Virginia Tech donors step forward in powerful and inspiring show of support
Tens of thousands of donors worldwide combined to provide millions in support of Virginia Tech’s students, programs, and faculty during the fiscal year that ran July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.
New gifts and commitments totaled nearly $226.1 million, the second highest total in Virginia Tech history and a fourth straight year of giving over $200 million. Thanks to this generosity, the three-year average of new gifts and commitments rose by 3.7 percent to an all-time high of nearly $239.8 million. More than $197.4 million in cash was received from donations, which pushed that three-year average over $200 million for the first time.
The university’s Advancement Division, which is responsible for fundraising, engagement, communications, and marketing, has a goal to grow the three-year fundraising average for new gifts and commitments to $300 million this decade.
“We are grateful for the extraordinary generosity of the alumni, friends, and partners who make our progress possible and inspire our vision for the future,” said Virginia Tech President Tim Sands. “We also appreciate the dedication of our Advancement Division. Their work to engage our supporters is essential to the success of our mission to serve our students and our communities.”
Donations play a crucial role funding scholarships, projects, and strategic initiatives throughout the university, including the Virginia Tech Advantage and Global Distinction priorities championed by Sands.
As of June 30, nearly $49.5 million in giving has counted toward Virginia Tech Advantage, which has a 10-year fundraising goal of $500 million. Nearly $85.6 million in giving has counted toward Global Distinction.
Virginia Tech’s undergraduate alumni giving percentage exceeded 20 percent for a third straight year. Giving Day participation and generosity reached record levels with nearly 19,000 donors providing more than $13 million combined over 24 hours spanning Feb. 21-22.
“Generosity and participation have grown every year since we first launched Giving Day, but this year’s jump was particularly large,” said Senior Associate Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Advancement Rhonda Arsenault. “It was inspiring to see the work of hundreds of volunteers and colleagues spark such an amazing show of support for Virginia Tech.”
For the year as a whole, new gifts and commitments came from nearly 68,000 individuals, corporations, foundations, or other organizations, including an all-time high of over 48,000 alumni. Their giving will provide millions toward life-changing scholarships, programs that engage tens of thousands of people, and potentially lifesaving research.
“Philanthropy is an essential part of the support mechanism for our research enterprise and particularly for the innovation component,” said Michael Friedlander, who directs the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and is Virginia Tech’s vice president for health sciences and technology. “Philanthropy is key to our researchers being able to attack the greatest challenges in health through early stage innovative approaches to big problems. Donors stepped up in an incredible way this year, with over $53 million in support. Thanks to them, we are hiring world-class research teams and advancing innovative and impactful projects addressing cancer, brain disorders, and heart disease.”
Thanks to 145 generous households, qualifying gifts to the Beyond Boundaries Scholars program reached $1 million for a sixth consecutive year. Such gifts are matched dollar-for-dollar by the university.
In 2019, Virginia Tech launched Boundless Impact, a comprehensive fundraising campaign that runs through 2027 and has goals to raise $1.872 billion in new gifts and commitments and engage 120,000 alumni in meaningful ways. Thanks to donations over the past fiscal year, campaign progress was over $1.64 billion given and nearly 106,000 alumni engaged as of June 30.
“Hokie Nation’s generosity is one of Virginia Tech’s greatest strengths,” said Senior Vice President for Advancement Charlie Phlegar. “Thank you for stepping forward this past year. Your support sparks discoveries. It changes lives. Throughout Virginia Tech, you inspire us to do all we can to make this great university even better. We know we have big goals to achieve, and we are always working to refine and improve our division to be sure we can meet them.”
