inside.hokiesports.com 27 THE OFFICIAL KIDS’ CLUB OF VIRGINIA TECH ATHLETICS TO CHOOSE FROM Visit hokiesports.com/hokiekidsclub to join! ORANGE LEVEL: FREE MAROON LEVEL: $35 TWO PLANS Virginia Tech Athletics and the Hokie Club are pleased to announce that, with the dedicated help of a passionate donor base, the fundraising drive year came to a successful close on March 1, 2023. Hokie Club membership exceeded 25,000 for the second consecutive year, once again putting Virginia Tech athletics amongst the ACC programs with the largest donor bases. • The Hokie Scholarship Fund accumulated over $17 million in annual fundraising for the second straight year. • Sport-specific fundraising exceeded $2 million for the needs of our 22 varsity sports. • Reach for Excellence campaign progressing well past its halfway mark of $200 million since its inception in 2020. “Our donors once again displayed their passion in ensuring the best possible future for our student-athletes in Blacksburg,” Director of Athletics Whit Babcock said. “This was another impressive showing for our department, but an even more impressive effort from the greatest fans in collegiate athletics.” HOKIE SCHOLARSHIP FUND Annual fundraising for the Hokie Scholarship Fund surpassed $17 million for the second consecutive year, with an additional $2 million in spin-off from the Athletics scholarship endowments expected. February 2023 specifically saw over $6 million in Hokie Scholarship Fund contributions, representing the largest month of annual fundraising in the history of the Hokie Club. SPORTS-SPECIFIC FUNDRAISING Hokie Nation also remained committed to contributing to Virginia Tech athletics’ 22 varsity programs through sports-specific fundraising. A main tenant of the department’s $400 million “Reach for Excellence” campaign, $2.1 million was raised in annual fundraising to provide resources for programmatic needs of all Hokie sports. These funds will directly go into each team’s designated foundation accounts, supplementing their operational budgets and providing them with resources necessary to foster the best possible experience for each student-athlete on their roster. Triumph Together, the department’s annual sports-specific giving blitz, saw over $630,000 in gifts provided from over 2,058 donors, setting a record for the total donors in the four year history of the two and a half day event. Athletics also saw a significant jump in sports-specific fundraising during the university’s annual Giving Day in February. Athletics recorded gifts from over 1,700 donors in 24 hours for a total of $1.4 million. KEEP JUMPING FUND Over 2,500 Hokies made gifts to the Keep Jumping Fund during the 2023 Drive Year, amounting to over $125,000 in donations. This undesignated pool of resources received gifts thanks to the execution of select micro-campaigns throughout the year, including Brent Pry and Kenny Brooks bobbleheads, a Cassell Kit, and a Cassell Banner print. The Hokie Club plans to continue to capitalize on monumental moments for our programs by devising more micro-campaigns in the near future. REACH FOR EXCELLENCE CAMPAIGN The Hokie Club and Virginia Tech athletics are still tracking on tremendous progress in the Reach for Excellence campaign. This $400 million initiative, part of the university’s overall $1.5 billion Boundless Impact campaign, includes a five pillar approach of enhancing the Football operating budget, funding for a full renovation of Cassell Coliseum, growing the scholarship endowment, and providing comprehensive support for all 22 varsity sports. The campaign surpassed its halfway mark early on in the 2023 fundraising year, accumulating a total of over $200 million since its inception in 2021. The Hokie Club continues to process major gift opportunities in support of Virginia Tech student-athletes through its dedicated staff. Money from these substantial gifts to Virginia Tech athletics will continue to be processed through the conclusion of the fiscal year in June and are not limited to the fundraising year that ended on March 1, 2023. “The idea of reaching 25,000 donors was almost unthinkable in 2016, and we just reached that mark for the second year in a row,” Babcock said. “We have a bright future ahead of us in Blacksburg. Our fans have bought into the idea that we are stronger together than we are apart. We can all drive in the same direction and ‘Reach for Excellence’ together.”
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