168: Magnus Johnsson, Virginia Commonwealth University

With 30 years of fundraising experience, Magnus Johnsson has led fundraising in large non-profits and presently works at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). He was appointed in 2015 as senior associate vice president of presidential and university philanthropy. In this role he strategically leads the university’s development efforts in principal giving, presidential engagement, planned giving, corporate and foundation relations, and regional major gifts.Serving on the senior leadership team of VCU’s $841M Make It Real Campaign the effort achieved more than 112% of its $750M goal when it concluded in 2020 with 113,000 donors participating, including 73,000 first time donors. Previously he served as the executive director of external relations and development for the university’s school of education. During Magnus’s tenure at VCU he has notably seen the development program evolve from decentralized to hybrid and just recently to one that is now fully centralized.As an undergrad student at James Madison University pursuing a degree in public administration and nonprofit management he received his first exposure to fundraising during a summer internship preceding his senior year. An early mentor urged Magnus to apply for his first fundraising job shortly after graduation. Prior to joining VCU in 2007 spent the early part of his career building fundraising programs and gaining early leadership and managerial experience at United Methodist Family Services and the United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg. In 2010 he completed a Master in Public Administration from VCU.Magnus is engaged in his community serving on the board of Home Again, a homeless services agency in the Richmond area focused on rapid rehousing. Living in Richmond’s historic Fan District in walking distance from the VCU campus, Magnus enjoys tennis, building his ever-growing vinyl music collection, and any and all travel, including annual visits to his family in Finland.