Message from the campaign chair: May 2017
William & Mary continues to reach new heights with its historic For the Bold campaign — all because of you. The illuminations of so many prominent landmarks from the West Coast to the East Coast represent the extraordinary light of our university and the campaign’s far-reaching impact on the people we call family.
There is a lot of excitement here in the ’Burg with students celebrating the end of classes and seniors preparing for Commencement and their next journey. The campus will soon be quiet as students depart for summer break, but the For the Bold campaign continues to ramp up the pace as we approach the end of the fiscal year.
Last week, we had a remarkable celebration in Washington, D.C. — where the largest contingent of our William & Mary community lives — as we gathered with our most loyal donors and announced that we are now over the $700 million mark. We are also making great progress on our other ambitious goals — William & Mary Weekend in New York City is quickly approaching (May 18-21) and we have two months to reach 31 percent undergraduate alumni participation.
One Tribe One Day was an extraordinary and record-breaking day of giving back and paying it forward. It also helped us get closer to our 2017 participation goal. As we approach June 30, we look to our entire family to show their Tribe Pride, to reach out to classmates and friends and ask them to consider giving back to their alma mater. Annual gifts of all sizes allow students, faculty, alumni and others to see and feel the remarkable impact that private giving has on the entire William & Mary experience — from academics to athletics, alumni programming and beyond.
Our newest crowdfunding initiative is also making an immediate impact. Tribefunding allows the William & Mary community to engage with their passions, no matter the size of the undertaking. These projects allow any member of our community to support ventures that they deeply care about. Each semester, William & Mary will unveil a new group of campaigns. The first seven funding opportunities end on May 10.
I cannot thank you enough for supporting William & Mary and for helping us advance all of our priorities, particularly scholarships. As a way to continue to highlight our No. 1 campaign priority, we are kicking off a series today on our blog, The Gale, that will feature 12 graduating students discussing how scholarships afforded them the means to attend William & Mary and what their plans are after they graduate. The first blog post features a student whose father lost his job due to the sequestration cuts in 2013 and how a scholarship gave him the opportunity to be part of our Tribe family. These stories are powerful, and I encourage you to read them.
William & Mary is buzzing with good news, and you can learn more about many of these inspiring activities and events in this edition of the campaign e-newsletter:
- Watch a video recap of the D.C. For the Bold celebration
- Young Guarde collectively raised $2.4 million
- Three more days to register for W&M Weekend in NYC
- 2013 sequestration cuts hit W&M senior hard — until a scholarship gave him hope and opportunity
- Trice gift supports international and public policy programs
- Hulon Willis Association’s 25th anniversary weekend is just a month away
- William & Mary celebrates For the Bold in Washington, D.C.
- Private support funds teaching of democratic change in Russia
- Hunter J. Smith gives $15 million for Alumni House expansion and renovation
- VIMS receives gifts to support Chesapeake Bay
- W&M alumnae: Taubman Museum gathering
Thanks again and Go Tribe!
Sincerely,
Sue Hanna Gerdelman ’76
Chair, For the Bold campaign