundraising policies and procedures, plus investments to increase the value of funds including endowments.

What’s an Endowment?

Endowments are gifts for a designated purpose such as scholarships or a particular program. At CSULB, endowments must be gifts of at least $25,000, and some funds require even higher minimums. The university has more than 300 endowed funds that annually generate over $2.2 million to benefit the campus.

Donors can place certain restrictions on how the dollars are spent or make their gift unrestricted. At least 80 percent of the gift, called the corpus, is never spent, but a certain amount of investment proceeds must be used toward the designated purpose.

Learn more at www.csulb.edu/sites/49erfoundation.

DECLARE Your Support

Every dollar counts, no matter how large or modest a gift, and there are multiple ways and places to give.

To select where you’d like your gift to go, visit www.csulb.edu/ideclare and click on Give Now, or call 562.985.8491.

Your declaration for CSULB makes a meaningful difference to current and future students, our community and the globe. ▲