Frequently Asked Questions

Contributing to an institutional campaign is an opportunity to give back to a school that has nurtured and supported you and your family, while also helping future families to benefit from a Saint Mary’s education. Today's Saint Mary’s students benefit from the generosity and investment of families who have come before them.

As an independent school, Saint Mary’s has the ability to define its mission and enjoy freedoms not inherent in other educational institutions. The school enjoys: 

• The freedom to define our own mission: why we exist, whom we serve.
• The freedom to regulate admissions: admitting those students who are in alignment with our mission.
• The freedom to define teacher credentials.
• The freedom to teach what we as educators decide understand to be important: we are free from state curricular, textbook, and testing mandates).

With these independent-school freedoms, comes financial independence that requires Saint Mary's to rely on support from alumnae, our families and friends, to perpetuate Saint Mary’s proud, independent heritage. 

The Saint Mary’s School Board of Trustees and the Office of Development are leading the Saint Mary’s Forever campaign with support from the Head of School and a Campaign Leadership Committee. Ultimately, additional teams of alumnae, parents, grandparents, faculty and staff, and alumnae parents will be established to support the campaign.  

Now, more than ever, Saint Mary’s Annual Fund provides funding for the gap between tuition, endowment, and the cost to operate a 24/7, boarding-day school. It is imperative we continue receiving annual support to ensure operations throughout our campaign and in the future, as we build our endowment. Following independent school best practices, Saint Mary’s School will include annual fund gifts in its campaign fundraising totals.

Every gift makes a difference in the success of the Saint Mary's Forever campaign, and therefore in the lives of our students and the future of our school. It is our hope each family will consider making Saint Mary’s one of their top three philanthropic priorities during the Forever campaign and give accordingly. We also hope that our supporters will stretch to make a gift of personal significance. 

The renovation of key campus buildings and the creation of a new academic quad are our top priority. Cruikshank Hall is currently under construction with generous gifts that have allowed the completion of Phase I and the start of Phase II of this project. Additional capital projects will be ongoing. Our goal and commitment is to raise in full, all funds required for each project before initiating work. Currently, we have two fully-funded projects: The Victory Bell Tower Pavilion, which construction should begin in fall 2019; and a new faculty house now under construction. Our next goal is to fully-fund, by spring 2020, a new Performing Arts Center with the hope of beginning construction in summer 2020. 

Many donors are fulfilling their commitments over a five-year period. Creative fulfillment schedules can be drafted, and approved, on an individual basis as needed. 

Investors to Saint Mary’s Forever campaign can combine three giving opportunities into one maximized commitment. With a single pledge, investors can structure a gift to support the Annual Fund, the capital campaign, while also outlining a deferred gift to support our school in perpetuity. For example, a donor may commit $200,000 to Saint Mary’s Forever structured as follows:

• $100,000 total to be paid over five years for a total annual payment of $20,000.
  • $5,000 will support the Annual Fund annually.
  • $15,000 will fund campaign priority of donor choosing annually. 
• $100,000 committed as a deferred gift through estate planning.
• For a total commitment to Saint Mary’s Forever: $200,000

Saint Mary’s School is committed to keeping tuition as low as possible, recognizing the investment families make when choosing an independent school for their child. Through Saint Mary’s Annual Fund, families, grandparents, alumnae, alumnae families, local businesses, and foundations are able to support girls education and lifelong learning while also receiving a tax-deductible benefit. Higher tuition offers no tax benefit and may create a barrier for many families seeking an independent-school education for their children.

Currently, debt service obligations prevent Saint Mary’s School from achieving true financial independence. The campaign seeks to eliminate debt incurred by previous campus building and renovation projects. When the debt is eliminated, $1.8 million annually will be redirected from debt service to our students and programs.  

Saint Mary’s endowment is currently valued at $25 million. We know our ability to provide a powerful education depends on both the delivery of our education and the strength of our endowment to provide meaningful resources to support programs, facilities, and faculty. Most of the peer schools with which Saint Mary's competes for students and talent, have endowments that are substantially larger than ours – in the range of $60 to $300 million. A goal of the Saint Mary’s Forever campaign is to secure gifts that will bolster our endowment and secure our future for the next 178 years.

Saint Mary's endowment supports many components of the school's work from faculty to facilities to programs; however, more than 60% of our endowment income funds student scholarships and financial aid—which equates to about $500,000 annually. In total, current students receive more than $2 million in aid, which means more than $1.5 million is simply absorbed through the operating budget since it is not fully funded by the endowment. As our endowment grows, more operating dollars will be redirected from aid to our students and programs.