University officials announced last Wednesday a final tally of the University's historic capital campaign results. After concluding Dec. 31, the Campaign for the University netted almost $1.43 billion, the second-highest amount ever raised by a public university.
The campaign ended with $1,427,912,522 in gifts, pledges and other commitments. This places the University second only to the University of California-Berkeley, which announced the close of its campaign in December with a record $1.44 billion.
"I think the numbers speak for themselves," University Rector Jack P. Ackerly III said. The Board of Visitors plans to meet in April to outline the shape of future fundraising efforts, he said.
The most visible results of the capital campaign already can be seen across Grounds in new and expanded facilities for undergraduate and graduate Arts & Sciences and business programs, the Law School, the Medical School, athletics, the arts, the University library system and engineering.
The campaign also provided for the endowment of 154 professorships, 122 fellowships and 616 scholarships as well as prompted University officials to redefine expected levels of annual giving from donors.
"This campaign has been transformational," campaign co-chairman Thomas Saunders said. There is now the attitude at the University that "anything is possible ... the campaign proved to be a unifying force within the University. To me, that's the real legacy of this campaign."
In the early 1990s, University officials and the Board began planning for the campaign. They envisioned a goal of $350 to $500 million to help finance long-term academic commitments using private sources to compensate for rapidly shrinking state funding levels.
Between 1990 and 1995, the portion of the University's budget funded by the Commonwealth of Virginia dropped from 27 percent to 12 percent. The University now receives 14.4 percent of its budget from the state.
Despite the decrease, the University remains among the top 25 universities in the country. It is tied with Berkeley as the top public institution, according to U.S. News and World Report.
The campaign officially began in October 1995 to achieve more specific goals, including bolstering support for students, attracting and retaining professors and scholars and making use of new advances in information technology.
The University also sought to meet growing health care needs, advance the fine arts, improve sports and recreation facilities and preserve the University's architectural legacy.
By the time the campaign officially began, the University already had raised $350 million of the campaign's stated goal of $750 million.
Three years later, in February 1998, the Campaign Executive Committee recommended that the Board increase the amended goal to $1 billion. The campaign continued to pick up speed because donors contributed more than expected to the groundbreaking initiative. It reached the $1 billion mark in December 1999, a year ahead of schedule.
More than 142,000 donors contributed about 500,000 gifts to help the Campaign for the University reach its final $1.43 billion level.
The major challenge now is to "maintain momentum," Saunders said. "We must really step up and develop the next generation of alumni and friends ... to raise capital in the transition years between the end of this campaign and the beginning of the next, sometime in the next four years or so."
Other public schools boasting billion-dollar fundraising campaigns include the Pennsylvania State University system, the University of Arizona, the University of Minnesota and the University of Texas at Austin. Ohio State University, the University of Illinois system and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor have completed campaigns of similar size and breadth.
"The University's success is because of the University itself ... it's a great institution, and its community has given back to it in a way that has surpassed all expectations," Saunders concluded.
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