Annual Giving

Support the Annual Fund

Each year Vanderbilt relies on gifts to the annual fund from alumni, parents and friends to meet the immediate needs of our schools and programs. These gifts play a tremendous role in our ability to teach, discover and lead.

Key Dates

The following are important giving dates for our 2024-2025 Fiscal Year:

  • Calendar Year End, December 31, 2024
  • Giving Day 2024 - To Be Announced
  • Fiscal Year End, June 30, 2025

You are Vanderbilt

You can be proud of Vanderbilt and the role you play in its future. By making a gift, you help us offer exceptional opportunities for our current and future students, as well as our faculty and staff. Support for our annual fund provides current-use dollars for day-to-day resources in the classrooms, labs, and living-learning residence halls.

As an integral member of the Vanderbilt community, your gift, combined with those of other alumni and friends, allows the university to excel as a world-class institution. Together, with our outstanding students, faculty and staff, you are Vanderbilt.

Donor Recognition

Oak Leaf Society

When you give any amount for two consecutive fiscal years, you are counted in the Oak Leaf Society. The longer you give, the more enduring the impact of your support.

Giving levels:

  • Founder-2 to 9 years of consecutive giving
  • Ambassador-10 to 19 years of consecutive giving
  • Capstone-20 or more years of consecutive giving

Learn More on the Oak Leaf Society

Donor Societies

Donors who give $2,500 or more to a single area between July 1 and June 30 gain membership in one of our donor societies.

Giving Levels:

  • Cornelius Vanderbilt $25,000+
  • Dean's List/Circle $10,000 - $24,999
  • Benefactor $5,000 - $9,999
  • Member* $2,500 - $4,999

Give Now

*Alumni who graduated within the last 10 years are eligible for recognition with an annual gift of $1,000 or more.


Individual Donor Societies

Provost's Circle

Donors who give $2,500 or more cumulatively across multiple areas of the university gain membership to the Provost's Circle.

Giving Levels:

  • Cornelius Vanderbilt $25,000+
  • Dean's List/Circle $10,000 - $24,999
  • Benefactor $5,000 - $9,999
  • Member* $2,500 - $4,999

Give Now

*Alumni who graduated within the last 10 years are eligible for recognition with an annual gift of $1,000 or more.


Designation Areas for Annual Giving

  • University Priorities

    You are an integral member of the Vanderbilt University community. With an annual gift to the University Priorities fund, you help empower our mission of academic excellence, innovative discovery and service through leadership.

    Gifts to the University Priorities fund provide immediate financial support to areas of the university facing the greatest need and with the highest opportunity to foster cross-disciplinary success.

  • Athletics

    You are an integral member of the Vanderbilt Athletics community. With an annual gift, you become a member of the National Commodore Club and help provide life-changing opportunities for our current and future student-athletes.

    Together with our outstanding students, faculty and staff,  you are Vanderbilt.

    When you invest in Athletics by making an annual gift, you provide:

    • Scholarship support for student-athletes
    • The resources needed for our student-athletes to train like champions
    • Opportunities for our student-athletes to achieve in the classroom and beyond

    Learn more about the National Commodore Club at vu.edu/ncc.

  • Career Center

    You are an integral member of the Vanderbilt community. With an annual gift, you help provide life-changing opportunities for our current and future students.

    Together with our outstanding students, faculty and staff, you are Vanderbilt.

    When you invest in the Career Center's Commodore Closet by making an annual gift, you provide gift cards to deserving students so that they may purchase professional attire for interviews, career fairs and other professional development opportunities.

  • Jean and Alexander Heard Library

    You are an integral member of the Jean and Alexander Heard Library community. With an annual gift to the library, you help provide exceptional opportunities for our student and faculty researchers.

    Together with our outstanding students, faculty and staff, you are Vanderbilt.

    When you invest in the library, you support:

    • The acuisition of state-of-the-art resources for scholarly research
    • The preservation of special collections and digital archives
    • Special programs, lectures, workshops and exhibits
  • Student Critical Support Fund

    The Student Critical Support Fund allows members of the Vanderbilt community to provide philanthropic support to help students going through difficult times.

    In 2020, Vanderbilt University established the Student Hardship Fund to support the immediate needs of students experiencing hardships related to events such as natural disasters or the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund supports unexpected expenses for undergraduate, graduate and professional students with demonstrated need, like last-minute airline tickets, housing, meals, technology needed for online learning and other necessities. In 2022, the fund was renamed the Student Critical Support Fund to better convey its purpose-to give our students peace of mind in a time of uncertainty and demonstrate the true power and values of the Vanderbilt community.

    We are so appreciative of your concerns for our students. They reflect the comforting and inspiring reality that, during challenging times, the Commodore spirit of collaboration and care prevails. We hope you will join us in support of our students by making a gift of any size to this special fund.

    Student Critical Support Fund 

  • College of Arts and Science

    You are an integral member of the College of Arts and Science community. With an annual gift, you help provide life-changing opportunities for our current and future students.

    Together with our outstanding students, faculty and staff, you are Vanderbilt.

    When you invest in the College of Arts and Science by making an annual gift, you provide:

    • Contemporary programs that extend educational growth beyond the classrooms into our living-learning communities
    • Technology and facility improvements like the Wond'ry, our cross-disciplinary innovation space where students create, invent and explore promising ideas
    • The opportunity for students to be taught by faculty who are Guggenheim Fellows, as well those who have been selected for membership in elite organizations such the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Science.
  • Basic Sciences

    You are an integral member of the Basic Sciences' dedicated biomedical research community, and you play a vital role in its future. By making an annual gift, you help provide exceptional opportunities for discovery and innovation, while simultaneously training tomorrow’s scientific leaders.

    Together with our outstanding students, faculty and staff, you canDare to Grow" and continue the momentum of the largest fundraising campaign in university history.

    When you invest in the Basic Sciences by making an annual gift, you provide:

    • A verdant academic environment for our graduate and postdoctoral students.
    • Cutting-edge technology to conduct biomedical research and drug discovery.
    • The ability to attract and retain accomplished, innovative faculty.
  • Blair School of Music

    You are an integral member of the Blair School of Music community. With an annual gift, you help provide life-changing opportunities for our current and future students.

    Together with our outstanding students, faculty and staff, you are Vanderbilt.

    When you invest in Vanderbilt by making an annual gift, you provide:

    • Scholarships that put our students' dreams within reach
    • Opportunities for us to bring a vibrant schedule of performers to campus
    • Resources for us to attract and retain world-class faculty
  • Divinity School

    You are an integral member of the Vanderbilt Divinity School community. With an annual gift to the Divinity School, you help provide exceptional opportunities for our current and future students.

    Together with our outstanding students, faculty and staff, you are Vanderbilt.

    When you invest in the Divinity School, you provide:

    • Resources for the building renovation and expansion to create better teaching and gathering spaces for a more collaborative environment
    • Thought-leadership presentations on important societal issues, such as the Cole, Antoinette Brown, Harrod and Bogitsch Lectures
    • Programs such as the Transformative Justice series that develops social change leaders through the arts
    • Scholarships for talented students
  • School of Engineering

    You are an integral member of the School of Engineering community. With an annual gift, you help provide life-changing opportunities for our current and future students.

    Together with our outstanding students, faculty and staff, you are Vanderbilt.

    When you invest in the School of Engineering by making an annual gift, you provide:

    • Contemporary programs that extend educational growth beyond the classrooms into our living-learning communities
    • Technology and facility improvements like the Wond'ry, our cross-disciplinary innovation space where students create, invent and explore promising ideas
    • Resources for our accomplished professors to achieve a 2022 U.S. News & World Report ranking of No. 33 in Best Undergraduate Teaching
  • Graduate School

    You are an integral member of the Vanderbilt Graduate School community. With an annual gift to the Graduate School, you support the scholarly pursuits of our students and faculty, and advance Vanderbilt's education and research mission.

    Together with our outstanding students, faculty and staff,  you are Vanderbilt.

    When you invest in the Graduate School, you help:

    • Provide opportunities for scholarships that train the next generation of leaders in in a variety of disciplines
    • Promote excellence in research and scholarship through state-of-the-art resources
    • Recruit the most promising pre- and post-doctoral scholars from diverse backgrounds
  • Law School

    You are an integral member of the Vanderbilt Law School community. With an annual gift to the law school, you help provide exceptional opportunities for our current students and our future leaders in the legal profession.

    Together with our outstanding students, faculty and staff, you are Vanderbilt.

    When you invest in the law school, you provide:

    • Opportunities for financial assistance, like the Helen Strong Curry International Law Scholarship, for talented students who otherwise couldn't afford a legal education
    • Contemporary programs, such as on-campus lectures by national government leaders, that extend educational growth beyond the classrooms
    • Cutting-edge thought leadership on current legal issues presented in podcasts by our esteemed faculty
  • School of Medicine

    You are an integral member of the School of Medicine community. With an annual gift to VUSM, you help provide our students with a unique environment of high-impact clinical training that promotes compassionate patient care and discovery. Your generosity empowers us to deliver first-rate curricula to train the next generation of world-class health care leaders and scientists

    Together with our outstanding students, faculty and staff, you can Dare to Grow and continue the momentum of the largest fundraising campaign in university history.

    When you invest in VUSM, you provide:

    • Scholarship opportunities for gifted students to study at VUSM, which helps recruit the brightest scholars.
    • State-of-the-art technology and resources to help our students learn and discover as part of our Curriculum 2.0
  • School of Nursing

    You are an integral member of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing community. With an annual gift to the School of Nursing, you help provide exceptional opportunities for our nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, nurse informaticists, nurse leaders and nurse scientists.

    Together with our outstanding students, faculty and staff, you can Dare to Grow and continue the momentum of the largest fundraising campaign in university history.

    When you invest in VUSN, you provide:

    • Scholarship opportunities for talented students to study at VUSN, which helps to address the nationwide registered nurses shortage.
    • State-of-the-art technology and equipment to advance nursing education, clinical scholarship, research and patient care.
    • The ability to attract and retain accomplished faculty to train future nurse leaders.
  • Owen Graduate School of Management

    Our mission to provide a world-class business education on a personal scale is being realized and reimagined. Your support makes all of this possible. Every gift to the Owen Annual Fund impacts the life of your school and Owen students including:

    • Enabling significant strategic initiatives to build for the future of Owen, such as the donor-led renovation and expansion of Management Hall.
    • Helping to fuel scholarships and financial aid that make an Owen education accessible to the best and brightest.
    • Funding world-class initiatives and centers, like the Center for Entrepreneurship, which provides students the opportunity to advance research, design and develop new products and collaborate across disciplines.
    • Supporting areas of greatest need, such as travel for case competitions, executing experiential learning opportunities for our students and ensuring that we can meet students' unexpected financial needs.

    To make a gift of any size to the Owen Annual Fund visit us online at vu.edu/giveowen. If you have any questions regarding support for Owen, please contact owen.alum@vanderbilt.edu.

  • Peabody School

    You are an integral member of the Peabody College community. With an annual gift, you help provide life-changing opportunities for our current and future students.

    Together with our outstanding students, faculty and staff, you are Vanderbilt.

    When you invest in Peabody College by making an annual gift, you provide:

    • Contemporary programs that extend educational growth beyond the classrooms into our living-learning communities
    • Technology and facility improvements like the Wond'ry, our cross-disciplinary innovation space where students create, invent and explore promising ideas
    • Resources for our accomplished professors to achieve a 2023 U.S. News & World Report ranking of No. 6 in Best Education Schools
  • the Wond'ry - Vanderbilt's Innovation Center

    The Wond’ry is Vanderbilt’s Center for Innovation and Design.

    Its three story, 13,000-square foot space, located in the heart of campus in Nashville, Tennessee, provides the tools and resources for students, faculty, staff, and community members to bring ideas to life. The Wond’ry offers state of the art makerspaces, workshops, training opportunities, and programs designed to support anyone from budding entrepreneurs to community changemakers. The Wond’ry welcomes students from all backgrounds, disciplines, and abilities, empowering them to develop innovative and creative solutions that change the world.

    Your gift to the Wond'ry helps:

    • Facilitate transinstitutional collaboration between students, faculty, and staff from all schools, levels, and disciplines.
    • Provide students opportunities to gain real-world experience in creating new processes, building new technologies, and forming fresh insights.
    • Build, innovate, explore and care. Here, our campus community can turn abstract ideas into realities that make a difference in people’s lives.

    Learn more about the Wond'ry