Robert D. Sweeney, Vice President for Development

The Campaign is making its mark

When the Board of Visitors raised the Campaign for the University's fund-raising goal from $750 million to $1 billion in February 1998, we could not have foreseen that the University would reach the 10-figure milestone a year before the campaign's scheduled conclusion, as now appears almost certain.

But for those of us in the field of institutional advancement, these are the best of times. The University has had the rare good fortune of conducting its campaign in a strong economy and the longest bull market in history. Moreover, the University's standing among alumni and the general public has never been greater. Our benefactors know they are investing in a winner.

The campaign's success can't be measured in dollars and cents alone. Across the Grounds, our donors are strengthening schools and programs in tangible and enduring ways.

The most visible transformation has been in physical facilities, from the new and expanded structures for Darden and Law to the restoration work under way in Pavilion VII to the additional seats and state-of-the-art playing surface in Scott Stadium. Soon the University will break ground for a medical research building, a laboratory addition for Environmental Sciences, and a library complex that will house the David A. Harrison III Institute of American History, Literature and Culture and the Albert H. Small Special Collections Library. All of these have been funded in large measure through the campaign.

The campaign also is touching individual members of the University family. To date we have received some $130 million in gifts, pledges, and deferred gifts for endowed professorships, scholarships and graduate fellowships. When all these commitments are fulfilled, they will generate more than $7 million a year in student and faculty support.

The campaign already has helped the University make faculty salaries more competitive. Between 1996 and 1999, with the help of unrestricted funds received in the campaign, the University pushed its faculty salaries from 32nd place in the American Association of Universities to 23rd place. And through the campaign, faculty and staff have helped themselves by contributing to a new scholarship fund for children of U.Va. employees.

What will happen when we reach the $1 billion mark? Be assured we will not simply declare victory and strike our tents. We will continue to seek funds for priorities yet to be addressed, but more important, we will begin laying the groundwork for the next phase of the University's development.

The campaign has taken us to a stage where we can pursue bold new aspirations, including those being explored by President Casteen's Virginia 2020 strategic planning initiative. We have already heard from many alumni and friends who are encouraging us to reach for new opportunities and are willing to help provide the resources to achieve them.

Buoyed by the success of this campaign, the University is in a position to determine its own destiny and to envision possibilities that could not have been imagined a decade ago.

Note: This is the second in a monthly series featuring letters from U.Va. leaders.