About
Each year, USA Swimming hosts a selection meet allowing athletes to qualify for major international teams and the US National Team. As important as these meets are we have been unable to dedicate the necessary resources for these competitions due to the constraints of our budget. Our student-athletes have had to pay out of pocket and make travel, lodging, and meal arrangements on their own.
At a time where we ask our team to be at their best and focus on competition, they have been forced to balance logistics and planning along with high performance creating a less than ideal environment.
In an effort to ease this burden, Bruce (’83) & Tessa Procton have generously made a lead gift of $500,000 to establish the Virginia Swimming & Diving Alumni Olympic Trials and Program Enhancement Endowment. To incentivize broad alumni support, the Proctons have agreed to match every gift dollar for dollar up to an additional $250,000 to help us reach our goal of $1 million.
Endowment Detailed
The new endowment will increase our annual operating budget by 20%, bringing it closer to our peers within the ACC and nationally.
The fund will distribute $50,000 annually when we reach our goal and support our efforts at Olympic Trials, other national team qualifying events, and other important team priorities (such as travel to west coast meets, technology, and equipment).
Instead of having 40 athletes on their own at Team USA qualifier meets, your support will allow for the program to cover and coordinate airfare, rental vehicles, lodging, catered team meals, and massage and recovery therapy.
We will be able to approach these important meets exactly as we would for ACC Championships and NCAA Championships.
We Need You!
As our first major fundraising effort in the DeSorbo era, we are excited to see our alumni rally around our student athletes in force! Your gift will make it feasible for future Hoos to remain in Charlottesville during the summer to pursue their Olympic dreams.
The alumni matching gift campaign will run through the swim season ending on March 31, 2024. We must take advantage of this opportunity and we are looking for broad support from our alumni. When making your gift please consider setting up a multi-year commitment. Those who make a one-time gift of $100 could multiply their support with a five year recurring gift to $500 overall!
We are proud to have you as part of the Virginia Swimming and Diving Family and are grateful for your commitment to our campaign! Go Hoos!
Join our campaign as an advocate to assist in sharing the 75 Years of Giving campaign with fans, friends, and future VAF members! See below for five easy steps to join!
- Create an Account (or if you already have one, log in!)
- We can only celebrate your hard work if we're able to tell it's you! And we do that by tracking outreach done when you're logged in to GiveCampus.
- Click 'Log In' at the top of the page and create an account from there!
- Consider Your Own Gift
- Lead by example and make your own gift early. It’s much easier to ask your friends and family to join you in making a gift when you’ve already done it yourself!
- Offer a Match (or Challenge)
- Leverage your gift and encourage others to give via a match or challenge.
- Consider restricting your match or challenge by your class year, affiliation, or to a list of your friends (by email address) to raise the stakes!
- Share, Share, Share!
- The built-in sharing buttons on the campaign page generate a link that is unique to you. If you share while you're logged in, we can track it and celebrate your impact!
- Share via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Text Message, Email, Phone Call, Carrier Pigeon… The sky’s the limit!
- Tell Your Story
- Create a personal plea and post it to the campaign page!
- Film a quick video in which you tell your community why you’re excited about the campaign and why others should get involved! Keep it quick, casual, and fun!
THANK YOU for your support and for being a part of our team. We could not do what we do without you!