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What Does $3 Billion Look Like?

How the recently completed campaign has changed UVA

When the $3 billion Campaign for the University of Virginia was publicly launched in October of 2006 under the direction of then President John T. Casteen III, it was the most ambitious fundraising effort in the history of public education. During Final Exercises in May, President Teresa Sullivan announced that the campaign had exceeded its goal.

From its inception, one of the campaign's goals was to reduce reliance on state funding, allowing the University to continue serving Virginians while also strengthening its place among the world's best institutions of higher learning. When Casteen took office in 1990, state appropriations accounted for 30 percent of the academic division's budget. This year, state support accounts for just over 10 percent. "We want to be the first privately financed public university," Bob Sweeney, senior vice president for University advancement, said after the campaign was announced in 2006. "Our goal is to make the words 'great' and 'public' no longer mutually exclusive."

At the campaign's conclusion, Gordon F. Rainey Jr. (Col '62, Law '67), campaign chairman and a former rector of the University, said, "Because of the tireless efforts of so many loyal and generous supporters, we are confident in a secure future for the University."

Here's a look at just a few of the significant ways that funds raised during the campaign have transformed the University.

Academics

Buildings

UVA Health System

The Betsy and John Casteen Arts Grounds

Programs and Centers

Athletics

By the Numbers

  • $3,054,756,692—campaign total (unaudited) as of June 30, 2013, or 102 percent of the $3 billion goal
  • 224,972 total donors (includes people and organizations)
  • 102,879 alumni donors (including UVA-Wise alumni)
  • 2,619 faculty and staff donors (including former faculty)
  • 29,462 parent donors