The CSU received more than $257 million in donations in 2001-2002. This voluntary support includes gifts from alumni, parents, corporations, foundations, and other organizations and individuals. In addition, the CSU campuses raised another $739 million through special revenue from sources such as sponsorships, bequest expectancies, pledges, contracts, grants, property transfers and income from endowments, bringing total external support to nearly $996 million.

The CSU is raising approximately one dollar from external funding for every three dollars of state support. The $996 million raised by the campuses also far exceeds the $653 million CSU collected from student fees in 2001-2002.

In the early 1990s the CSU trustees encouraged campuses to increase their efforts in fundraising. As a result, voluntary support has more than doubled in the last decade. During that time, private donations to the CSU have totaled nearly $2 billion and all external support has totaled nearly $6.6 billion.