Burruss Hall with spring flowers
Burruss Hall. Photo by Ray Meese for Virginia Tech.

In the summer of 2023, Virginia Tech was recognized with the Council on Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) 50 membership. CASE is the world’s leading nonprofit association for alumni relations, communications, development, marketing, and advancement services. This designation comes after the university exceeded $200 million in new gifts and commitments for the third straight year.

Behind the scenes of that success was the Enterprise Systems Advancement and Marketing Applications eight-person team.

While Virginia Tech’s in-house developed online giving system has been around for years, the expanded functionality recently built into the system by Enterprise Systems has supported programs like the Hokie Socks Campaign enabling donors to choose and purchase their favorite Hokie socks. The expanded functionality also included the ability to manage inventory and mail the socks. In November and December of 2022, more than 10,000 pairs of socks were sent to donors, of which over 3,000 were first time donors.

“We’ve worked closely with the Enterprise Systems Advancement and Marketing team over the past few years to hone the functionality of our online giving page. We’ve focused both on the overall user experience with quick fund selection and one-touch payment methods as well as optimizing the user experience for our philanthropic merchandise campaigns,” said Ann Bolton, Virginia Tech’s director of annual giving. “Working with the Enterprise Systems Advancement and Marketing team is truly a partnership and wonderful collaboration with both parties focused on creating proactive solutions that take our program to the next level.”

For 2022-2023, enhancements were made for Payment Card Industry (PCI) Compliance, Virginia Tech employee payroll deduction, administrative portal updates, campaign functionality, and more. Just as critical as the online giving system enhancements is the work behind the scenes that has enabled the Blackbaud system to integrate with a greater number of data sources and to expand its impact. And an ongoing commitment to an innovative and sustainable roadmap for the Advancement portfolio of applications.

With continued work by Enterprise Systems and a strong partnership with Advancement, Virginia Tech is well on its way to achieve its goal of raising $1.872 billion in new gifts and commitments by the end of 2027.