Held Nov. 13, 2025, VMI’s 2025 Day of Giving, an annual crowdfunding campaign, was a resounding success, raising $502,194 for the Institute and Corps of Cadets. It was by far the Institute’s most successful Day of Giving yet, with the support of 1,234 donors, going well beyond the original goal of 700, which was surpassed in the early afternoon.
New this year was the major participation challenge, which brought in widespread engagement from faculty and staff across post. During the donation process, supporters were asked to select an academic major from the dropdown menu, and the department with the most donor “votes” received $25,000 in funding. Taking top honors in the major participation challenge was civil engineering, which was chosen by 227 donors, followed by history (194), economics and business (167), English (137), and biology (92).
Also propelling donor interest and engagement was the class year challenge. As in years past, the class with the highest donor participation was offered the chance to have its class year on Moe’s jersey during home football and basketball games, and this year, the Class of 1994 secured rights to that honor, with 82 donors participating. Taking second place was the Class of 1976, with 72 brother rats showing their support for the Institute.
Once again, alumni provided the overwhelming majority of support, with 80% of gifts coming from them, followed by parents (9%), friends of the Institute (6%), and faculty and staff (5%).
And while the Day of Giving is all about providing resources for the Corps of Cadets, donors have much flexibility in determining where those dollars go. Supporters had the opportunity to direct their gifts to one of eight areas: Unrestricted giving, academic excellence, cadet life, Call to Duty scholarships, scholarship enrichment, athletics, the Center for Leadership and Ethics, or a gift to a specific scholarship, team, etc.
This year, a gift to an area of the donor’s choice was the most popular selection, raising $232,101, and unrestricted giving was the second choice, bringing in $122,521. Rounding out the top five were athletics, scholarship enrichment, and the Call to Duty Scholarships, which provide room and board for highly qualified cadets already receiving federal ROTC scholarships.
“This year’s Day of Giving highlights the generosity of the VMI family,” said Andrew C. Deal ’12, VMI Alumni Agencies chief development officer. “Current and future cadets will benefit from their overwhelming support, which will allow them even more opportunities than are possible today.”
Throughout the day, members of the VMI family could monitor the campaign’s steady forward momentum online and via social media. By the campaign’s end, donors from 49 states and many foreign countries had shown their support.
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Mary Price Development Writer/Communications Specialist
The development writer plays a key role in producing advancement communications. This role imagines, creates, and produces a variety of written communication to inspire donors to make gifts benefiting VMI. Utilizing journalistic features and storytelling, the development writer will produce content for areas such as Annual Giving, stewardship, and gift planning.
