Social Sciences Development Office

2018 Climate Conference reception at the Rio Theatre

The development office serves all departments and research centers within the Division of Social Sciences in the following ways:

Fundraising

  • Work with other University Relations units, including Prospect Management, the UC Santa Cruz Foundation, and Corporate Relations, to identify funding leads that align with divisional goals, and schedule discovery visits with prospective donors
  • Support departments’ and research centers’ annual fundraising efforts and crowdfunding campaigns, such as the annual UC Santa Cruz Giving Day
  • Partner with faculty to compile and review lists of prospective donors who could support research.
  • Advise faculty on best practices in pursuing donor leads and referrals
  • Support development-focused public events
  • Connect the Division with University Relations’ philanthropy resources to enhance visibility and impact

Gift Processing

  • Receive and process incoming gifts and donations
  • Coordinate creation of new designations
  • Research background, donor intent and purpose of gifts for recipients to provide clear understanding of how the money can be spent

Student Scholarships and Awards

  • Facilitate student award process by providing departments with award amounts available each year and gathering students information after recipients are named
  • Work with honored students and their academic departments to create scholarship-impact statements for donors
  • Share student success stories through newsletter and online

Communications

  • Publish a newsletter 2-3 times per year, which goes out to Social Sciences Division staff, faculty, alumni, and donors
  • Showcase faculty to increase community and donor awareness of their research (Great Minds, and Original Thinkers events, etc.)
  • Support department and research center communications, such as thank-you letters and newsletters

Helpful Resources

Gift Acceptance

Community Outreach

Student Award Process

  1. Department contacts development office to find out how much money is available for the next award.
  2. Department selects and notifies student of award, and notifies development staff by cc’ing or sending a separate announcement.
  3. Department completes necessary paperwork to initiate the student award payment.
    1. If the award is to be paid via a Financial Aid FOAPAL, then use this link to access the online form.
    2. If the award is to be paid via a department FOAPAL, then contact your research analyst to assist with the UCSC Fellowship & Scholarship Payment Worksheet and Direct Pay forms.
  4. For Department awards, the development office contacts student recipient for three items: a completed “In Their Words” questionnaire, a photo of the student, and a handwritten thank-you note from the recipient. These items are used for both award updates on the website and as part of a package of information collected and sent to the donor(s) of the fund to express our appreciation.

For more information on making a financial gift, call the Social Sciences Division Office, 831.502.7274, socsci@ucsc.edu or send mail to:

UC Santa Cruz
Social Sciences Division
Attn: Development Office
1156 High Street

Santa Cruz, CA 95064

Please have checks made out to: UC Santa Cruz Foundation, and ask the donor to be sure to include the gift purpose in the memo line. All gifts are fully tax-deductible.