Sweet Briar College in Virginia had planned to close last year until alumnae came through with more than $12 million in financial support to keep the college in business. But enrollments at the college, while up from last year, are still far from providing enough revenue to balance the operating budget.
The 2017 fiscal year budget approved by the board of trustees indicates that $20 million in donations will be needed to fund the college’s $33 million operating budget. And alumnae of the college and other benefactors have already contributed more than $22 million to the college over the past two years. For the 2016 fiscal year only about half this amount was raised to support the operating budget.
While the new fundraising goal may seem like a Herculean effort, due to its recent history, no one is counting out Sweet Briar College from reaching its fundraising goals.