Sweet Briar College soars past its goals for the sixth annual March Days of Giving
Posted on March 18, 2021 by Abby May
Sweet Briar women have a saying — “There’s nothing we cannot do”— and they have once again proved that during March Days of Giving. The Sweet Briar community rose to the challenge this year and raised an incredible $1.8 million in just ten days.
Each year, March Days of Giving is an opportunity for the College’s extended community to show its commitment to and confidence in Sweet Briar. The event begins on March 1 and continues through March 10, to honor founder Indiana Fletcher Williams on her birthday.
For 2021, the goal for March 1 was to raise $500,000, which the community exceeded in less than 24 hours. The second challenge was to raise another $500,000 between March 2 and 10. Eleven generous alumnae — five anonymous donors plus Cornelia Matson ’58, Patti Pusey ’60, Sarah Boehmler ’65, Frances Morse ’68, Kay Picha ’70, and Martha Holland ’72 — pledged $500,000 to match gifts raised during the 9-day period. More than $800,000 was raised. The community answered the challenge by raising $1,836,634 in less than 10 days.
“Thanks to the unwavering generosity of our alumnae and friends, as demonstrated by their extraordinary response to our March Days of Giving,” said President Meredith Woo, “Sweet Briar College is financially stable and strong. Our work to redefine leadership for the twenty-first century, centered on women, resonates deeply. Young women are interested in Sweet Briar and our enrollment is growing.”
Over the last 5 years, Sweet Briar has raised over 60 million dollars supporting academic innovations like the College’s women’s leadership core curriculum and ensuring Sweet Briar’s commitment to engineering, the arts and sustainability and agriculture.
The original unrestricted fundraising goal for fiscal year 2021 was $5 million, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a stretch goal was established to raise $8.2 million to offset the costs of the pandemic. So far, Sweet Briar has raised $6.5 million strengthening the solid financial position of the College with deposits for admissions exceeding our milestone at this time last year. Sweet Briar is the strongest it has been in the last six years.
Join our growing community by making a gift before June 30 at sbc.edu/give.
