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4 ◆ CAVALIER CORNER 2017 BOARD OF TRUSTEES OFFICERS President William L. Tyson, Richmond, Va. Vice President Alan A. McClure, Atlanta, Ga. Secretary-Treasurer Dirk P. Katstra, Charlottesville, Va. Immediate Past President Scott A. Dockter, Atlanta, Ga. Trustees Mia M. Bass, Alexandria, Va. Charles R. Birdsong, Suffolk, Va. Richard L. Booth Jr., Charlottesville, Va. Franklin S. Edmonds Jr., Charlottesville, Va. James T. Fang, Williamsburg, Va. G. Slaughter Fitz-Hugh III, Richmond, Va. W. Heywood Fralin, Roanoke, Va. Edmund F. Garno III, Haverford, Pa. Michael S. Geismar, Charlottesville, Va. Marvin W. Gilliam Jr., Bristol, Va. Gregory S. Ledford, Washington, D.C. Craig K. Littlepage, Charlottesville, Va. Douglas S. Luke Jr., New York, N.Y. T. Douglas McQuade, Roanoke, Va. Jon K. Oliver, Charlottesville, Va., ex officio Juliana Schulte O'Reilly, McLean, Va. Barry L. Parkhill, Keswick, Va. Cynthia Brinker Simmons, Dallas, Texas Anne Carter Smith, Charlotte, N.C. Robert D. Sweeney, Charlottesville, Va. Mission Statement The Virginia Athletics Foundation, through its fundraising efforts, strives to support a preeminent intercollegiate athletics program at the University of Virginia by providing student- athletes the opportunity to achieve academic and athletic excellence. Virginia Athletics Foundation P.O. Box 400833 Charlottesville, VA 22904-4833 (434) 982-5555 | (800) 626-8723 (434) 982-5025 FAX www.VirginiaAthleticsFoundation.com Dear Cavalier Fans, June marks the end of the fiscal year for the University of Virginia, which means we have to make all of our final scholarship and athletics academic affairs budget support payments for the current academic year. With the help of thousands of donors, we are able to write checks to fund all 316.6 athletics scholarships and a $1.2 million academic support operational budget. In addition, we will fund all summer school scholarships for student-athletes, which will total just over $1 million. We are also able to transfer funds to the athletics department via our Friends Of annual giving programs to assist with budget support for our Olympic sports. Funding for all of these areas is critical to the overall success of each of our 25 sports and all 650 student-athletes. Thank you! Earlier this spring the University of Virginia Board of Visitors announced the tuition rates for the 2017-18 academic year. The net result for athletics after ac- counting for the in-state/out-of-state ratio of scholarship student-athletes is a 3% increase in our scholarship expense. We are projected to spend just over $18 million on scholarships and this tuition increase will add approximately $600,000 to our scholarship expense for next year. We are committed to providing full funding up to the NCAA maximum number of allowable scholarships in each of our 25 sports. It continues to be a challenge to fund all 316.6 scholarship equivalents in addition to all of the other areas that are funded using donor contributions. In fact, with only 20% of the scholarship expenses being funded through endowment distributions from established endowed scholarships, the strain and pressure on the Annual Fund contributions remains at an all-time high. Many donors have responded with pledges to the 2017 Annual Fund. We are grateful for their ongoing support, especially to those who have increased their pledges 10% or more over last year. The next six months will be critical as we strive to reach a very aggressive target of $19.2 million for the Annual Fund. Reaching this level would be a 10% increase over our 2016 total. We will need every donor from 2016 to renew their pledge and to add new contributors to our donor base. If you have not renewed your pledge for 2017, I encourage you to contact our office or visit our website to make your commitment today. Finally, at the end of June the final rankings of the Learfield Director's Cup will be released. To view the final standing, please visit www.NACDA.com. These rank- ings take into account the top 10 finishes for men's and women's sport programs in each athletics department across the country. I thought our fans might be interested in understanding how our athletics program has compared among the ACC schools over the past three and five years. Here are the average rankings for ACC schools finish- ing in the top 50, listed in order based on the 5-year average ranking. It will be difficult for us to finish in the Top 10 this year, but our coaches and student-ath- letes have performed very well over the past several years. Your investment in our program to support these coaches and student-athletes has resulted in much success. We are grateful for your support and hope you will continue long into the future. Sincerely, Dirk P. Katstra VAF Executive Director Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/VirginiaAthleticsFoundation AVERAGE RANKING 3-year 5-year North Carolina 8.67 8.40 Virginia 6.00 10.60 Notre Dame 10.00 11.20 Florida State 15.00 12.20 Duke 17.33 16.00 Louisville 29.33 31.60 NC State 33.33 34.20 Virginia Tech 36.67 36.20