Grants can be leveraged to more than double the funding

Scholarship donors and their recipients gathered on April 12 for the third annual donor lunch. Attendees were treated to remarks from Pavithra Suresh ’16, a Batten Scholar. Shown are Sheila Wangari ’15 with President Gray and Suzanne Reno ’64, who supports the Suzanne McKnight Reno Scholarship for International Students.

These grants can be leveraged by Hollins to yield another $400,000 from other investors. Hollins must match the first with an additional $100,000, which will raise the total value of the green revolving fund to $150,000.

The second award can be leveraged to raise an additional $300,000 from alumnae and other friends of Hollins.

President Gray explained that the green grant and matching funds will enable Hollins to implement several urgent and cost-effective energy conservation projects as identified by its energy manager. “The support of the duPont Fund has already helped us meet our carbon reduction goals well ahead of schedule,” said Gray, “and we are deeply grateful for their continued generosity.”

A five-member green revolving fund board will select and oversee several energy conservation initiatives.

The grant to support marketing and alumnae engagement will underwrite the development of brand identity and enrollment materials, all based on the findings from the market research work completed during the past academic year by SimpsonScarborough.

“A record-setting $162 million campaign enabled Hollins to achieve financial stability by increasing our endowment from approximately $80 million 10 years ago to $165 million today and eliminating all of our debt,” Gray noted. “It is now time to invest in marketing and complementary initiatives, including enhanced alumnae engagement, to address a recent decline in student enrollment.”

President Gray at the Rock, Hollins’ shale billboard, first painted by the class of 1982.

“You Rock” campaign helps smash records

First-ever social media challenge pushes past goal

Thanks to generous donors, the Hollins Fund surpassed $3 million in unrestricted gifts for the first time. A successful reunion and a first-ever social media campaign both helped end the year on a high note.

• The 2013 reunion classes gave the largest cumulative gift to the Hollins Fund of any reunion group in history: $1,421,483.
• Thanks to a successful social media experiment—“10 Days to $100K: Hollins Rocks!”—we received gifts from 546 alumnae, parents, faculty, staff, and friends, who pushed past the goal with a final total of $127,580. Many of them shared their Rock photos and “painted” their own coloring page Rock. A $100,000 challenge matched new gifts received June 17-27, dollar for dollar.

Check out #HollinsRocks #10Daysto100K on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for photos of our Donors of the Day, alumnae coloring pages of the Rock, and information about which class won the Rock of Ages Award.
Thank you for making these firsts possible for Hollins. Let’s keep rockin’.