Recently, The Promise of Berkeley sat down with William “Bill” Ausfahl ’61, chair of the UC Berkeley Foundation Board of Trustees, which supports the University’s fundraising efforts, including The Campaign for Berkeley . An active donor and volunteer, he serves on the Chancellor’s Executive Advisory Committee, the Cal Athletics Advisory Board, and the Memorial Stadium Renovation Project fundraising committee.
What inspires your commitment to UC Berkeley?
I’m passionate about public education and sustaining the excellence and access that Berkeley represents. When I was a student here state support was over 90 percent of Berkeley’s budget, and tuition was about $200 a year. Today, less than one-third of Berkeley’s budget is funded by the state, and tuition has climbed to nearly $8,400 per year. I want to make sure that we continue to attract great faculty, and that today’s students have the same opportunity that I had — to attend Cal and focus more on their studies than on their finances.
You were among the first to establish an endowed chair as part of the Hewlett Challenge. Why?
My wife and I are huge fans of matching gifts because your money is leveraged. Knowing that our gift would be matched and then invested in an endowment that would provide ongoing support for Berkeley’s outstanding faculty made the decision quite easy.
Our endowed faculty chair generates about $100,000 a year for the Department of Philosophy. For a faculty chairholder, having a stable, predictable source of funding that they can apply to research and to supporting top graduate students is invaluable. That is why the Hewlett Challenge has been so effective — it is helping us keep outstanding faculty at Berkeley.
What has the response been to the Hewlett Challenge?
The Hewlett Foundation’s vision, under the leadership of Walter Hewlett, was to inspire a new infusion of private support into Berkeley, and it’s been extremely successful so far. It was thought that it might take up to five years to reach our goal of 100 new endowed faculty chairs. It’s been 18 months, and we’ve finalized 53 chairs with another 25 or so in active discussion with donors — a fantastic success in my view!
What is the biggest fundraising challenge going forward?
Right now it’s the economy. However, Berkeley’s fundraising potential, much of it untapped, is great because of our large alumni base — more than 430,000 — and that’s a huge plus for us. We need to reach out to our alumni to say you can make a difference, whether you care about student programs, or athletics, or you want to support extraordinary teaching and research. Another huge advantage for us is Cal’s reputation: the Berkeley brand is well respected around the world, and folks are proud to be associated with the excellence it represents.
Why is it important for alumni to participate?
More than ever before, Berkeley’s success as a public institution is dependent on private support. As a result, there’s never been a time in the history of this campus when we as individuals could make more of a difference here. It’s that simple.
