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The Gunnery holds a strong place on the roll of independent schools in the United States. But we never lose sight of the fact that we could not achieve what we do without the additional help we get from our many friends and supporters beyond the campus.
As with other preparatory schools, tuition alone cannot support the broad range of services and opportunities that help us maintain and build an institution devoted to helping young people reach their fullest potential. At the same time, we take special pride in being prudent stewards of the funds available to the school.
But we face several realities:
- The actual cost of education and care for each Gunnery student is 22% higher than the tuition payment.
- 45 per cent of our students are on some form of financial aid.
- Improvements to our infrastructure and standards of compensation for staff and faculty that keeps us competitive are largely dependent upon donations.
For these and other reasons, we would like to briefly explain the system of gifts to The Gunnery. They fall into two general categories:
The Annual Fund is The Gunnery’s “bread and butter,” for with it the school covers the gap between Gunnery tuition and what it actually costs to educate a student at the school. It is critical to balancing the budget. When the school’s budget is set by The Board, the Annual Fund is responsible to cover a percentage of that goal. As its name implies, money raised in the Annual Fund goes directly into program to help cover salaries, student support and a host of other items needed to run the school for the year. Many people are unaware that Annual Fund dollars cannot be used for construction of capital projects nor do they go to the endowment; they must be spent by the end of the school’s fiscal year on June 30th. The Alumni Fund, the Parents Fund, both current and past, and the Grandparents Fund are the integral parts of the overall Annual Fund.
This covers everything that is not part of the Annual Fund mandate, and is designed to ensure the strength of The Gunnery of tomorrow. Capital gifts can be given to:
- The Endowment: The Gunnery needs to build this crucial resource as a guarantor of its future in a changing financial world. To help balance the annual budget, we currently take a 5% draw from our endowment every year. To do more would consume valuable principal that we cannot afford to jeopardize. The larger the endowment, the greater sense of security we have. We highly welcome unrestricted donations here, but we also encourage gifts that endow a scholarship, endow a teaching chair, endow a faculty sabbatical program or a student prize.
- Bricks and Mortar: This is the term most often used to describe dollars donated to build buildings or buy items for a program not covered by the school’s budget. The new Teddy House Dormitory is an example of a capital project that has been funded with an initial gift of $1.3 million from the Ebersol family and augmented by other donors. Recent capital gifts that have targeted specific programs include new crew shells, “smart boards” for the classroom, an acoustic shell for the Emerson Performing Arts Center, the establishment of the McKee Cup in Lacrosse and memorial benches around campus. The Gunnery currently has major capital projects to fund, notably a badly needed new athletic field for $1.5 million. A donor can have one’s name put on these opportunities by funding a minimum of 50% of the project.
- First and foremost we ask you to support The Gunnery’s Annual Fund to the best of your ability. You can make a gift to the Annual Fund through our online giving link by visiting our Online Giving page. If you have questions, please call Joan Hayes Davis or Natalie Merriman.
- In addition to the Annual Fund, if you are interested in contributing to our capital gifts, please call the Development Office and speak to either Barbara Sabia or Jim Graham. This can also include making gifts to The Gunnery through your will or other planned giving vehicles. For additional information, you may visit the planned giving links on the alumni section of the web site.
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If you have any further questions, please contact the Development Office at 860-868-7334 and ask to speak to one of the following:
Tom Hollinger ext. 204
Natalie Merriman ext. 202
Joan Hayes Davis ext. 203
Jim Graham ext. 273
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