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A service for banking industry professionals · Friday, July 18, 2025 · 831,961,732 Articles · 3+ Million Readers

Sweet Briar College Raises $18.6 Million in 2024–2025 to Support Women’s Education and Campus Innovation

College exceeds 2024-2025 fundraising goals through support from alumnae, friends, foundations, and corporations.

College exceeds 2024-2025 fundraising goals through support from alumnae, friends, foundations, and corporations.

Sweet Briar exceeds its 2024–2025 fundraising goals with $18.6 million raised, including a $5 million bequest, to support student success and campus innovation.

I am grateful to all of our alumnae and friends who commit themselves to Sweet Briar College through philanthropic support for our students.”
— President Mary Pope M. Hutson ’83

SWEET BRIAR, VA, UNITED STATES, July 18, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Sweet Briar College’s 2024-2025 fiscal year has come to an end, and with it, the College has exceeded its fundraising goals. In total, alumnae and friends, joined by foundations and corporations, made contributions totaling $18,692,047 to Sweet Briar.

That total includes the Sweet Briar Fund, the College’s unrestricted annual giving program, which exceeded its $5.5 million goal with contributions of $6,037,169. Sweet Briar also received an unrestricted bequest of $5 million from the estate of Jan Pridmore ’71, a transformational gift that demonstrates the impact of legacy giving.

Other categories include restricted gifts and grants, trust distributions, and capital and endowment contributions totaling $1,563,223. Sweet Briar also received current-use and undesignated funds, as well as capital and endowment payments from pledges to the "Where Women Lead" campaign. These contributions total $5,497,396.

The most significant milestone for the Sweet Briar community was the graduation of 104 members of the Class of 2025 in May, including 10 students who were initiated into Phi Beta Kappa. This group of the College’s newest alumnae had a placement rate of more than 70% in jobs and graduate schools on the day of their graduation.

Students attended the Society of Women Engineers Conference, the Ethics Bowl, the MARCUS Conference, and the Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium (SIEDS), where two of the Sweet Briar projects submitted received Best Paper awards. Additionally, the college hosted the 4th annual ROSE Leadership Conference. These unique opportunities provided students with the chance to practice professional networking, public speaking, and leadership in their respective fields.

Sweet Briar celebrated numerous other academic accomplishments and milestones, as well as securing notable partnerships, including one with the Institute for World Politics. In September, the campus community and local visitors welcomed the Richmond Symphony Orchestra for a concert in Babcock Performing Arts Center’s Murchison Lane Auditorium. September also brought the annual celebration of Founders’ Day, enriched by a talk from Bethany Pace, descendant of the Fletcher family, and the inauguration of Sweet Briar’s 14th President, Mary Pope M. Hutson ’83.

The Sweet Briar College Farm began selling its wine, and these investments are already seeing a return, with Earned the Rosé earning gold in the Virginia Governor’s Cup competition and Meadow Merlot and Leading the Way Chardonnay earning silver. These wines and others, along with produce from the College’s greenhouse and honey from its apiary, contribute to Sweet Briar’s auxiliary revenue sources. Sweet Briar also completed construction on its Richard C. Colton, Jr. Equestrian Arena.

“I am grateful to all of our alumnae and friends who commit themselves to Sweet Briar College through philanthropic support for our students,” said President Hutson. “Our college is eternally grateful to receive this level of giving from donors, who truly make a difference to Sweet Briar every day. Thanks to their continued dedication, we can offer an exemplary education and a robust student experience through co-curricular offerings, while also stewarding our historic campus and its stunning natural environment. We remain grateful for these continued investments that work toward securing the future.”

Sweet Briar College is more than a place to learn—it’s a place to lead, to be known, and to shape your future boldly. For students seeking a transformative education rooted in purpose, community, and opportunity, Sweet Briar offers a personalized path to success. With nationally recognized programs, powerful alumnae support, and a campus designed to inspire, there’s no better time to explore what it means to be a Sweet Briar woman. Visit www.sbc.edu/admissions to start your journey.

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