Support the Club
Your commitment and generosity are what make this work.
The Virginia Football Alumni Club exists to promote and support the University of Virginia football tradition by bringing together all eras and contributors to Virginia Football. We do this through game day parties throughout the fall and a big reunion in the spring. We remind the current team about the histories of their jersey numbers and we come out to watch them practice so they can connect those names and numbers with real faces and stories. We host cookouts in the summer to welcome new players to town, and we seek to pay it forward by sharing words of wisdom and reflection, having walked in those same shoes some years earlier.
We do those things because the teams that we were once apart of and the teammates that we lined up beside still matter to us. And because those experiences continue to serve as a lens through which we view and relate to our families, friends, jobs, and circumstances.
By supporting the Club you are helping ensure that friendships remain intact, that history isn't forgotten, and that current and future Wahoos understand, appreciate, and nurture the legacies that you helped create.
The Club is open to ALL former players and members of the Football Family, including coaches, managers, trainers, and administrative personnel. Your standing in this group has nothing to do with how much you played then, or what you do for a living now, or how much you might support it financially. Family is family.
Nothing.
Nothing.
In 2021 we shifted from "dues" to "gifts", which felt like a better way to support our work. Regardless of what we call it, it's only possible because of your generosity.
There were a few reasons for the shift:
-
Once a Hoo Always a Hoo In a sense, you already paid your dues thru your contributions to the program, be it five or 50 years ago. We all went through similar experiences and made similar sacrifices, forming lasting bonds along the way. Membership is conditional upon that, not a financial transaction.
-
Frugality Not to be confused with “cheap.” Rather, we try to be mindful of every dollar that you generously choose to give us, and spend them wisely. We have done a lot of work in recent years to trim fat out of our budget in an effort to maximize the bang that we get for every one of your bucks.
-
Stewardship Though we need a backstop in case of unforeseen expenses or global pandemics, our intent is to spend what we raise each year in service to you and our mission.
-
Inclusivity Whether in person or in spirit, bringing together the broadest collections of albums is central to our mission. Some of you lives states—if not countries—away, yet your support has been unwavering and we wanted to begin to reduce the focus on being so Charlottesville-centric.
-
Optionality On the Giving page you will notice a few options for where you can direct your dollars. Currently, you can select between (or both) the General Fund and the newly established Memorial Fund.
-
Tax Implications Whereas “dues” weren’t tax-deductible, “gifts” are. And though the IRS tax code ain’t what it used to be, there is at least some possible return/deduction on your investment in the Club.
We believe this approach is a better path forward, in better service to our mission.
-
That's totally up to you. As a general guideline, though, if you were a $125/year dues-paying member in the past, we hope that you'll consider making gifts of comparable size.
We make every effort to be both thoughtful and responsible with how we manage the Club's funds. And simply put, we could not operate year-to-year without your generosity to replenish our operating account year-to-year. Here's what your dues have historically covered:
General & Administrative
-
Management services agreement with UVA Alumni Association:
-
Database management
-
Gift processing
-
Fund management
-
Event planning / staffing
-
Miscellaneous (i.e. web hosting, letterhead)
Game Day
-
Rental fees
-
Catering
-
Staffing
-
Awards and recognitions
-
Miscellaneous
Alumni Wekeend
-
Rental fees
-
Order of the Crossed Sabres plaque(s)
-
Senior Dinner at Aberdeen Barn (we funded this separately in 2019 from funds raised via GivingToHoosDay)
-
Small gift for graduating players
-
In addition to the general Operating Fund, you now have the ability to direct a gift to our new Memorial Fund account. These gifts are kept separately and used in various ways to honor our deceased teammates. Learn more here.
We hope that the funds we are seeking to raise aren't viewed in 1:1 competition with other places you may choose to support, particularly VAF, which also needs our continued support.
The Club seeks to operate on the smallest feasible amount possible. Though a reserve account is simply being practical, anything beyond that we intend to put to use each year, whether for the Club's activities or in support of the program.
In case you missed it, for instance, the program is about to build a new facility. Details are in the works, but the conversation has already begun in terms of how our Club can support that effort. We will be open with you about what we are doing in that regard, but again, support as you can and we'll do our absolute best to use that support responsibly and wisely.We're making concerted efforts to broaden our reach and create opportunities for those located further from Charlottesville to feel connected, make an impact, and be served. Hence, another reason for moving away from the "dues" model.
Our approach has been to start with "the skinny end of the wedge" and create "low-cost experiments." If you have other suggestions, please let us know!See those big orange
Thank you!
Exclusively through gifts from Alumni and Friends.
No, not directly. The Club has made a push in recent years to become more autonomous and stand more firmly on our own two feet. We believe that this is the right posture for both the present and future health and stability of the Club.
This comes after several instances under Bronco Mendenhall where Football took over the planning, execution, and funding of certain events, namely the spring Alumni Day, beginning in 2016. While that eased an immediate and significant financial burden of hosting a spring reunion, we knew it would be foolish to lean too heavily into future guarantees — the whims and tenures of a coaching staff can change instantly, as we saw after the 2021 season.
Additionally, we recognized that many hands grasp at the pots of money managed by Football, Athletics, and VAF, and that those pots can only feed but so many. We knew there would be growing pains in pulling our own hands back, but more firmly believed that financial independence was the correct path forward.We do. Over the years we’ve intentionally cultivated strong relationships with a variety of Friends and Vendors. These were formed on a good-faith basis, wanting to pair with like-minded folks who believed in our mission and wanted to help support it.
In keeping with our values, we always strive to “Be great teammates,” and “Maximize the team.” That is, trying to be as good to them as they are to us, and never abusing the relationship through deceit or one-sidedeness. This has led to partnerships with:
-
Korner Restaurant > Catering
-
Pepsi > Beverage
-
Virginia Eagle > Beverage
-
JP Foundation > Event logistics
-
Hook Foods > Catering
-
The Lodge > Hospitality
-
VAF > Parking passes
Virginia Athletics Sideline passes
-
Generally twice a year: mid-summer and early spring. A different approach can certainly be contemplated.
While we need to replenish our accounts heading into the season and our spring Alumni Weekend, we don’t want to be one more group that seems like it’s always asking its constituents for their money. We view it more like the local radio station, which may have one or two fundraising drives per year.
Much of what we raise money for is also very tangible to those who attend our tailgates and events: they can see the setup, eat the food, drink the drinks, and see awards given out. Thus, fundraising around those active periods has seemed to make the most sense thus far.
Externally, by the UVA Fund, an arm of the UVA Alumni Association that offers financial and accounting management services to groups associated with the University. This significantly lessens an administrative burden for us.
The Fund manages three accounts for us: Operating, Memorial, and Weir.
-
The Operating account is our main account that receives most of the action.
-
The Memorial account keeps a small balance that is used only in ways that recognize deceased teammates. This can include sending flowers to the family, or, for instance, donating a bike to D’Sean Perry’s holiday bike drive.
-
The Weir account was established around the time of the stadium expansion in 2000, where alums contributed to certain aspects of the locker room renovation. The leftover funds were put into a long-term investment account that’s managed by UVIMCO.
We are given a Visa purchasing card that we use to make the bulk of our purchases (sometimes personal reimbursements are required). The UVA Fund provides monthly statements that we cross-check against our own internal ledger. The internal ledger is used to keep a close eye on available cash, and includes details on each transaction and a scan of accompanying receipts.
-
Because they’re “gifts” as opposed to “dues”, yes, they’re tax-exempt. VFAC is not itself a non-profit, but rather inherits that status through its relationship with the Alumni Association / UVA Fund.
Our fall and spring reunion weekends. Our biggest line items are food, and tent, chair, and table rentals.
Unlike, say, a fraternity that might have a big reunion once every five years, we play host to 6-7 tailgates, and two substantial reunions. Every year.
We do this because we think consistency matters. And, this isn’t Engineering grads getting together for a football weekend every few years. It seems counterintuitive if Football Alumni didn’t center themselves largely around the Virginia Football calendar.
The turnout has been quite positive. More and more guys, young and old, understand that “this is what our group does,” and are coming back to participate. Our approach has been a balance of “if you build it, they will come” (and they have), and “we thus may have to get creative in how we pull it all off” (and we have).
Alumni previously paid annual dues of $125. “Membership” was a rather loose term with regard to its benefits, and seemed to cater mainly towards those who lived in Charlottesville, or who could routinely make it back for games and events.
In the early 2000s membership and finances were quite healthy. Note, too, that the on-field performance of the team was also going well.
As the on-field performance declined over the next decade, as fewer and fewer alums attended events, and as the “old guard” that accounted for a significant chunk of the financial contributions became less active, the writing on the wall indicated that sticking with the financial status quo was unwise and untenable.
We looked at five seasons of data on the Bryant Hall postgame receptions — factoring in kickoff time, weather, opponent, outcome, etc. — and quickly saw that the days of paying $1,000+ for space, catering, and staffing each home game, for just an increasingly small handful of attendees, were over.
We also noticed just how many guys came back for Alumni Day in Spring 2016. Yes, there was curiosity around new head coach Bronco Mendenhall. But there was also a hospitable approach of: “come back, bring your family, have fun, have a meal, get a t-shirt… oh, and it’s all free.” Football covered the entire bill for the afternoon.
Thus we tried a new approach centered around gifts. This allowed for any size gift to be recognized, and came at a time where our strategies were shifting beyond simply social events.
In our leadership, stewardship, outreach, communications, thought processes, and decision making, we always attempt to abide by a few principles. The ones most applicable to finances include:
-
Be great teammates. Serve each other, support each other, lift each other up, and offer tough love and honest feedback when needed.
-
Maximize the team. Attract the best people possible and then let them cook, trusting in full that they’ll come through for and on behalf of others.
-
Maximize the bang-for-buck. We don’t have an embarrassment of riches; try to kill multiple birds with one stone.
-
Be frugal. Spend money when and where we need to, but not in excess. We’re funded by the goodwill of our teammates who are trusting us to put their dollars to good use.
-
Keep it simple. Use common sense, keep structures vanilla, and use ten cell analysis to guide our decision making. No need to make things unnecessarily complex.
-
Only scale up what we're currently executing gracefully. There’s no shortage of ideas or possibilities, but we must build a good foundation and master the plays that reliably yield first downs before we start calling the Annexation of Puerto Rico.
-
Be relentlessly organized. A big part of building a solid organization is just staying organized. Keep clean records with accurate information.
-
Online, check or cash. Checks and cash are turned into the UVA Fund, who handles the accounting and coding.
It’s not wholly uncommon for someone to give, say, a $20 bill at a tailgate. To keep things simpler, we’ve started including a QR code at our events that links directly to our online giving page.
See those big orange buttons?...
You can also scan a QR code at our events, or send a check via snail mail:
UVA Fund
Attn: VFAC
PO Box 400314
211 Emmet St. South
Charlottesville, VA 22904
Thank you!
By the numbers
$300
$100
Postage
$20
virginiafootball.com — fairly easy to remember, right? We did that on purpose, and it comes with a moderate price tag.
$25
We take a cake to the entire Football staff each month to celebrate birthdays and show our gratitude for their stewardship of the programs.
$300
$100
Postage
$20
virginiafootball.com — fairly easy to remember, right? We did that on purpose, and it comes with a moderate price tag.
$25
We take a cake to the entire Football staff each month to celebrate birthdays and show our gratitude for their stewardship of the programs.