Shape the future by supporting the UC Santa Cruz Natural Reserves, the living laboratories and outdoor classrooms for students at UC Santa Cruz and researchers from around the world. Give to our Natural Reserves Endowment and ensure that our reserves are a resource for the world in perpetuity.
Your support will help us to build an endowment created by the Thirty Petals Foundation to maintain UCSC Reserves in perpetuity. Our first priority for the endowment is supporting research and education at Año Nuevo Reserve. We have a matching fund opportunity from the Wilton W. Webster Jr. Presidential Chair for the UCSC Natural Reserves; the first $30k will be matched. Your donation of any amount is incredibly helpful! If you prefer not to give to the endowment, you can give to the UC Santa Cruz Natural Reserves Fund to support student education and research programs happening now.
Through the endowment or the Natural Reserves Fund, our support will directly increase and enhance research excellence, train the next generation of environmental leaders, and maintain our natural reserves so they can be used for education and research in perpetuity. We do this by creating new programs that provide on-the-ground research support, mentor and teach students, and steward the natural lands within our reserves. This coming year, we are increasing student support from all disciplines to participate in transformative hands-on experiences, gain leadership skills, put theory into practice, focus on achieving high academic excellence, and become the critical thinkers and leaders of the future.
“I have experienced a mentorship relationship I have not found anywhere else. It has provided me with several work and volunteer opportunities, connected me with other organizations and provided a sense of place amidst a hazy and hectic undergraduate experience.”
— Biology Undergrad (now working for California Coastal Conservancy)
“I can apply these abilities to help me in my future academic career, which I hope will be environmental law, by being able to identify the more dire aspects of the environment and enact legislation accordingly.”
— Combined ENVS/Politics Undergrad
“I learned that I had the potential to learn anything. Before, I had pretty much completely written off the idea that I could understand anything remotely related to science… I am confident in my ability to take on new tasks and learn something so foreign to me…Now I know that with time, energy, and a good support system, I have the potential to learn anything.”
— Linguistics Undergrad
“This class helped me discover that I learn the best in hands-on situations (experiential-based learning) and has helped me guide my career path.”
— Biology undergrad in course taught by Año Reserve Director Patrick Robinson
Make a Planned Gift
Many alumni and friends have chosen to leave a legacy at UC Santa Cruz through their will, trust, or retirement account. Potential examples include:
- An alumna providing for a scholarship in her major of Environmental Studies
- A professor emerita supporting the study of plant ecology and evolution
- An alumnus parent creating an endowment to serve the need of a UC Natural Reserve
Please consider including UC Santa Cruz in your plans. Your gift can honor a beloved professor, a family member or your own experience, while providing for the future of UC Santa Cruz and its students.
For more information on how you can make an impact at UC Santa Cruz Natural Reserves while also providing for your loved ones, please call Tyler Hinz at (831) 502-7112 or email tyhinz@ucsc.edu.