2005-2006
From the Development Office
Dear St. Marker,
We are particularly proud this year to be sending you the following Annual Report. Over the last two years, our alumni/ae, parents and other friends have been especially generous. In the 2004 – 2005 fiscal year, St. Mark’s School received more in total gifts than in any year in the school’s history. And now, this past year, the Annual Fund has not only recorded a record high, but an increase of almost 13% from the preceding year. Your generosity to the Annual Fund provided 9.5% of the school’s total operating budget. All of us, faculty, students and staff benefit from this generosity, as it enables us to continue to offer that unique St. Mark’s education to future generations. Thank you all.
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Our success this year has been led by our Trustees, whose personal giving increased by 25% and represents almost 30% of our total, a remarkable number given a board of 29. Also, our current parents provided a huge boost by more than doubling their total giving from the prior year. Thanks go to Trustee Aly Scott, who led the entire Annual Fund campaign and the solicitation of her colleagues on the Board and to Parents Fund Chair Cliff Krauss, assisted by his committee and fellow parent Trustees Bill Burgess and Bob Metcalfe.
Some highlights from last year include:
- An encouraging sign about our youngest graduates is that two of the classes with the highest percentage of participation were two of the most recent classes – 2004 with 42% and 2006 with 59%. They should be a challenge to all other classes.
- The Gardner Bowl has been awarded to Thomas Schweizer ’41.
- The Class of the Year is 1956.
- The Burnett Award goes to the Class Agents from 2004, Benedict Bernstein, Faith Davis, Ashley-Kay Fryer and Armand Lauzon.
St. Mark’s School also received over $3 million in gifts for capital purposes. Major reunion classes, such as 1956, led the way with a gift to the endowment in memory of classmate and Head Monitor Jim Jenkins. Over the last two years, St. Mark’s has received more than $10.5 million. We are most grateful for the significant support of our school.
Finally, I must take this opportunity to note that President of the Board, George Putnam, was able to announce that an endowed scholarship fund has been established in honor of Elsa and Tony Hill’s tenure as Heads of School. This scholarship fund, which has received more than $1 million, will enable the school to enroll a student from an area of the world not presently represented in our student body. This gift is fitting to their tenure, as they have strengthened the school both financially and in the quality and breadth of our student body. We are a better school for both this fund and for their stewardship.
Kingsley C. Norris
Executive Director of Development
And Alumni/ae Relations