Sweet Briar College recently announced it raised $1.9 million in just 10 days during its annual March Days of Giving, with alumnae and friends contributing 1,452 gifts.
“I am profoundly grateful to everyone who contributed to Sweet Briar during the March Days of Giving,” President Meredith Woo said in a news release. “This outpouring of generosity demonstrates the love that the College’s family and friends feel for this institution, and the pride they take in supporting Sweet Briar’s mission to educate women leaders.”
The 10-day giving campaign kicked off March 1, with the campus community gathering in the Quad to plant a new Sweet Briar rose bush.
On that evening, with the help of alumnae and friends, Sweet Briar raised $505,074 in less than 24 hours, which exceeded its initial goal of $500,000, the college said in a release.
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The annual giving initiative began in 2016, following a previous administration’s failed attempt to close the private women’s college in Amherst County.
Mary Pope Hutson, senior vice president for alumnae relations and development, said the March Days of Giving were created as a way to rally the school’s alumnae around the cause of supporting Sweet Briar and its mission, as well as “rededicated ourselves to the perpetuity of the college and the importance of women’s education in today’s society.”
In total, the college has about 12,600 alumnae, according to Hutson.
“Sweet Briar alumnae just continue to rally to the cause of women’s education and Sweet Briar in perpetuity, making sure that we can continue to persist in our mission to educate young women,” Hutson said.
Hutson said this is the eighth consecutive year of raising more than $1.9 million during those days and since 2016, the college has raised over $15.8 million total during March giving events.
Among alumnae, Sweet Briar saw a 7% increase in participation rates during the March Days of Giving and it strives to reach 30%, according to a release. Hutson said the college is “well on their way” to making participation goals and it’s “thrilling to see this rally of our alumnae.”
Hutson said the money raised during the annual days of giving have helped with scholarships, faculty development, the academic programs and the stewardship of the campus.
“It really has been an incredible spectacle to watch each year of our alumni rededicating themselves to the college, and they have rallied to the cause of women’s education. So our alumnae, we believe, are now a movement that is unstoppable,” Hutson said.