TL;DR
We rely solely on the generosity of you all to do what we do. With a productive year behind us it's time to refill our coffers. The group is headed in a good direction, and increasingly more of you are getting involved and making a difference. We gotta keep at it. Make a gift here.
ADDITIONAL CONTEXT FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED...
It’s that time of year where we make a concerted push to raise a chunk of the funds we will need to support us throughout the season. It’s been our desire to limit this to twice a year: now in the pre-season, and again in early spring, as needed. We don’t want to send fundraising emails all year, and we suspect you’d prefer not to receive them.
But, to continue down the path that we're on, we need to be able to support ourselves. And we finally feel like that path is pretty good, and pretty clear.
Great question. Allow us to explain...
For many years the Club focused its efforts and dollars on social events. Beginning in the early 2000's and coinciding with the stadium expansion, catered postgame gatherings were held in a newly renovated Bryant Hall. It was a time to see friends, have a bite to eat, and dissect the game before heading home.
April rolled around and we'd center our annual reunion around the Spring Game. The weekend would include the presentation of our Crossed Sabres Award and a dinner at the Aberdeen Barn where graduating players were thanked for their contributions and welcomed into the fold.
These were good times; many of you remember them.
This made up the bulk of the Club's organized activities, and they were made possible by annual dues, which hovered around $100.
Fast forward a bit...
On the field, the team wasn't doing so hot. Off the field, attendance at our events was declining, as were the amount of dues we were collecting. Meanwhile — rather predictably — costs were increasing. We analyzed five years of data, looking at factors like date, opponent, outcome, start time, end time, and weather. It didn't take an Econ major to realize that the path we were on was unsustainable. It was time to try a new direction.
A new direction for our fundraising, yes, but more so, figuring out how to get more guys together and engaged, and regardless of what was happening on the field or who was leading the team.
We’ve been somewhat reluctant to be but so proactive in our fundraising because the value proposition of being “a member of the Club” felt a bit lacking in recent years. Thus, in asking our teammates — our family, you guys — to support the cause, we knew that the cause first needed to be stronger.
Embracing a mantra of "low-cost experimentation", creatively stretching every dollar as far as we could, and only doing what we could with what we had on-hand, we started down a new path. That path sought to remove (or at least significantly lower) any barriers that were keeping guys away, and open wider arms to bring in more alums, from more eras, from more zip codes, and for more than just social events.
A new direction was charted, with many of you raising your hand and offering to help along the way. Where we currently sit doesn't happen without that involvement and commitment.
Fast forward a bit more....
The new direction for the Club is taking shape more fully at long last, being thoughtfully crafted on stable ground, with many more shoulders at the plow.
SOCIALLY
We still have events. 100+ of you (not including your 100+ guests) come back for Homecoming and Alumni Weekend each year. Dozens of you stop by our tailgate on game days.
PROFESSIONALLY
We're entering our third iteration of Cavalier Kickoff. Dozens of you come back to town for the two-day event. Even more of you participate remotely with networking, interview prep, and in a growing number of cases, actual job offers for our younger Brothers.
RELATIONALLY
100+ of you are mentors to a current player thru the Cavalier Circle, walking alongside them as they navigate all that comes with being a student-athlete at the University of Virginia, on and off the field.
It's our belief that now — finally, importantly — there's something for [just about] everyone, regardless of where you live, when you graduated, what you do for a living, or how many snaps you played. While Charlottesville logically remains the hub, participating in the life of this group no longer requires your presence there.
IF YOU'RE STILL READING, WE'RE ALMOST DONE...
It's important to remember that all of this is costing you nothing. No "Pay to Play" here.
Recall that we made a shift in recent years with how we support our Club financially. Whereas in the past there were annual dues, we instead moved to a gifts model; a bit of a leap of faith for sure. Here’s the main reason for the change:
Once a Hoo,
Always a Hoo.
In a sense, you already paid your dues thru your contributions to the program, be it 5, 15, or 50 years ago. We all went through similar experiences and made similar sacrifices, forming lasting bonds along the way. Membership is conditional upon that, not a financial transaction.
The above is true, and we strongly believe it. That’s why we’ve done everything in our power to eliminate, for instance, a direct cost of attendance to our events: we want you there, with no easy reason to say ‘no’. We want to see our initiatives — Social, Professional, Relational — and your friendships continue to grow and strengthen. Doing that, though, does come at an expense. And so now’s the time where we pass the hat around the locker room and chip in what we can.
If what we’ve done together over the past year is resonating, we hope you’ll consider making a gift. A contribution of any size is welcomed, valued, and will be put to good use.
LASTLY...
Regardless of the account balance, responsible stewardship of the Club's finances has always guided our thoughts and actions; we’ve literally lost sleep over it. This is our teammates' money (yours!), entrusted to us to put to good use for the good of this team. Some final words from longtime Treasurer Dick Fogg before he passed included the poetic and inspiring charge: "...Don't [screw] it up." Point taken, Dick.
So, we continue to use the UVA Fund to manage our accounts. We continue to keep meticulous records. We continue to have multiple points of oversight. All of this for a relatively small pot of money, but also because it's your money.
We’re entirely funded by your generosity (always have been), and we do our best to manage that money wisely throughout the year: spending as generously as we can, only on things that serve our mission, and with the highest “bang for buck” upside.
Finances aside, what we're doing is only possible because of the support, enthusiasm, and commitment that an increasing number of you are showing. Thank you for that. Let's keep it up.
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