During the 2024-25 academic year, Student-Athlete Advisory Committees (SAAC) at all 12 CCAA athletic departments participated in their campuses' Basic Needs Drive campaign.
 
The Basic Needs program, which is in its 14th year, was previously named the CCAA Food Drive but rebranded to the CCAA Basic Needs Drive in 2023-24. SAAC programs at all 12 universities will collect items for community members who need help. These include toiletry items, eating utensils, clothing, food, and more.
 
Cal Poly Pomona held the first Basic Needs Drive event of the year during the 2024 CCAA Volleyball Tournament in November. Fans donated canned foods and received discounted tickets to the tournament, which took place in Kellogg Arena.
 
The other 11 all took place in February, in the month of the traditional CCAA Basic Needs Drive.
 
Last year, all 12 universities gathered items for on-campus groups, such as Stanislaus State's Warrior Food Pantry and Cal State East Bay's Pioneers for H.O.P.E. Below is a list of each community group SAAC will support.
 
The project began in 2011 and was designed to raise awareness of the plight of those facing hunger and food insecurity in communities surrounding the conference's member institutions. According to the California Association of Food Banks, one in five Californians struggle with food insecurity despite producing nearly half of the nation's fruits and vegetables. That equates to 8.8 million of our fellow Californians who do not know where their next meal will come from.
 
Along with the annual conference initiative to give back, supporting students' basic needs is a critical pillar of the Cal State System's Graduation Initiative 2025.