State of the University

From President Katherine A. Rowe

Adaptation & Grit

Amidst uncertainty, we take great pride in what William & Mary has accomplished together. W&M has adapted to sustain our educational mission. That’s a simple thing to say, enormously difficult to achieve and sustain, as we have successfully for nearly two years. Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) showed our community’s extraordinary compassion and generosity, coming out of the For the Bold campaign. We are most grateful for your commitment and support. Financial support from across our community enabled W&M to innovate and to advance equity and access. Over the last year, our consolidated endowment grew by more than 34% — the largest increase over a 12-month period that W&M has ever seen. The total value of endowments held by all entities of W&M is now nearly $1.3 billion.

This fall, the third full semester since the beginning of pandemic, W&M's classrooms, labs, studios and fields are full. We reconnect joyfully with friends and family even as we continue to grapple with the challenges of an evolving pandemic.

Here are some other highlights from FY21:

We raised more than $61 million — one of the biggest fundraising years for W&M outside a major campaign.
More than a third of the money raised last year supported scholarships for students.
We launched our $55-million All In campaign to chart a more sustainable and equitable future for W&M Athletics. In FY21 alone, we raised more than $21 million toward this effort.
On One Tribe One Day, we shattered W&M’s records, with over $3 million raised.
Finally, generous unrestricted giving, especially to the Fund for W&M, enabled the university to sustain our mission during pandemic.

As a university, we invested in what mattered most: resources to ensure that we could safely continue to teach, learn and create new knowledge. We ran academic programs both in person and remotely, so that our students had the flexibility to choose the path that worked best for them. We held undergraduate tuition flat, recognizing the increased financial burden of pandemic on families. Investments in PPE, tents and outdoor lighting made it possible to use the campus differently, indoors and out, in a way that sustained fellowship, learning and health.

This time last year — in the FY20 financial report — we projected a budget shortfall of $30 million to $100 million. Through deliberate cost-savings measures, we held those losses to just under $40 million. We used an array of tools to close our year with a balanced budget: stringent cost-reduction, debt refinancing and one-time increased support from the commonwealth and federal government.

As we take stock of the transformations of the last year, we feel the momentum and opportunity gained by sustaining such a clear focus on our core mission. In every action we take to bolster the university’s financial foundation, we enhance W&M’s prominence in teaching, learning, research — and in educating the next generation of transformational leaders.

“William & Mary is once again navigating an academic year unlike any other we have experienced.”

President Katherine A. Rowe

Vision 2026

As we steer through W&M’s 329th academic year, here are three things of which we can be certain: we will continue to adapt to new uncertainties, we know that we can prevail — as we have in the past, and we will be a stronger community for that effort.

Looking further ahead, W&M is shaping a clear vision for the coming years on how to advance W&M’s distinctive excellence, create long-term financial stability and sustain the positive gains we have made during the pandemic. As this financial report is being prepared, W&M is leading the penultimate phase of a two-year strategic planning process — planning in — to develop the key initiatives that will define our path forward and help realize our aspirations. During Charter Day weekend, we will formally unveil a new strategic plan: Vision 2026. Three early themes are emerging:

Expand W&M's Reach

Our university has a global vision: we convene great hearts and minds to understand and change the world. Students and faculty pursue research of consequence, forge innovative partnerships and elevate the ethos of service — a hallmark of W&M that predates our nation’s founding.

Educate for Impact

A W&M education combines excellence in liberal arts and sciences with extraordinary professional schools and research institutions. This is the best preparation for flourishing amid today’s rapidly changing workplace.

Evolve to Excel

Adaptation is in W&M’s DNA. We will carry forward the innovation and creativity that have been key to our pandemic response so that we change to advance that which we value most.

I encourage you to dig into our preliminary work, available now at www.wm.edu/vision2026. Please join us virtually or in person in February, as we outline key priorities for W&M’s next half-decade.

For centuries, William & Mary people have innovated fearlessly in response to pressing adversity.

Building for a Bold Future

During W&M’s 2021 Convocation ceremony, Justice John Charles Thomas HON ’18 called on our community to “keep building,” and that is our goal. We have discovered that we can persevere to overcome obstacles and adapt more quickly than we knew in the past year. The generosity and grit that have enabled so much creativity under pandemic will continue to propel us forward.

Thank you for your attention to this financial report and for your continued partnership.

Best regards,

Katherine A. Rowe
President