by Jeanne Howard, CA Fund Co-Chair
What the heck is the Cary Academy Fund anyway? Maybe you’ve directly asked this question or maybe you’ve wondered but never really asked. Kevin and I are in our third year as parents at Cary Academy and our second as Co-Chairs of the CA Fund’s annual drive. Allow us to give everyone a “sneak peak” at the great machine behind our Cary Academy Fund.
First of all, almost every independent school has an annual fund that serves as their primary source of funding outside of tuition. The annual drive allows the school to cultivate relationships and get to know you better! An annual fund also allows an institution to keep tuition steady and not overburden families. They do this by focusing on participation, as opposed to the size of the gift. It’s important for our community to participate in giving together, but at a level that is appropriate to each family’s situation.
Annual funds were created to fund the “gap” between tuition and the actual cost to educate each student. Instead of pouring more of your hard-earmed money into tuition, an annual fund gift is also tax deductible. This year’s “gap” per student is about $4656. Just imagine… without this fund, tuition would have to be increased close to $5000 per student! By implementing an annual fund drive, schools are able to cultivate deeper relationships and donors can more evenly bear increasing costs while keeping tuition steady. It’s a beautiful sequence when it works and the community engages.
And boy have you responded! The CA Fund has grown over 200% in the last five years, while tuition has seen only minimal increase. That strength is allowing our Board of Directors to approve big, bold initiatives and accelerate projects such as our new science addition to the SEA coming in the fall of 2018! How exciting to know that the completion of the building will “unlock” so many other projects for our campus…things like new humanities classrooms, classroom remodels, dining hall renovations, Middle School renovations and so much more. You see…..ANYTHING is possible with your help!
Relationships can either grow or wither – depending on our actions. The goal of the good folks in Development is to build and deepen relationships with their clients….the parents of CA. It’s really no different than a private or public company, CA offers a product and we buy their product. Along the way, they ask us for feedback in order to continually improve the quality of the “product”. We seek the best education possible and they strive to exceed our expectations. In turn, we develop a sense of pride and loyalty for our school and giving back, in some ways, comes natural.
The annual drive of the Cary Academy Fund is our way, each year, of coming together behind the scenes to say, “ Yes! We will participate! We believe in the vision! We want to help!”. Don’t be left behind this year, pledge early and lets FUND THE GAP together!