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Through Honor the Future, the Campaign for the University of Virginia, we are building on our strong foundations to support the president’s vision: to become the best public university by 2030 and one of the very best in the world.
The University of Virginia joined with friends and family on a Saturday night in October to celebrate the success of a fundraising campaign that reached unprecedented heights and reflected generosity remarkable even across UVA’s 200-year history.
More than 258,000 unique donors propelled the Honor the Future campaign well past its original goal of $5 billion—hitting that mark 18 months early—while forging partnerships between UVA and its supporters that will enable opportunity and excellence for decades to come.
“The Honor the Future campaign far exceeded even our highest aspirations,” Paul G. Mahoney, interim UVA president, said at the celebration held at John Paul Jones Arena. “That success is a direct result of the incredible generosity of hundreds of thousands of donors—those gathered with us here tonight and those joining us in spirit all over the world.”
The campaign “helped us to define our dreams for excellence and our hopes for the next generation of leaders in our democracy,” Mahoney said.
By focusing on strengthening core priorities and enhancing UVA’s extraordinary student experience—including investments in faculty, student access and affordability— the campaign achieved its greatest successes by attending to the most important participants in the life of a university: its people.
Paul Manning, whose $100 million lead gift in 2023 created the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology, encapsulated a core spirit of the campaign and its partnerships that provide immediate benefit while seeding future promise. He and his wife have supported the University for 18 years, producing results that he termed “extraordinary.”
The couple’s initial gift was followed by significant investments of $100 million from the commonwealth, $150 million from UVA and more than $50 million from additional donors.
“With the Manning Institute, we believe our greatest impact is still ahead, helping to create new treatments, new cures and new hope for generations to come,” he said. “The future of medicine is being built right here, at the University of Virginia.”
The institute, under construction in Fontaine Research Park, will be a state-of-the-art biomedical research, development and manufacturing facility with a mission to generate new treatments and cures for the most challenging medical conditions. Additionally, it will cultivate an ecosystem of biotechnology innovation and economic growth in Virginia for the benefit of patients worldwide.
“I couldn’t be more excited about what lies ahead—the discoveries we will make, the lives we will save and the hope we will bring,” Manning said. He concluded by thanking “the doctors, nurses and researchers—past, present, and future—whose brilliance and commitment make all this possible.”
Peter M. Grant II (Col ’78, Darden ’86), chair of the Honor the Future campaign, expressed thanks to the entire University community for its sustained effort and unwavering confidence.
“While this is indeed a celebration of the Honor the Future campaign, as importantly, it’s intended as an expression of gratitude for your engagement at the University, for your energy around the stated objectives of the campaign and your generosity in helping to achieve campaign milestones,” Grant said.
Colleen and Peter Grant, Paul Mahoney, Jaffray Woodriff, Diane and Paul Manning
The University publicly launched Honor the Future in October 2019. The campaign advanced priorities for every school and unit, supported new and existing programs, increased resources for students and faculty, and funded capital projects.
The dates hold historical significance as 2019 marked the 200th anniversary of the state legislature providing the University its charter, and 2025 marked the 200th anniversary of the University’s first class of students who matriculated in 1825.
Extraordinary support in two key areas—scholarships and faculty—showcase campaign priorities. Through the Bicentennial Scholars Fund, a matching program named in honor of UVA’s 200th anniversary, the University committed to an array of scholarships to provide financial security, educational opportunity and a solid foundation for promising students.
By the campaign’s end, the Bicentennial Scholars Fund created more than 750 endowed scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students and student-athletes. Similarly, with support from committed benefactors to recruit and retain a faculty cohort of extraordinary scholars, the Bicentennial Professors Fund also created nearly 140 endowed professorships across Grounds.
During the campaign, the University received numerous transformative gifts that enabled profound changes on Grounds and will have a lasting impact across the commonwealth.
The Quantitative Foundation’s 2019 grant of $120 million to establish UVA’s School of Data Science was the largest individual private grant in the University’s history. The first school of its kind in the nation, it positioned UVA as a global leader in advancing efforts to benefit society through teaching and research in the field of data science.
“Teaching data science in its most general and applied form is what our newest school is all about, and watching the tremendous student-driven demand has been especially gratifying for me,” Jaffray Woodriff (McIntire ’91), founder and trustee of the foundation and an early pioneer in the use of data science, said Saturday evening. “The success of this campaign represents a call to action for the University to remain steadfast, independent, and at the forefront of innovation and aspirational progress in the world at large.”
Mahoney also announced that the University will endow a scholarship in honor of Grant and his wife, Colleen, to recognize a student who has been a leader during their time on Grounds. “We ultimately felt that their leadership should be carried forward through future generations of students who possess the same leadership traits and love for the University that Peter and Colleen so admirably exemplify,” he said.
Mahoney, Grant and others shared their appreciation for previous leaders, particularly former University presidents John Casteen, Teresa Sullivan, and Jim Ryan.
The celebration’s overarching theme was one of gratitude.
“Tonight was a night to celebrate hundreds of students, faculty, staff, and University leaders who made this campaign possible, to recognize those that came before us for the foundation they laid, and to thank the thousands of alumni, parents, and friends that continue to care deeply about our university, its mission, and our collective future,” Mark Luellen, senior vice president for external relations, said.
