What Your 2023-24 Gift Supported
Strategic Plan Initiatives
Hollins donors expand opportunities for learning and living well in the Hollins community and beyond. This is especially evident in the way that you support the critical work that we are undertaking through the Transforming Learning, Transforming Lives: The Levavi Oculos Strategic Plan. We are pleased to share with you our progress on the strategic plan during the academic year 2023-2024.
Academic Excellence
- A team of nine faculty led by Nora Kizer Bell Provost Laura McLary began studying and designing an academic renewal plan that comprises a more efficiently designed academic portfolio; reimagines our learning environments to be more equitable, accessible, and inclusive; and invests in emerging opportunities that will drive enrollment growth and student retention.
- We began transitioning to a reimagined Batten Leadership Institute (BLI) under new leadership. Dr. LeeRay Costa is now serving as the Executive Director of BLI.
- We instituted a new faculty academy, housed under a new center for teaching and learning excellence.
Access
- Through the HOPE Scholarship, Hollins continued to remove barriers to accessing undergraduate education, providing eligible Hollins students in our geographic region, regardless of socioeconomic background, with worry-free access to a Hollins education.
- We continued to work toward a full-capacity enrollment of 800 undergraduate students and close economic, social, and equity gaps. For the class of 2027, 59% are first-generation students, 47% are Pell-eligible, and 39% are students of color.
Wellness
- Plans to build the Cynthia L. Hale ’75 Holistic Wellness Center were announced. The Center will be designed around wellness of all types: physical, emotional, cultural, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, social, and spiritual.
- Renovations to West Hall commenced. We are maintaining West’s historical character while making essential renovations, including renovated bathrooms, air conditioning, and elevator access, to meet our students’ and campus’s changing needs.
- The Hollins Board of Trustees continues their commitment to learning and leading with an equity lens. With the approval of the strategic plan, the board made a significant commitment to improve all students’ experience of Hollins with an emphasis on accessibility and holistic well-being.
Hollins Fund
Your generous support of the Hollins Fund is a cornerstone of our ability to attract and empower exceptional students, helping them thrive academically and personally. Each year, the Hollins Fund contributes 11% of the university’s operating budget, with a primary focus on funding student scholarships. At Hollins, our students and faculty form the heart of our community, and your annual gifts ensure they continue to receive the outstanding education they deserve.
In the 2023-24 fiscal year, the Hollins Fund made a remarkable impact by contributing $3.51 million (more than a 12% increase over FY23) to the university’s total $41.3 million in philanthropic support. Your commitment enables us to offer purposeful designations within the Hollins Fund, including General Scholarship, Student Success, Well-being and Belonging, and Internship and Study Abroad opportunities. These areas provide transformative experiences that shape students’ futures and careers.
Thank you for partnering with us on our mission to create a brighter future—one Hollins student at a time.
For more information about the Hollins Fund, please contact Noelle N. Cook at cooknn@hollins.edu or (540) 362-6411.
Gifts to the Hollins endowment create the foundation to strengthen our academic programs and support our students into the future.
Hollins continues to operate within the board-approved budget and with no external debt. Much of this financial stability is due to our alumnae/i and friends who, devoted to Hollins’ long-term financial health, added just over $31.2 million to the endowment last fiscal year. This includes the final pledge payments to the Levavi Oculos Endowed Scholarship Fund, which was created in December 2021 with a pledge of $75 million from a generous anonymous alumna, the largest gift made to a women’s college at that time. As of June 30, 2024, the Hollins endowment boasted a market value of $303.7 million.
Donors made Hollins a lasting part of their legacy.
During the last fiscal year, Hollins received estate gifts in the amount of $3.1 million. Alumnae/i, parents, and friends who have indicated that they have made a bequest provision or planned gift commitment for Hollins in their estate plans are members of the Heritage Society. Today the Heritage Society has 496 members.
For more information on planned giving, please contact Julie Ricciardi at ricciardije@hollins.edu or at (919) 809-4858.