Record giving sets stage for future achievements

Hokie Nation has set a new mark for philanthropic impact on Virginia Tech’s students, faculty, and programs.

Alumni, friends, parents, employees, and students combined to make nearly $268.5 million in new gifts and commitments during the 2021-22 fiscal year that ran from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022.

The all-time-record show of generosity was a tremendous increase — 34 percent — from the $200.3 million given in fiscal year 2020-21.

“Hokie Nation’s generosity is remarkable, inspiring, and empowers our vision for the university’s future,” said Virginia Tech President Tim Sands. “Philanthropy is essential for recruiting and retaining world-class faculty and extraordinary staff. Support from alumni and friends also helps ensure that talented students from all the communities we serve have access to a life-changing educational experience at Virginia Tech. Thank you to everyone who stepped forward to make a difference.”

Along with the record total in new gifts and commitments, the 2021-22 fiscal year saw the largest single gift ever made by a Virginia Tech graduate, $35 million from Norris Mitchell ’58 and his wife, Wendy Mitchell, to name a new College of Engineering building. A record amount, nearly $78.6 million in new gifts and commitments, was raised for the engineering college overall. The fiscal year also saw the undergraduate alumni giving percentage reach 22 percent, doubling the rate from the end of the fiscal year 2015-16 and achieving an ambitious goal set by Sands in fall 2016 in his first State of the University Address.

Other notable examples of philanthropy in the past fiscal year included $12.5 million toward quantum research and education from leading global aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman and nearly $49.6 million given to athletics, which was an increase of more than 70 percent from athletics donations the previous fiscal year. Athletics announced a $400 million fundraising initiative called “Reach for Excellence” in 2021 and by April of this year, announced it had raised over $200 million toward that goal.

The enthusiasm and engagement displayed by Hokie Nation during the university’s Giving Day also helped make the year’s record fundraising total possible. More than 15,700 alumni, fans, students, faculty, and other supporters — representing all 50 states and 30 countries — collectively gave over $8.4 million to colleges, departments, teams, and programs throughout the university during the annual event in February.

“We are extremely fortunate to have so many dedicated partners and supporters who choose to invest in our vision for the future of Virginia Tech,” said Vice President for Advancement Charlie Phlegar. “These extraordinary results and the talented team we have in place have us excited about our growing culture of philanthropy and optimistic for the future. We’re building operations to sustain a $200 million-a-year fundraising operation and aim to grow to $300 million-a-year over the next half-decade. To do this, we’ll keep finding new ways to engage alumni and fans, progress toward our goal to become a top 100 global university, foster innovative partnerships with philanthropic and industry leaders, and ensure the long-term health and success of Virginia Tech.”

Boundless Impact, Virginia Tech’s current fundraising campaign and the most ambitious in its history, was announced in 2019 with an initial goal to raise $1.5 billion by 2027. Alumni, industry partners, friends, parents, students, and employees had collectively given nearly $1.16 billion toward the campaign by the close of fiscal year 2021-22. Virginia Tech announced in April that it would increase the goal of Boundless Impact to $1.872 billion. The new goal alludes to the 1872 founding year of the university.

“Our community has shown incredible support for the students and faculty of our university during the past fiscal year,” said Lynne Doughtie, a member of the Class of 1985 and co-chair of the Boundless Impact Campaign Steering Committee. “The passion and generosity of Hokie Nation has made an impact on countless lives in the form of scholarships, community service, opportunities for students to travel and network in their field, and research that seeks to address the most complex problems facing our society. Virginia Tech achievements on all of these fronts and more are made possible by the thousands of people who choose to invest in our success, and we are extremely grateful to all of them.”