Dear Friends, 

On November 17, the UC Berkeley community will celebrate Big Give, an annual 24-hour online fundraising blitz. I encourage you to mark your calendars for Thursday, November 17 to give back to Berkeley Law.

Here's why this day is so important:

Your Big Give gift is the first step in a chain reaction. This year’s Big Give theme is “The Berkeley Effect.” Just as the butterfly effect suggests that small actions can cause large, resonating effects, so too can small actions that support Berkeley Law have a big impact on the law school and the world around us! Alumni gifts help provide vital training for students in centers, clinics, and student organizations, empowering them to better our community by advocating for those in need. A gesture of support for this work will have a resounding impact on the law, public policy, businesses across the globe, and most importantly, people’s lives. 

Your Big Give gift directly supports today’s students. Many of you attended this great institution at a time when tuition was incredibly low. This is not the case for today’s law students. State divestment in public higher education means that funding law school has become ever more challenging. Your Big Give  contributions to the Boalt Hall Fund support Berkeley Law students through scholarships, loan repayment assistance, and student programming. 

Your Big Give gift helps boost our ranking. As I have said many times this year, at just 18 percent, Berkeley Law’s alumni giving rate is the lowest of any top ten law school. It is imperative that we increase our alumni giving participation to be more in line with our peers. We can—and should—do better! In the past months, I have met and heard from hundreds of alumni who have deep fondness and affection for the law school. On November 17, let’s bridge the gap between what we feel in our hearts and what we’re willing to do to support Berkeley Law and its next generation of students!

Your Big Give gift helps us compete for additional funds from campus. Big Give is not just a Berkeley Law campaign—it’s a campus-wide fundraising drive that pits the law school against our fellow Berkeley schools for additional funding from the university. In last year’s Big Give, the School of Engineering and the Haas School of Business both outperformed us. Not this year. Let’s go get ‘em!  

Your Big Give gift may be eligible for a new alumni match. If you graduated between 2006 and 2016, your Big Give dollars can go even further to support the next generation of students. Thanks to the Boalt Young Alumni Matching Gift Program, all new alumni gifts will be matched for double the impact!

I hope you will join me in being part of the Berkeley Effect! Please set a reminder to GIVE on  Thursday, November 17, and stay tuned for fun surprises and exciting stories during the lead up to Big Give. 

Thanks for your ongoing support of Berkeley Law!

Sincerely,

Melissa Murray
Interim Dean, UC Berkeley School of Law