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Tag: donations

U.Va. Wise receives largest ever donation

The University of Virginia’s College at Wise has received its largest ever donation, $11.2 million, from The Bill Gatton Foundation, the Wise County college announced Monday.

The late Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton, a successful businessman who owned the Gatton Automotive Group with dealerships in Kentucky and Tennessee, made significant gifts to the University of Kentucky and East Tennessee State University during his lifetime, and after his 2022 death, his Bristol-based foundation has made further donations, including $2 million to Emory & Henry University in 2023.

According to U.Va. Wise’s announcement, the foundation’s donation will create six endowed funds and support:

  • The Chancellor’s Greatest Needs Fund, which includes the naming of a hospitality suite and seating box at the David J. Prior Center, which hosts sporting events and concerts;
  • Naming of the Bill Gatton Department of Nursing;
  • Naming of the Bill Gatton Department of Technology Management and Data Analytics, and construction of the department’s new building;
  • Creation of the Bill Gatton Scholars Program, with three new scholarship funds. U.Va. will match this donation with $4.5 million.
  • Creation of the Rachel Clay-Keohane Mathematics Fund to honor the longtime U.Va. Wise faculty member, alumna and head coach of the college’s women’s basketball team;
  • Support and naming of the Bill Gatton Softball Field.

“To say this gift will be transformative doesn’t really capture the monumental impact that it will have,” Donna P. Henry, U.Va. Wise’s chancellor, said in a statement. “Every future student at the college will benefit from this gift.”

With U.Va.’s scholarship matching funds, the Gatton Foundation’s gift will add $15.7 million to the school’s $166 million endowment, according to the announcement.

Inova raises $83M to match Schars’ $75M gift

Inova Health System has raised $83 million over the past year, surpassing the “Schar Challenge” issued by donors Dwight and Martha Schar when they made a $75 million matching gift to Inova in May 2023.

The Schars’ most recent gift to support Inova’s heart and vascular services and the gifts to match it made by more than 10,000 donors brings the Falls Church-based health system’s total raised over the past year to $158 million, according to a Thursday news release.

Dwight Schar founded Reston-based Fortune 500 company NVR, one of the nation’s largest mortgage bankers and homebuilders, which operates under the Ryan Homes, NVHomes and Heartland Homes brands. Since 1993, the Schars have donated more than $126 million to Inova, including $50 million in 2015 to establish the Inova Schar Cancer Institute, the hospital system’s Fairfax County hub for cancer treatment and clinical trials, which opened in 2019.

“We are deeply grateful to Dwight and Martha Schar for their extraordinary generosity and powerful call to action, and also to our Northern Virginia community who, together, donated more than $80 million to Inova in just one year,” Inova President and CEO Dr. J. Stephen Jones said in a statement. “This tremendous achievement is a reflection of a community that cares deeply about having world-class health care locally. It’s a profound vote of trust and a testament to the spirit of giving that defines our Inova community.”

“Early on in this challenge, Martha and I shared our belief in the power of a single act of generosity to spark a wave of transformation — and our community has stepped up in a big way to show this is possible,” Dwight Schar said in a statement. “This is an important step, and I’ll say again: nothing is more important than having world-class health care available to every person in our community.”

Schar, 82, retired as NVR’s chair in 2022, after having previously served also as CEO. Since its founding in 1980, NVR has grown to employ more than 6,000 people, and for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2023, it reported $9.79 billion in revenue.

“Health care is No. 1 in my books; there’s nothing more important you can offer the community,” Schar told Virginia Business earlier this year. “The metropolitan Washington area has been very good to me and my business, so this is where I feel I can do the greatest good for the greatest number of people.”

Inova provides more than 4 million patient visits a year and employs more than 24,000 people across five hospitals and dozens of other facilities, including 37 primary care clinics and Northern Virginia’s only state-designated and nationally verified Level 1 trauma center.

Lego donates $1M to six Richmond-area nonprofits

Lego Group has distributed $1 million in grants across six Richmond region nonprofits, the Danish toymaker announced Thursday.

The company, which broke ground in April on its $1 billion manufacturing facility in Chesterfield County, awarded the funding to organizations serving children and families as part of its commitment to help kids “learn through play.”

“Today we are pleased to extend our support for the greater Richmond community,” Lego Chief Operations Officer Carsten Rasmussen said in a statement. “This new factory is a strategic addition to our global supply network that sets us up for long-term growth. Playing a meaningful role in the communities in which we operate and call home is an integral part of this strategy.”

The six organizations receiving grants are:

  • Blue Sky Fund, to support its Explorers program, which provides science instruction in natural environments for Richmond Public Schools students in the third, fourth and fifth grades;
  • Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Richmond, where the funding will support Playful Pathways, a hands-on, skill-based empowerment program for underserved youth;
  • James River Association, to increase access to hands-on outdoor education and play-based learning and support organizational capacity to extend programming to new formats;
  • Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, to expand its organizational capacity for youth and family engagement programs, including its summer camp program for children from under-resourced communities;
  • SOAR365, to advance its pediatric therapy program offering early intervention and outpatient therapy;
  • and YMCA of Greater Richmond, to support its Power Scholars Academy, a summer enrichment program for at-risk students.

Lego previously donated to Richmond nonprofit organizations in 2022, giving $215,000 to the Science Museum of Virginia and $100,000 to the Children’s Museum of Richmond.

Lego’s Chesterfield County facility is expected to create 1,760 area jobs over 10 years, and the company is currently recruiting for its nearby external packing facility. Lego previously announced it planned to hire more than 500 employees by the end of this year to work in a temporary facility packaging toy kits produced elsewhere.

Production in the permanent facility is expected to begin in 2025. The manufacturing plant will have 13 buildings spanning more than 1.7 million square feet, with office spaces; molding, processing and packing buildings; and a warehouse.

Lego established its U.S. entity, Lego Systems, in 1973. The toymaker has more than 3,000 employees and more than 100 stores in the United States, including four in Virginia — in Arlington, McLean, Virginia Beach and Woodbridge.

Donations by individuals and family foundations

Read more: Mannings aim for biotech revolution with $100 million gift

Check the numbers: Donations by companies and corporate foundations; total corporate donations

Total corporate donations

Check the numbers: Donations by companies and corporate foundations; donations by individuals and family foundations

Read more: Mannings aim for biotech revolution with $100 million gift

Lego breaks ground on $1B Chesterfield facility

The Lego Group broke ground Thursday on its $1 billion Chesterfield County manufacturing facility — launching the Danish toymaker’s first U.S. manufacturing plant and one of Virginia’s biggest economic development projects.

The Billund, Denmark-based toy company known for its brightly colored plastic toy bricks and construction sets plans to hire 1,761 people to work at its plant in Chesterfield’s Meadowville Technology Park over the next 10 years, with production, including molding plastic toys, expected to begin in the second half of 2025.

“We are not just building a factory, but we are building a culture of diverse, inclusive and playful workplaces for more than 1,700, or to be exact, 1,761,” said Lego Chief Operating Officer Carsten Rasmussen.

Lego is initially hiring 500 people to package toys in a temporary facility in Chesterfield’s Walthall Interchange Industrial Park and plans to begin those operations in the first half of 2024. So far, the company has hired about 20 people, Rasmussen said. Lego’s Virginia careers website shows several open positions, including construction project manager, director of human resources, facility director, materials planner and senior procurement manager.

“This is an iconic company,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said during the groundbreaking ceremony. “…Together [we] are committed to invest [in] and grow … [a] workforce that is truly best in class.”

Lego plans to select a general contractor for the facility in the next few months, Rasmussen said, and the company has contracted with George Nice & Sons Inc. to conduct groundwork currently occurring at the site.

When complete, the Lego facility will have 13 buildings comprising 1.7 million square feet, including office spaces, molding, processing and packing buildings and a high bay warehouse. The property spans 340 acres.

A Lego model in the Chesterfield facility's visitor center shows the planned layout. Photo by Rick DeBerry
A Lego model in the Chesterfield facility’s visitor center shows the complex’s planned layout. Photo by Rick DeBerry

Lego is eligible for incentives approved by the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment Commission. During the ceremony, Youngkin signed Virginia HB 2238 and SB 1134, establishing the Precision Plastic Manufacturing Grant Fund. The bill provides up to $56 million in grants between July 1, 2027, and July 1, 2035, “to a qualified company that engages in the manufacture and distribution of precision plastic products in an eligible county and that between June 1, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2035, is expected to make a capital investment of at least $1 billion and create at least 1,761 new full-time jobs related to or supportive of its business.”

Thursday’s event was celebratory, but Virginia’s economic development officials have acknowledged that Lego’s plant is a one-of-a-kind deal in the commonwealth, while neighboring states have won many more high-dollar industrial projects since 2015. Youngkin has blamed a lack of shovel-ready industrial sites and focused on allocating more state funds toward site preparation in hopes of winning more megaprojects.

Lego is also using the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, a discretionary incentive program that provides free customizable workforce recruiting and training services for eligible businesses locating or expanding in Virginia.

Lego has touted its commitment to the Richmond community. On Thursday, the company announced it will donate more than $1 million to charities that support local children from disadvantaged backgrounds with learning-through-play programs. In 2022, Lego donated $300,000 to the Children’s Museum of Richmond and the Science Museum of Virginia, but the company and its foundation won’t announce recipients of the remaining $700,000 until this summer.

“Children are our role models because they have boundless creativity and natural curiosity about the world and they’re a constant source of inspiration,” said Skip Kodak, Lego’s regional president of the Americas.

Lego has also emphasized its commitment to sustainability. By 2032, Lego Group aims to reduce its global carbon emissions by 37% of its 2019 output. The Chesterfield facility will be carbon-neutral, with ground and rooftop solar panels and a 35- to 40-megawatt solar plant onsite. The toymaker is also aiming for a Gold LEED certification for the facility once complete.

The Chesterfield factory is Lego’s first U.S. manufacturing facility and its second in North America, the first being in Monterrey, Mexico. The Danish company plans to open another facility in Vietnam by 2024 and is expanding its facilities in Mexico, Hungary and China.

Lego established its American subsidiary, Lego Systems Inc., in 1973. Although its Americas headquarters have been in Enfield, Connecticut, since 1975, the company is moving its U.S. headquarters to Boston in 2026. The toymaker employs more than 3,000 people in the U.S. and has more than 100 stores, including three in Virginia — in Arlington, McLean and Woodbridge. Worldwide, the company has more than 27,000 employees.

Goodwill of the Valleys names philanthropy exec

Donna Stucker is the new chief philanthropy officer for Goodwill Industries of the Valleys.

Stucker assumed her role April 3, according to a news release. She will lead a new capital campaign and associated donor development and will plan and manage an effort to grow donations for the Roanoke-based Goodwill chapter, which serves 35 counties and 14 cities.

“We are excited to welcome Donna Stucker to Goodwill Industries of the Valleys,” Richmond Vincent, president and CEO of the Goodwill chapter, said in a statement. “Donna will implement innovative and creative ideas for obtaining donations to further our mission and help people in our service area achieve their fullest potential.”

Stucker joins from the Humane Society of Charlotte, where she served as chief philanthropy officer for 11 years. In that role, she coordinated philanthropic and marketing initiatives and created annual plans to reach the North Carolina organization’s fundraising goals. Stucker also redesigned and managed a major gifts program for the nonprofit.

Before that, she was the Humane Society of Charlotte’s director of development for three years. Prior to joining the Humane Society chapter, Stucker was a senior director with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Stucker holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from St. John’s University and has a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) certification. CFRE recognizes fundraising professionals in the nonprofit sector.

JMU fundraising campaign brings in $251M

James Madison University’s second comprehensive fundraising campaign, Unleashed, raised more than $251 million, the Harrisonburg university announced Friday.

The eight-year fundraising campaign, which exceeded its $200 million goal in March 2021, ended June 30. It began with an advanced gift phase in July 2014 before JMU announced it publicly in October 2018.

Unleashed attracted 63,976 donors, about 37.4% of whom were alumni. The second largest segment of donors were parents, at 34.3%. Corporations donated 2% of the total. More than half of donors made their first gift to JMU through the campaign.

JMU is designating $97.3 million of the funds raised for general purposes, $45.4 million to athletics and $108.45 million to academic programs.

“Our hope is that people are going to find a sense of purpose in their giving, are going to see [the] chance to create an impact on something that matters to them, and our donors have basically told us they want to make a difference,” said Nick Langridge, JMU’s vice president of university advancement.

During the campaign, the university received its largest-ever cash gift, $5 million, from alum Paul Holland, a 1982 graduate, and his wife, Linda Yates. Madison Hall, which houses the Office of Admissions and the Center for Global Engagement, was renamed Holland Yates Hall to honor the couple. Holland and Yates made the gift “to support scholarships, study abroad, entrepreneurship and other initiatives that align with their personal passions and will involve many areas across campus,” according to JMU. They specifically wanted to rename Madison Hall, the university said, because the admissions office “represents the gateway to JMU and the Center for Global Engagement is a passport to the world.”

JMU set “opening doors for students” as a campaign priority. The university scaled its honors program into an honors college.

Donations for the Dukes Pay It Forward scholarship program received almost $6.2 million from a collective 2,180 donors.

The Valley Scholars program supports cohorts of students beginning in middle school and guarantees them admission and free tuition and fees to JMU, provided they earn the required grades in the required courses. Members of the first cohort will graduate in May 2023. Valley Scholars tuition and programming received $5 million from 1,435 donors.

Northrop Grumman Corp. Chair, President and CEO Kathy Warden and her husband, Eric, are JMU alumni. They started the Warden Challenge, pledging to match gifts for Pell Grant-eligible student scholarships up to $1.25 million. More than 950 donors gave a total of $3.2 million to support 125 Pell-eligible students.

The university completed several capital projects with funds collected from the campaign. JMU’s College of Business received more than $20 million. The school opened Hartman Hall in 2021 and renovated Zane Showker Hall to support team-based learning.

“Before, our facilities did not afford the students a chance to meet and study in groups and teams. They were sitting on the floor of the foyer in circles with their teammates trying to get work done,” Langridge said. “Now, our classrooms have team-based spaces and functionality,” including rooms that students can reserve.

Additionally, the university received more than $13 million for the 8,500-seat Atlantic Union Bank Center basketball arena, which it opened in 2020.

Unleashed campaign funds also supported entrepreneurship resources. JMU created a minor in entrepreneurship, and students of any major can use the Gilliam Center for Entrepreneurship.

Alumni couple Lara Parker Major and Eric D. Major, who met at JMU in the ’90s, donated $1.2 million to the College of Business’ Innovation, Collaboration, Creativity and Entrepreneurship (ICCE) Lab, now the Major ICCE Lab.

The Majors founded medical device company K2M, which Stryker bought and took private in 2018. K2M employed a lot of JMU graduates, Lara Major said.

“One of the things that we felt strongly about was giving back to JMU as a way of showing our gratitude for having an opportunity to work with such outstanding graduates over the years,” she said.

Although neither served on the campaign steering committee, the Majors served on their respective colleges’ boards.

“I think that’s one of the things that was an unexpected pleasure for us, reconnecting with JMU later in life,” Lara Major said.

Langridge credits the school’s growing and maturing alumni base for the campaign’s success.

“The number of students who graduated last May in a single year is greater than the combined number of graduates for the whole decade of the 1960s,” he explained. “We’ve grown significantly as an institution to now [having] nearly 20,000 undergraduates and 22,000 total students.”

Lara Major believes that some of the campaign’s success is due to JMU’s increased recognition: “We’re well on our way to national prominence, and I think the campaign is a reflection of that.”

That prominence includes JMU’s 2022 Carnegie Classification as an R2 Doctoral University, its No. 72 ranking on the U.S. News & World Report’s 2022-2023 Top Public Schools list and its participation in the Sun Belt Conference.

U.Va. School of Nursing receives $14M donation

The Carlyle Group co-founder, interim CEO and non-executive co-chairman William E. “Bill” Conway Jr. and his wife, Joanne, have committed $14 million to the University of Virginia’s School of Nursing, the university announced Friday.

Adding to previous donations, the Conways’ gifts now total $49 million.

“Our goal of supporting the School of Nursing is twofold,” Bill Conway said in a statement. “To enable greater access to a quality education and address the critical nursing shortage.”

The latest gift will provide at least 175 need- and eligibility-based scholarships to cover tuition, school fees, room and board and books. The gift will fund scholarships across undergraduate and graduate programs, with a focus on clinical nurse leader master’s students who have transitioned to nursing from other careers and on doctoral students who plan to become future nursing professors and nurse scientists.

The average age of a nursing professor is between 51 and 63, according to a U.Va. news release, and a wave of faculty retirements is expected over the next decade.

“Bill’s and Joanne’s extraordinary generosity comes at a critical moment, as our country faces an unprecedented nursing shortage,” U.Va. President Jim Ryan said in a statement. “Their latest gift will enable more students to pursue nursing degrees at U.Va., removing barriers and offering important support for students.”

The Conways’ previous contributions have allowed the school to educate more nurses and expanded access to the School of Nursing’s RN-to-B.S.N. program. Their $5 million commitment in 2013 funded need-based scholarships for students in the clinical nurse leader program, doubling it from 48 to 96 students. In 2017, the Conways committed another $5 million over five years to provide more than 110 nursing scholarships to non-nurses entering the clinical nurse leader program.

In 2018, the couple committed another $5 million to provide tuition assistance for an additional 50 to 60 nursing students across undergraduate, master’s degree and doctorate degree programs through 2023.

In 2020, they committed $20 million for scholarships supporting the enrollment of more than 1,000 nursing students over 10 years.

Washington, D.C.-based private investment firm Carlyle employs more than 1,900 people in 26 offices across five continents. It manages $376 billion in assets. Gov. Glenn Youngkin formerly served as co-CEO of The Carlyle Group before retiring in 2020 to mount his campaign for governor.

U.Va. hits $4B in capital campaign

The University of Virginia has hit its $4 billion benchmark in its $5 billion Honor the Future capital campaign three years ahead of its deadline, the university announced this week.

U.Va. has brought in significant individual donations during the fundraising campaign, including a record-breaking $120 million gift from alumni Jaffray and Merrill Woodriff in 2019, which is going toward the new School of Data Science, as well as major donations benefiting the U.Va. Medical Center, the McIntire School of Commerce, a new performing arts center and establishment of the Karsh Institute of Democracy.

Honor the Future was launched publicly in 2019, and the university has set a goal of raising $5 billion by 2025. One area in which it has already impacted students and faculty is the matching program to create endowed scholarships and professorships. U.Va. has generated $990 million in gifts and matching funds, assisting nearly 480 undergraduate and graduate students, as well as creating 120 endowed professorships. Princeton Review named U.Va. as the nation’s top public university for financial aid in 2022, for the second year in a row.

“I am deeply grateful for the generosity of our alumni, parents and friends,” President Jim Ryan said in a statement. “Their gifts of all sizes are inspirational — they show a confidence in U.Va.’s current and future opportunities to improve lives, not just in our community, but around the world.”