MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The WVU Board of Governors learned at its meeting last week of the latest fundraising efforts for the university plus a new procress by which academic programs will be evaluated.
Officials with the WVU Foundation said donors are supporting the university at record levels, increasing the money they are able to dedicate to scholarships. health care and fulfilling its land grant mission.
WVU Foundation President and CEO Cindi Roth and others reported numbers to the WVU Board of Governors last Friday. Roth said fiscal year 2024 was a record year for support for the university with more than $282 million pledged.
“Our principal and leadership philanthropy gifts, that which is greater than $1 million and $5 million—33 donors gave 37 gifts totaling more than $202 million, or 71 percent of our production,” Roth said.
Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer BJ Davisson said the record total shows the robust support from donors and their desire to support the institution.
“I think it speaks very directly to the institutions’ brand and the faith people have in the institution,” Davisson said. “We are steady and strong, as Cindi mentioned in all sources of fundraising as well as the different gift bands.”
Getting more of that money where it needs to go to help causes is a goal of the strategic plan that is being realized. Roth said they are in the final year of the current 5-year strategic plan and exceeding the initial goals set for returning money to causes at institutions and students.
“We need to be a sustainable no less than $100 million going back annually,” Roth said. “When I started, we were about $80 million, and in FY ’24 we gave back $128 million.”
Interim Provost Paul Kreider introduced the new Annual Academic Unit Reporting Process that will begin in 2025. The annual summary is separate from the 5-year Board of Governors review and is designed to provide information that can be used to modify programs. The modifications are based on the financial performance of the program, market forces, and workforce needs.
“The metrics used for the review are enrollment trends, student credit hour production by unit, and faculty-to-student ratios by major,” Kreider said.
The new evaluation will analyze the cost to deliver programs as well as the revenue generated per student and/or per student credit hour. The cost to deliver programs varies a great deal, and this will give them finer detail to determine those costs. The data will also be compared to institutional averages to identify low- and high-performing programs.
“This will help our academic leaders to better assess resource utilization, trends in the student market, and where we might further invest to increase our revenue or market share,” Kreider said.