A recent survey of higher education institutions found that total private donations to the nation's colleges and universities increased by 3.4 percent in 2004. Despite the national increase in donations, the University fell off the list of the top 20 institutions that received the highest donation amounts.
Over half of all the nation's four-year institutions participated in "The Voluntary Support of Education" survey, released earlier this month by the Council to Aid in Education and the RAND Corporation.
Robert Sweeney, senior vice president for development and public affairs, said the University received $175 million in donations in 2004, yet did not receive one significant donation like those given in two of the past three years.
"The University did have a drop in giving last year," Sweeney said. "The reason for that is actually pretty simple. The percentage of giving was up, including more gifts at the $2,500 level, but what we were missing was that one very large gift, so that explains the drop in our giving."
Sweeney also explained that 2004 saw the diminishing pledge payments of the Capital Campaign that ended in 2000, while few pledges for the current Capital Campaign actually have been converted into the cash flow.
"As our new pledges are transferred into payments, we are fully expecting our numbers to shoot back up to even a greater level of performance than what we had in the past few years," he said.
One of the national trends noted in the survey was that although the dollar amount of alumni gifts has been increasing, the actual number of alumni donors has been declining since 2001. Sweeney said the number of alumni donors at the University has not dropped but rather has remained constant. Thus, those alumni who are giving are giving more.
One of the goals in the University's fundraising initiative is to increase the number of gifts from first-time donors and younger alumni, Sweeney said.
Director of Development Communications William Sublette said increasing participation is a key goal the University is focusing on, as well as encouraging donations of all sizes.
"We just want more of our alumni to feel that extra level of engagement that comes with being a regular donor and enjoying the satisfaction that comes with investing in the institution," Sublette said. "Just by giving some small amount, they become a part of this tradition of giving at the University."
Sublette also said the University currently has a program in place called My Yearly Dollars Count at Virginia, or MY-D-CAV, which is aimed at encouraging gifts from alumni in their first five years out of the University.
Both Sublette and Sweeney said they expected the University's numbers for 2005 to rebound from those seen in 2004.
"We're really heartened by the growth we have seen this year in fundraising," Sweeney said. "We're up some $14 million over where we were last year at this time, so that bodes well, and we should see the University back in the top 12 to 15 for all universities."
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