On October 6, 1817, in the presence of James Monroe and James Madison, two other former presidents of the United States, Thomas Jefferson finally realized his dream of setting out to create “the bulwark of the human mind in the Western hemisphere” with the laying of the cornerstone of the first building of the Academical Village. He had labored for years negotiating with the General Assembly of the Commonwealth and raising private contributions, or “subscriptions” for his university. Ever since, each ensuing generation of University alumni has served as “trustees” of Mr. Jefferson’s vision for this institution. Today, with public financial support at historical lows for the modern era, the Board of Managers of the Alumni Association has created The Jefferson Trust as a unique means of pursuing the founder’s vision.
INVESTING IN THE DREAM
The Jefferson Trust, an unrestricted endowment initiative of The University of Virginia Alumni Association, provides funding to The University's various constituencies with the intent of enhancing The University's margin of excellence consistent with the Founder's vision and its national and international reputation.
In recent years, the University’s Board of Visitors and administrators have struggled
to sustain the University’s national stature, in the face of ever decreasing state
financial support. Private resources 
have been the only salvation.
Inevitably even with truly magnificent philanthropic support from alumni and
friends, the elements that separate the best from the merely good,
those that provide a true margin of excellence, oftentimes have
had to be left unaddressed and unfunded.
During consecutive years of frozen faculty and staff compensation, the Alumni Association has stepped forward to provide financial assistance in order to retain valued faculty. Twice, the Association answered to the best of our ability. The support we have been able to provide, however, has been grossly inadequate. Dozens of other needs have been identified, which the Alumni Association sadly has had no capacity to address, until now.
Copyright © 2007