VCU raises $33.8 million in fiscal year 2001

By J. Suzanne Horsley

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Commonwealth University raised $33,891,469 last fiscal year (July 1, 2000-June 30, 2001), a 38 percent increase from the previous year. FY 2001 marked the second-highest fundraising year ever for VCU, just behind the $35 million raised in 1999.

"We are enormously heartened by what we were able to accomplish last year," said VCU President Eugene P. Trani, Ph.D. "We were in the last year of our Partners for Progress campaign in 1999 when we raised the $35 million. Considering this is a non-campaign year, the $33.8 million is truly remarkable."

Of the $33.8 million, $18.8 million went to current funds, $7.4 million to capital projects, and $7.6 million to endowed funds. Alumni donations accounted for 11 percent of the funds, followed by organizations at 16 percent, foundations at 23 percent, friends at 24 percent and corporations at 24 percent.

Major gifts and specialized campaigns last year included the successful year-long campaign for VCU’s Heart Center, which raised $8.2 million (exceeding its initial goal by more than $1.4 million); $10 million in cumulative gifts from the Massey family in support of the Massey Cancer Center; and a gift of 342 acres along the James River to create the Inger and Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences.