cal

(1)    The Achievement Award Program

Since 1999, the Cal Alumni Association has sponsored “The Achievement Award Program” (TAAP). The program has served incoming first-year and junior college transfer students who face substantial barriers and who might not otherwise have the resources to succeed at the college level. For 27 years TAAP has provided scholarships to students with significant financial need and who show a dedication to community service and volunteerism. TAAP scholars receive $6,000 per academic year, a laptop computer, and $4,000 of in-kind value from one-on-one advising and other program support through CAA’s  programs that support the TAAP students throughout the year. Entering first-year students are eligible for up to 4 years of support; entering juniors are eligible for up to 2 years of support.

The TAAP program is supported by endowment,  accepting contributions as well as earning investment income on the endowment. About 3% of the endowment value is released to scholarships each year, funding multiple scholarships. Our Club continues to make additional annual contributions to the TAAP endowment. The University accounts for its endowments on a fiscal year basis from 7/1 to 6/30. Our  TAAP endowment  was valued at $167,618.72 as of 6/30/25, up 12.6% from 6/30/24, and providing $4,987.56 toward TAAP scholarships in FY 2024-25. When the payout from an individual endowment is at least $10,000, the donor receives the name, class year, and intended major of one of the scholarship recipients. In recent years we have focused our Club’s Alumni Association’s contributions to this program.  In CY 2025 our Club donated $10,000 to our TAAP endowment fund.

(2)    The Leadership Award Program

Since 1934 the California Alumni Association’s Leadership Award program has recognized and supported Cal students who show innovative and motivational leadership in their academic, work, or community environments. Leadership Award students must demonstrate continuing commitment to community outreach and engagement through student government, mentorship programs, academic clubs and more. The Leadership Program funds more than 700 scholarships each year. 

The Leadership Award is $2,500, and incoming first-year students receive the award for four years, while incoming JC transfer students for two years. The guarantee of a multi-year award helps students to plan the financing of their UC Berkeley education. Awardees are incoming students who are Pell Grant-eligible. An annual endowment payout of $3,125 (equivalent to an average of 3% of the endowment balance) is required to fully fund one Leadership Award scholar for one year, providing $2,500 for the award amount and $625 of program support to the student. Our Club’s endowment of this program was valued at $197,423.57 as of 6/30/25, up 10.5% from 6/30/24, and the endowment fund released $6,044.61 to Leadership Award scholarships in FY 2024-25.

(3)    Santa Rosa JC Scholarships

Our Club sponsored four $2,000 scholarships this year for JC students transferring to Cal this Fall semester. 

The Club Scholarship Committee selected the awardees, reviewing the applications of 20 students, who expressed an interest in transferring to Cal and had the necessary academic standing to qualify for acceptance as transfers to Cal. Since scholarships are awarded when, and if, a student is accepted at Cal and registers for the Fall semester, the Committee gives the JC Scholarship office a list of 10 candidates in rank order for eventual awarding of the 4 scholarships. We are waiting to hear from the JC this year’s winners, after the recent Cal Fall registration.

In Summary

Combining the latest CY and FY 24/25 results, our Club and its members provided a total of $21,655.64 in direct scholarship support to Cal students ($11,655.64 through payouts from our supported Alumni Association endowments and $8,000 in scholarships to JC students transferring to Cal). Total contributions made by the Club in CY 2025 were $19,636.78 ($9636.78 to the JC and $10,000 to the Alumni Association Leadership Award Endowment). And irrespective of any future action on our part, the Alumni Association endowments will continue to grow through investment income, providing ongoing scholarship support to generations of future Cal students.

Contributions to our scholarship programs can be made through the Club’s web site. Note that the Club itself isn’t a registered charity and can’t itself provide a tax deductible receipt. Separate boxes are provided on the web site to receive a charitable tax donation receipt from the Cal Alumni Association and/or SRJC if that’s important to you for tax purposes.

If your Cal education significantly contributed to your career, pay it forward by contributing to the next generation of Cal scholars! (Let’s not forget that back when many of us went to Cal, there was no tuition, only “fees”.)

Thanks to everyone for all you do to support of the current and future generations of Cal students!