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Known as CIOs, student organizations are at the core of the student experience at UVA. The University is home to over 700 groups who create more than 12,000 events every year, from sports matches and fraternities and sororities to academic meetups. There are also the less serious clubs like the Cereal Club, Chocolate Milk Club, Clash of Clans Club, and Swifties Club.
This year, the groups competed with one another in several fundraising challenges—with impressive results. In fall 2025, with a timeframe of only a few weeks, over 600 student organizations raised over $52,500 from more than 1,200 donors who were alumni, parents, friends, and fellow students. Leaderboards tracked donors and donations throughout the challenge; because sports clubs often have larger memberships and a bigger alumni pool, they competed directly with one another to level the playing field.
The two winning clubs’ fundraising chairs, Michael Michelotti (Col ’27) from Remote Area Medical and Dana Johannsen (Col ’27) from Club Running, talk about their CIOs, how they were so successful, and the impact of the money they raised.
171 donors | $3,643 raised
RAM@UVA is the UVA campus chapter of Remote Area Medical. The group spreads awareness for the organization’s mission, advocating for access to quality health care both locally and nationally, and providing support at clinics in Virginia and neighboring states. The free clinic in Fishersville, Virginia, is the largest of these clinics, and RAM@UVA sources over 200 volunteers who help provide medical, dental, and optical care for attendees.
To what do you attribute your success in this fundraiser? How did members of RAM get the word out about the challenge?
Volunteer space is limited at many of the clinics, so we have a point-based system that determines which members are able to attend the clinics. During the CIO Challenge, members could earn points for bringing in donations—even for just five dollars. We try to keep our fundraising as inclusive as possible because we want to encourage fundraising and give opportunities to our members, so we designed challenges amongst ourselves for achieving the most donations and the most given by a single member.
I was pretty active in the group about getting the word out, and the CIO Challenge also had something called Hoo+2, which earned people a prize if they got two people to donate through a special CIO Challenge web link. It was mostly a lot of outreach to keep the busy RAM members engaged.
What will the money raised help Remote Area Medical achieve?
All the Remote Area Medical clinics are essentially the same, but their size and the types of additional care they provide differentiates them. Part of the money we raised is going toward special kinds of care. The other two RAM clinics I’ve attended had 10 or 20 dental tents; at the Fishersville clinic in March, we’re going to have 40. And we’ll also be able to offer some enhanced services like vaccines, community resource booths, fresh produce, a barber and massage therapist, and service dogs.
What do you think is the most important thing about student organizations at UVA? I think it’s the community that they foster. People join organizations because they like the what the group is doing but also to make friends. There are so many students with different interests, so it’s one of the best ways to meet people. I feel like I’ve met more people through like RAM and other clubs than I have through my classes.
208 donors | $5,666 raised
The UVA Running Club offers runners at all skill levels an opportunity to train and race at a collegiate level without the time commitment of a varsity team. The group attends more than half a dozen cross country and track meets throughout the year, including regional and national championships, and competes against a variety of Division III and club teams from across the country. The club is also a close-knit social community and hosts group dinners after evening practices, organizes intramural soccer and dodgeball teams, and takes day trips to nearby attractions.
To what do you attribute your success in this fundraiser? How did members of Club Running get the word out about the challenge?
We have a pretty active social media presence, so we posted the challenge there. Since it was our first time doing something like this, we had never really explored reaching out to family members or reaching out to alumni and asking for support, but that really worked. We have a ton of really active alumni, and as fundraising chair, I’m working to strengthen our alumni network and solidify and make it more official. We didn’t get ton of really big donations but tried to reach out to a lot of people. I think that tends to be our strength: sheer numbers and sheer effort.
What will the money you raised help Club Running achieve?
Well, the club keeps growing, so at any given meet we have between 50 and 70 people, which is a really impressive turnout. We’re trying to keep our dues inexpensive and consistent, but prices are going up. We attend upwards of six meets per semester, which costs thousands of dollars. So some of the money we raised will help support registration and travel to those meets, and it will also help us pay for uniforms. We’re also going to invest some of the money through the University. Since we were so lucky to get all of this help from current and past members of the club, it felt smart to set aside something that could be used in the future.
What do you think is the most important thing about student organizations at UVA? I think the one thing that seems to hold true for all student organizations is that they give you your community, whether you’re looking for a sports team, a philanthropic organization, or want to learn how to code. There are so many specific interests, so many niche clubs. But I think the reason that I sort of stuck with club running in particular is that it gave me a home away from home. It gave me a family.
