Elizabeth A. Flanagan
Vice President for Development and University Relations
Virginia Tech’s friends and alumni continue to show boundless generosity and unfailing support for the university’s mission. A record number of donors gave to Virginia Tech in 2002-03. Such unstinting support is crucial if Virginia Tech is to continue to enhance the quality of education that its students receive. More than $12.6 million came from our corporate sponsors, accounting for 23 percent of all of the gifts we received. Our donors are truly providing the foundation for Virginia Tech’s success.
As Virginia Tech looks to raise the university endowment to $1 billion during the next decade, such generous support will become even more critical. Over the past year, an independent consulting firm surveyed a cross-section of major donors and reported that the overall attitude of Virginia Tech’s friends and alumni is very positive. Nearly 100 percent of the people they talked to were pleased with the direction the university is taking. Support is high for Virginia Tech’s Strategic Plan and the university’s leadership.
It is clear that academic excellence is very important to every member of the university community. Private philanthropy will help us support our talented faculty as well as attract new stars. As we increase our endowment, we will be able to provide more graduate and faculty fellowships, professorships, and chairs. These funds will help enable Virginia Tech to offer more competitive salaries, enhance student programs, and provide funding for innovative research. All of these endeavors will enable Virginia Tech to advance the quality of the university both inside and outside the classroom.
One way donors can enhance Virginia Tech’s academic excellence is by giving unrestricted funds to the university. Unrestricted funds can be used to facilitate student aid, faculty support and recruitment, research assistance, equipment purchases, and emergency needs as they arise. These funds offer the flexibility and spontaneity essential for responding to unanticipated needs and opportunities by providing administrators and faculty with the resources to start and nurture programs and initiatives that may well shape the university’s future direction. While state money continues to keep the doors open, innovation, discovery, scholarship, and national prominence are the result of private giving.
I look forward to the fundraising challenges before us. Our success will enable us to capitalize on new initiatives and opportunities across the university over the next year. Standing together, we build on that solid Virginia Tech foundation of teaching, research, and outreach.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth A. Flanagan
Vice President for Development and University Relations
