Virginia Tech Athletics announced yesterday that the “Drive for 25” fundraising campaign has reached its goal. Launched in December 2016 with the aim of increasing Hokie Club membership from just under 10,000 to 25,000, the Campaign achieved its aim in just over five years.
The program was announced on December 12, 2016 at a press conference held especially for the occasion. At that point in time, Virginia Tech’s athletic fundraising arm, the Hokie Club, was comprised of roughly 9,800 donors, according to Virginia Tech. Over the course of the next few years, a series of steps led to increased membership, and finally, yesterday, the member count went over 25,000. Per the Drivefor25.com website, membership stands at 25,196 as of the time of this writing.
At first, simple awareness led to increased membership. Virginia Tech also introduced the Hokie Scholarship Fund in 2016, which tied football and basketball seating to donations. Annual “Giving Days” brought in more members. Virginia Tech also required membership in the student Hokie Club — previously free — to include a $25 donation, which was also tied to student ticket purchases. This led to a few thousand students being included in the count as well.
By 2019-2020, Hokie Club membership had nearly doubled, to 17,814. From that point on, a series of small events and merchandising tie-ins, which automatically enrolled the participant in the Hokie Club, continued to spur membership upward, until the ultimate goal was reached yesterday.
On a personal note, I attended the press conference announcing the Drive for 25 over five years ago, and I found myself thinking several things:
1.) That goal might be unreachable.
As shown below, Hokie Club membership had been stagnant and declining for years. Multiplying it by 2.5 seemed ambitious.
But then again, goals should be ambitious. Why not 25,000?
2.) If the Hokie Club did reach 25,000 members, it would take years.
It did indeed take years. Five years and two months, to be exact. Not bad, all things considered. I thought it might take as long as ten years or more.
3.) If the Hokie Club did reach 25,000 members, the leadership that launched the Drive for 25 probably wouldn’t be around anymore.
This statement turned out to be partially true. Whit Babcock is still Virginia Tech’s Director of Athletics, but then-Hokie Club director Bill Lansden departed a few years ago for Arkansas, and Senior Associate AD Brad Wurthman picked up the baton and got the Drive for 25 across the finish line. (Not to ignore the efforts of Charlie Phlegar and other hard working people who got it done — please don’t @ me, as they say, because I know this was a huge effort by many people.)
Everyone at Virginia Tech who was involved in this effort should be proud and pleased. I’ll openly admit that the part of me that thought the 25k donor level would never be reached was larger than the part of me that thought it was doable. Color me impressed that not only was it done, it was done in five years.
So the next question: “That’s great man, what’s next?” That question can wait for just a little bit, while the Hokie Club and the Virginia Tech Athletic Department do a victory lap.
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Now it needs to be the “Drive for 35!”
Yes!!! Let’s get to 35000 members.
If u aren’t giving monthly yet, please start by giving what can: even $10 per month helps.
Hell yes! It just takes EVERYONE giving what they can, not necessarily a FEW giving a lot.
Go Hokies!
Great news! I too was skeptical we could reach 25k.
I started giving $25 per month because of the drive for 25. I am ashamed I hadn’t done it earlier (1988 grad). I have since raised my monthly donation, a little.
All Hokie fans should give what they can afford to. Need fan support to compete. Go Hokies!
i didn’t think it would happen. im impressed!!
This accomplishment should give Pry and company the confidence to strive for what many think is unachievable, like building a program that challenges Clemson, FSU (no they are not an afterthought yet) UNC, Pitt for annual championship rights.
We were there 12 years ago and we can get there again with proper support and a staff that builds a team designed to beat Clemson.
It took me almost 50 yrs. but I finally hit 6 figures this yr. Started at $100/yr. back in the mid 70’s.
Thank you 7Hokie1
I knew in my heart that it could be done!
The avid, die-hard Hokie in me is elated that the Drive’s goal was met. And I’ve done my part, commencing long before the Drive. The cynic in me assumes they closed it out through accounting sleight-of-hand because there are so many VT fund-raising initiatives ongoing in parallel that one needs a guidebook to keep track of them.
Wonder why Hokie Club says I’m xxxx out of 18860? Seems well short of 25000
That’s where you rank among Hokie Scholarship Fund donors, which is a subset of all Hokie Club donors.
Where can we go look to see what our status is amongst our 25,000 members?
They use to send out information letting you know what your number was, but I am not sure they still do that?
Your ranking is available on the HokieSports My Account page
I am glad that they hit 25K. And donations increased too, from just under $17M in 2015 to $21.8M in 2020.
Also, My Account page is a mess for me. It says I purchased Season Tickets the last 3 years (I didn’t), that I purchased 1 season ticket (I didn’t), that I purchased a bowl ticket (I didn’t), and that I am ranked 0 out of 0 donors.
It does have a bunch of correct info including that I donated the last 26 years, my total donation, and my current donation and HC level.
Not sure if others are seeing the same for themselves.
@Will How much did the dollar donations increase over the same period?
Here are all of our reports on Hokie Club revenue:
https://virginiatech.sportswar.com/tag/hokie-club/
You can also poke through our financial reports (by Randy Jones), which include donation info:
https://virginiatech.sportswar.com/tag/financial-report/
Dang….he said don’t @ him! 🙂
😏
I joined the Hokie club several years ago, made one donation and didn’t renew. I wonder if I’m being counted in that 25k and if so, how many more like me are included? Or is the 25k reflective of ACTIVE donors that have made commitments to future donations?
Unless they have screwed it up, you’re not counted in the current 25,000.
call me cynical but unless they have publicly stated that the 25k reflects ACTIVE donors (those that have pledged a continuing stream of donations) then this is all just window dressing
Lansdale Hokie: sign up for monthly continual support. $10 per month or up to what u can afford.
Yes, always have to have a killjoy in the fold. Can’t you just be happy and proud of what has been achieved instead of making statements to this effect.
So you better renew!