Our Crowdfunding Groups
Who We Are
The mission of the Berkeley Forum is to provide the Berkeley community a non-partisan, accessible forum for the presentation and debate of a wide range of ideas by regularly organizing, promoting, and broadcasting debates, panels, and talks by distinguished and diverse persons. Founded in 2012, The Berkeley Forum plays an important role in providing unique opportunities for students, faculty, and community members to come together and engage in the discussion and presentation of a diverse range of relevant and important topics and issues. The unique platform the Forum hosts not only allows experts to share their passions with an engaged, excited audience, but also allows the audience to interact and grapple with the ideas being posed to them. The Berkeley Forum has a long history of hosting events with a range of distinguished speakers.
To help achieve our goals this semester, we are launching a crowdfunding campaign to continue bringing our events to life. The funds raised will help us reach a wider audience and bring our discussions to life even for those who cannot attend in person. With your support, we can continue to bring thought-provoking discussions to a wider audience and engage with people from all walks of life.
How Your Support Helps
The Berkeley Forum was founded on the principles that its events ought to be open and accessible to all, with events being free-of-charge to all attendees. Given Forum’s unique position as a space for open learning, our crowdfunding efforts have immense positive impacts for free speech within our campus community. Our events bring in between 800-1,200 students and community members per semester, with plans to increase our reach and capacity by participating in Berkeley Crowdfunding. This funding would help us engage and inspire more students by allowing us to secure larger venues, improve our audio-visual capabilities for online viewing, and accommodate more diverse voices in our debates and panels. With community help funding these vital improvements, The Berkeley Forum will be able to continue providing exceptional opportunities to engage a wide range of ideas for the Berkeley Community and beyond.
Funds will be used between March and August of 2025 to assist with tail-end costs of the 2024-25 school year. This includes events occurring in the final two months of Spring 2025. Additionally, funding for long-term improvements will be used for preparation in the months approaching the 2025-26 school year.
Reaching our goal will help improve TBF’s ability to fulfill its mission for a broader audience, providing the necessary funds to expand capacity to accommodate larger audiences and online viewing for all of our events and experiences. Whether funding larger venue reservations, improving the quality of online live streams, or allowing for additional production of accessible, online media formats, meeting our crowdfunding goal will enable Forum’s continual improvements towards providing a fruitful and open space for free discourse and idea sharing.
Budget Breakdown
This budget is an estimate; actual expenditures may vary.
If we are unable to reach our goal, we will adjust our spending ambitions to prioritize larger venues and online accessibility. Those factors play a vital role in expanding our audience and ensuring the fulfillment of our mission at a greater level, making them top priorities if funding goals are not fully met.
Contact Information
Email: info@forum.berkeley.edu
Website: https://www.berkeleyforum.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berkeleyforum/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-berkeley-forum/mycompany/
Instagram: @berkeleyforum
Twitter: @berkeleyforum
We will give you a digital shout out on our pre-event(s) presentation.
We will send you a personalized thank-you video from one of our organization members.
Guaranteed seating for two seats in any event this semester. This perk is only valid if you have already registered for a ticket.
Preferred seating for two seats in any event this semester. This perk is only valid if you have already registered for a ticket.
Recognition from Forum president during event introduction, signed copy of official poster from speaker, plus lower level perks.
You will receive an autographed copy of one of our signature The Berkeley Forum event posters for an event of your choosing.
Pre- or post- event reception with speaker. If speaker is unavailable for reception, this perk will be substituted with another, mutually-agreed upon speaker, plus lower level perks.
