UC San Diego drove 3x donor participation with frictionless giving from Gravyty

About UC San Diego

UC San Diego is a leading public university located on California’s southern coast. With a strong research foundation and commitment to student success, the university serves more than 40,000 students and engages a global alumni community. With a reputation for innovation, UC San Diego relies on the support of its alumni and donors to fuel scholarships, campus programs, and essential services that create opportunity for all students.

The challenge: Drive consistent, year-round giving and improve the giving experience

UC San Diego needed to drive consistent, year-round giving—but their tools were holding them back.

The university’s online giving platform was clunky, outdated, and hard to navigate—from the donor experience to the backend. It took more than ten steps to complete a gift, leading donors to abandon the process entirely. Behind the scenes, things weren’t much easier. Making updates, whether to the giving site, forms, or underlying processes, required IT support and could take months. There was little to no real-time tracking, no visibility into ROI, and no easy way to connect gifts back to specific appeals.

At the same time, expectations kept rising. The Annual Giving team was under pressure to grow the donor pipeline, bring in more new donors, and replicate past campaign success—but they weren’t seeing much traction. The team knew they couldn’t keep moving forward with the tools they had. They needed a solution that would make giving easier for donors, easier for staff, and flexible enough to support campaigns year-round.

The solution: Support year-round campaigns & boost giving with Everyday Giving Forms

UC San Diego made year-round giving easier by implementing Everyday Giving Forms through Gravyty’s Advance platform—giving their team the tools to move fast, track performance, and deliver a modern donor experience without switching systems or disrupting operations.

Right away, the difference was clear. The team could build and launch a form in minutes, no IT support or extra integrations required. Each form was mobile-friendly, branded with UC San Diego’s imagery and messaging, and could be embedded directly in emails, webpages, and even printed mailers via QR codes. Instead of redirecting donors through multiple pages, the forms provided a clean, one-page experience—simple, fast, and effective.

Each form supports multiple fund options, so donors can choose exactly where they want their gift to go—scholarships, departments, athletics, or other initiatives—all in one transaction. And with appeal codes built into the links, the team could see campaign performance in real time, without needing to chase down reports or cross-reference spreadsheets.

From Giving Tuesday to the Chancellor’s Associates year-end appeal to culturally specific efforts like Latinx Heritage Month, UC San Diego has used these forms to launch targeted, branded campaigns throughout the year.

The result? A seamless donor journey, consistent messaging, and backend reporting that makes every campaign smarter and more effective than the last.

But the impact wasn’t just in the numbers. The team gained something they hadn’t had before: control.

They can launch forms quickly, tailor them to any appeal, and finally see what is working—while it is happening. Real-time reporting has made it easier to optimize campaigns and show leadership what is driving results. Built-in alerts help recover incomplete gifts, adding a layer of stewardship that wasn’t possible before.

Now, UC San Diego uses Everyday Giving Forms across their annual strategy—from flagship appeals to focused micro-campaigns. Every form is quick to build, easy to track, and designed to convert—giving the team confidence that their fundraising efforts are working, day in and day out.

Solution spotlight

Gravyty provides AI-powered solutions that connect and support the entire student and donor lifecycle. Serving over 2,700 education and nonprofit organizations, Gravyty helps institutions foster deeper connections, enhance engagement, and drive lasting impact. 

Advance from Gravyty empowers institutions like UC San Diego to optimize donor engagement through data-driven insights, automation, and personalized outreach. By integrating with existing systems, Advance helps advancement teams work smarter, not harder—maximizing results even with limited resources.

Want to optimize the donor experience and raise more year-round, all without increasing team strain? Get a personalized demo to see how Advance can transform your digital fundraising strategy.