Nearly 46,000 donations totaling a record $212.9 million were gifted to UC San Diego during the 2015-16 fiscal year, up 20 percent from the year before, school officials announced Thursday.
The school now boasts an endowment of $1.177 billion.
"We experienced a truly amazing year, highlighted by a record-breaking increase in charitable gifts," Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said.
"Investments in UC San Diego are returned in many ways — through life-saving discoveries, the development of students into leaders, social mobility and economic growth," Khosla said. "Together, with our talented campus members and university supporters, we can continue to make a positive impact on our campus, community and the world."
Among the larger gifts, Gary and Mary West gave $11.8 million to create an emergency center for seniors at the future Jacobs Medical Center; Richard Hertzberg and Carol Dean Hertzberg committed $5 million to launch the Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography; and the estate of Mary Andrews Haag provided $4.3 million to support merit-based undergraduate scholarships.
The announcement comes a day after San Diego State University announced the largest gift in its history —$25 million from Ron Fowler of the Padres ownership group and his wife, Alexis.
