The Mark Day School Board of Trustees Development Committee is charged with the oversight of the school's fundraising and development activities. How important is fundraising to Mark Day School? Beginning on May 10, the cost of educating every student for the remainder of the school year is completely covered by the contributions of The Mark Day Fund, the school's endowment, and the Parents' Association revenue. It is that important! Fundraising supports many special programs and initiatives including capital projects, our endowment, Indexed Tuition, technology, and much more. This work is accomplished through the incredible generosity of our current families, grandparents, trustees, alumni families, and other friends of the school. Our fundraising efforts are guided by our seven-year 2014 Strategic Plan. These initiatives include the following: - The Mark Day Fund, our annual fund, helps to bridge the gap between tuition and the actual cost of educating each of our children. Donations are put to work immediately, during the current school year. We strive for 100% participation from the family community, and we are nearing that goal during 2020-2021 with current participation at 87%. Our community's generosity this year has been unprecedented. Under the leadership of Diana Maier '85 and board members Lindsay Bartsh and Ryan Brown, we have raised a record $804,000 so far this year. That support comes not only from current families, but also from alumni, alumni parents, grandparents and friends of our school. If you have not yet participated, please join with the entire Board of Trustees and the vast majority of Mark Day School families in contributing. We are grateful for your support!
- Our Endowment was $10.9 million as of 12/31/20. Monies contributed to the fund are invested and become the fund's principal. The endowment principal remains intact each year as the school only uses a portion of the return generated to fund initiatives, with the spend rate ranging between 3.5% and 4% annually over the past several years. The Endowment supports Indexed Tuition and teacher salaries, helps keep us secure in volatile times, and puts downward pressure on tuition annually.
- In 2015, we launched Mark Day School's Legacy Society, a planned giving program that allows families to name Mark Day School in their will or trust and provide for students in perpetuity. Six families have already included the school in their estate plans. Click here for more information. We thank 70+ supporters who have consistently donated to our school over 10 or more consecutive years, and they receive special recognition in the Mark Day School Annual Report. In addition, we now have 90 families and other community members as part of Mark Day School's 8th Pillar, which recognizes those who have been especially generous on a cumulative basis to our school. Such tremendous and consistent generosity enables us to provide an exceptional program year after year, providing lifelong value to our graduates.
- This year's community-wide social -- HOLIDAY, held on March 20 -- was a tremendous success and a lot of fun. The money we raise through auction items, socials and our Fund-A-Need is a critical piece of each school year's budget. We were so grateful to have had parent Katherine Rincon at the helm, with Parents' Association President Rachel Street and Parents' Association VPs of Fundraising Leyla Dendi and Adrienne Low providing tireless support. HOLIDAY netted $240,000, with more than $115,000 raised for Fund-A-Need's "Full of Heart Fund" which supported the surge in demand for Indexed Tuition due to Covid's impact on families, and school-related expenses, including technology, supplies and additional staff work hours to support 5-day a week learning. We thank all who volunteered for this event, and to all who attended.
- Campaigns commonly take place every 5-7 years in the life of a school. Last year we formed a campaign planning task force and the board has studied and approved the school's next capital campaign, which we are proud to say will be 100% focused on teachers. This year, that task force has been working to refine further what that means--how funds are used and what that will do for the school--and is working towards a launch.
For additional information about the board, please visit the Board of Trustees section of the school website. If you have any questions about the Development Committee, please contact committee chair Carl Reichardt. All the best, Mark Day School Board of Trustees |