Innovators Circle

Welcome to the Innovators Circle at UC Santa Barbara – your campus-wide gateway to a community of entrepreneurs and innovators who collectively pool their talent, networks, and capital to support one another, the university, and an ecosystem dedicated to elevating innovation.

In partnership with campus and corporate participants from UC Santa Barbara's Innovation + Entrepreneurship, members gain access to lectures and webinars from some of our most brilliant minds, diverse talent pools, ideas, networking receptions, mentorship opportunities, student start-up competitions, and much more.

As your business evolve, you will have a network of university resources for recruitment, visibility, peer connection, as well as startup support and help you discover the areas you are most passionate about at UC Santa Barbara. By joining this group, you are helping to build a culture of giving back and will inspire others to do the same.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Innovators Circle.

Join the Innovators Circle Today

For questions or to request more information, please contact Mehgan Tanner at mehgan.tanner@ucsb.edu or (805) 893-5650.

The next exciting chapter in your entrepreneurial journey awaits and joining is simple. Make your Founders' Pledge – a personal, non-binding pledge to philanthropically support the UC Santa Barbara at a meaningful level – and let the journey begin.

Meet our Members

Founders' Pledge

UCSB Innovator Interested in Giving Back?
You are an innovator or an entrepreneur and you want to support UC Santa Barbara in the future.

Make the Founders' Pledge.
You lead the path forward and make a meaningful pledge to contribute to UC Santa Barbara.

Engage with the UCSB Community.
Meet UC Santa Barbara leaders, faculty, and students; engage with UCSB’s entrepreneurial ecosystem; connect with other alumni and entrepreneurs.

Create an Impact.
Your gift of cash or publicly-traded shares benefits a university program that is meaningful to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

By uniting with shared values, our founders will be able to participate in ecosystems with entrepreneurs, founders and visionary leaders at all levels to gain expertise, experience and guidance from each other. Their shared knowledge and resources are brought together with a shared connection around UC Santa Barbara. The University will organize programs with meaningful and relevant content and dialogues to augment these connections and conversations.

We encourage you to participate in our events and networking at a level that works for you. We expect that your time commitment correlates with you gaining meaningful relationships that will contribute to your professional and/or personal growth.

No. You are agreeing to support UC Santa Barbara when the time is right for you. By participating in the Founders Pledge you show your intention to consider UC Santa Barbara as a primary recipient of a significant philanthropic contribution. Of course, we encourage giving at all levels and at any time to support areas that are meaningful for you.

There is no timeline for your gift commitment. When the timing is appropriate for you and your financial situation, we hope you will consider UC Santa Barbara in your philanthropic impact. In addition to annual giving, this could be a percentage of a liquidity event, stock shares or a gift that is significant to you.