At UC Berkeley, your morning coffee fix can do more than power you through lectures and discussion sections; it can fuel a graduate student’s professional goals, sustainability programs or campus initiatives to fight food insecurity.
Thanks to Coffee for a Cause, a campuswide partnership supported by Peet’s Coffee, a portion of every Peet’s drink purchased at Berkeley Dining locations helps fund programs that make a real impact on the student community. Included are graduate student travel grants, farm and garden initiatives and a basic needs skills course.
But what exactly does that impact look like?
Graduate Student Travel Grants: Berkeley and Beyond
For graduate students, especially those juggling teaching, research and family responsibilities, funding can often make or break an academic opportunity. That’s where the Graduate Assembly’s Professional Travel Grants come in. It offers support to Berkeley graduate students to attend conferences, conduct fieldwork or access career-advancing workshops.
“We recognize that travel, whether to present at conferences, conduct research or access professional development opportunities, is crucial to the academic and career trajectories of many graduate students,” said Sandra Oseguera Sotomayor, president of the Graduate Assembly. “Our travel grants help fill the funding gap by providing modest yet impactful support for students who might otherwise be unable to participate in these opportunities.”
The grant program includes two awards: a Professional Development Award, which supports academic or career-building travel, activities or resources, and the Graduate Student Parent Travel Award, which helps student parents cover travel-related expenses for themselves and their children.
“These programs not only support individual advancement but also help ensure more equitable access to opportunities across disciplines and life circumstances,” said Oseguera Sotomayor.
For many graduate students, funding for academic travel can be limited, highly competitive or unavailable. The challenge is even greater for student parents, who often face additional expenses when traveling with children.
“Travel funding is one of the most common unmet needs among UC Berkeley graduate students,” Oseguera Sotomayor said. “Our grants are designed to be accessible, relatively quick to apply for and inclusive of diverse types of travel that are often overlooked by other funding mechanisms.”
The initiative helps level the playing field, offering students the flexibility to pursue career-defining moments. In the past year, recipients have attended events such as the Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo, IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference; and the International Indigenous Research Conference in New Zealand.
“Students traveled to countries around the world to share their work, gain feedback and engage with top experts in their fields. Every student who received funding, thanks to Peet’s Coffee’s generous sponsorship, had a meaningful opportunity to advance their academic and professional goals,” said Oseguera Sotomayor.
Farm, Garden and Pantry: Feeding Students, Growing Community
Beyond supporting graduate students, Coffee for a Cause also strengthens the campus’s food ecosystem through the Basic Needs Center and Berkeley Student Farms.
The Basic Needs Center is committed to fostering belonging and justice through both short-term emergency relief and long-term support. Its model addresses food security, housing security and financial stability as core needs. All enrolled students are eligible for its services, including its Food Pantry, a program that helps meet immediate food needs on campus.
Coffee for a Cause helps sustain this work by supporting both supplemental pantry inventory and student staff roles that connect the pantry with the Berkeley Student Farms coalition. The coalition is a student-led network of farm and garden sites, located both on and off campus, dedicated to food justice, ecological land management and community-based education. Together, the pantry and student farms programs form what Basic Needs Center Director Kiyoko Thomas calls “a direct pipeline” of freshvproduce that comes directly to the pantry.
“Being able to say we have locally-grown produce in our pantry is pretty cool,” Thomas said. “I don’t know how many other organizations are able to say that.”
One of the most impactful uses of Peet’s funding has been hiring a student who serves as a liaison between the farms and the pantry. “We always want to have students at the forefront of all the work that we do,” said Thomas. “Having a role dedicated to bridging these programs helps connect students to topics like food sovereignty and food justice.”
That connection is both practical and educational. The liaison ensures that produce grown on student farms reaches pantry shelves and introduces pantry users to the broader campus food system. “Having farm-grown produce in the pantry is almost like a vehicle for education,” Thomas said. “It’s an opportunity for outreach and awareness.”
The result is a campus food ecosystem that not only feeds students but also educates them, builds community and models sustainability.
“It’s really about bridging programs and people. That’s the beauty of this partnership,” said Thomas.
Powered by Peet’s
The Coffee for a Cause initiative plays a crucial role in making these programs possible. During the 2024–2025 academic year, funding from Peet’s helped the Graduate Assembly support 51 students: 13 Parent Travel Awards and 38 Professional Development Awards.
“That’s 51 graduate students who received meaningful assistance to pursue their goals. Whether that meant bringing their child with them to an academic conference or attending a workshop that will strengthen their career prospects,” Oseguera Sotomayor said.
On the Basic Needs side, Peet’s funding has become critical for sustaining and growing Basic Needs programs on campus.
“In a time when campus units face budget cuts, partnerships like this ensure the sustainability of important programs,” Thomas said. “Without Peet’s support, our farm-to-pantry connection might not be as strong, and we might not have the continuity to keep education, outreach and fresh produce at the forefront.”
Beyond stability, the funding also provides flexibility, supporting innovation in how programs serve students.
“Over the years, we’ve been able to evolve how we use the support, from purchasing food inventory to paying for a dedicated student role,” Thomas explained. “That flexibility makes it possible to try new things and build partnerships in ways that more restricted funding streams often don’t.”
Coffee for a Cause proves that even small, daily habits can contribute to something bigger. By linking a beloved campus ritual to meaningful support for students, this initiative reflects what’s possible when purpose and partnership come together.
So next time you're in line for your cold brew or latte, remember: it’s not just a cup of coffee. It’s a step toward a more supported campus community.