During Thursday’s meeting of the Board of Visitors’ Advancement Committee, Mark Luellen, senior vice president for external relations, reported that the University’s Honor the Future campaign had raised over $6.1 billion in donations at the time of its conclusion June 30. $2.3 billion of this money was directed to the University’s endowment.
The Advancement Committee plays a central role in shaping how the University presents itself to the public, handling capital campaign fundraising, brand strategy, alumni outreach, commemorative events and institutional communications.
The Honor the Future campaign was launched in 2019 under former University President Jim Ryan with the goals of strengthening education, advancing democratic engagement and expanding research. It surpassed its original $5 billion target in December 2023 and is now the fourth largest public fundraising campaign completed at any school, according to Luellen.
He said the campaign ultimately ended with about 258,000 individual donations across 6 years compared to an alumni base of about 275,000.
“Where institutions around the country are seeing a decline in the actual number of donors, but an increase in the size of gifts … we hit our high mark of 84,000 unique gifts this past year, and 50,000 of those came from alumni,” Luellen said.
Luellen mentioned that the University recorded one of its strongest years of philanthropic support this year, reporting a total of $470 million in donations. He said this represents a 14 percent increase from the previous year and marks the second highest total in University history.
He also said that of the total amount raised, $2.3 billion, was directed to the University’s endowment and the remainder to funding capital projects across Grounds, including the School of Data Science facilities and the Karsh Institute of Democracy.
Luellen continued to reflect on the successes of the campaign, but also noted room for improvement for future fundraising events, especially among corporate partners and foundations.
“If there was one thing in this campaign which we probably weren't as strong on was ‘How do we leverage corporate support for the University,’” Luellen said. “It's been something that's been a challenge at the University for a while.”
Before thanking the University’s donors for their generosity, he discussed that the University is hiring new people to address the issue of corporate outreach.
Luellen was followed by Leah Blue, director of community college partnerships and senior transfer counselor, who described the importance of the Piedmont Scholars Program, which now has an endowment of about $17 million. The program provides transfer students from Piedmont Virginia Community College located outside of Charlottesville with full scholarships and academic resources when transferring to the University.
Blue told the Board that these students have had to overcome significant obstacles — whether health issues, limited access to housing or caregiving responsibilities — but have continued to leave a significant mark on the University.
“Their presence is now so integral that it's difficult to envision our University community without them,” Blue said. “The Piedmont Scholars are performing at high academic levels, they're actively involved in student organizations, research, leadership programs, study abroad programs and service.”
Blue also said the program helps showcase talent across the Commonwealth and serves as an inspiration for future transfer students, while Luellen spoke about the program’s importance and success as well.
“Quana Dennis, who you've seen here before at the Board meetings, was in our first cohort of Piedmont Scholars, and he's now on the search committee for the next [University] president,” Luellen said.
Following the comments from Luellen and Blue, the Advancement Committee thanked Class of 1978 alumnus Peter Grant for his successful tenure as chairman of the Honor the Future campaign before adjourning.
The next meeting of the Advancement Committee will be during the meetings of the Board Dec. 4-5.
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