Hello Fellow [year] Classmates:

While I have not been in contact with many of you for some time, I am asking you, on behalf of St. Mark’s School, to consider donating $39.50 to the Annual Fund. The fund closes on June 30 – one week from today.

You probably have a million activities and responsibilities going on at once, which means that the St. Mark’s Annual Fund may not be on your list of top priorities. Yet, the Annual Fund is important to the school. Donations help build support, and they also enhance the educational experience of every student in the same way that previous alumni contributions helped shape our own school experiences almost 30 years ago.

Why $39.50? For two reasons. First, this gift is equivalent to almost $800 of purchasing power from the school’s endowment. Second, the amount I quoted you is the current price of two large, plain cheese pizzas at the Southborough House of Pizza. (I’m not kidding. You can bring back fond memories of the place here. )

Making a 100% tax deductible gift is easy online. Alternatively, you can mail a check to:

St. Mark's School
P. O. Box 9105
25 Marlborough Road
Southborough, MA 01772 – 9105

Whatever you decide, the school appreciates your consideration. I hope that you have a good summer and that life is treating you well.

Best regards,

[name]

[phone number] .

Dear Classmates from 1972 –

OK, just so I don’t waste your precious holiday time (or insult your intelligence), here’s the “secret formula” for the standard yearend Advancement (f/k/a “Development” which was f/k/a “Fundraising”) letter: cajole you, get down to business, hit you up for a gift, and then blah, blah, blah & sign off.

Part 1: Cajole you
I send you best wishes for happy holidays and a better New Year in 2012. I saw this sign of the times last week: I felt it kind of characterized how the past three years have negatively impacted almost everyone. And not just us…

Part 2: Incredibly subtle segue
But these times have also stressed great institutions like our own alma mater, St. Marks. Now, more than ever, the school needs our financial support to ensure continued excellence in teaching and shaping its students’ future lives.

Part 3: The “Ask”
I ask you to consider a tax-deductible gift now at yearend (if you have not done so this year) to St. Marks in the amount of $100 for first-timers and 10% above your highest previous donation for repeat donors. And many thanks to all of you who have donated any amount at any point in the past to St. Marks – you are the lifeblood of the school (beyond the faculty, coaches, students, administration, etc…). Please on the familiar Lion statue by sculptor Georges Gardet (1863-1939) below to make an online donation now. (or here as well-> https://www.stmarksschool.org/support_sm/annualfun... to double your gift!)

Part 4: The Denouement
Please don’t make me beg further or put out my hands in supplication for you a) to donate and b) to make plans to attend our 40th reunion June 15th – 17th next year – I sincerely hope you’ll join me in doing both. Part 5: The Truth OK, my job here is done – I hope my novel approach to this Class Agent responsibility has been met with a smile. But seriously, please consider helping the school out here – I know it’s been a tough Economy, but thank you for making a gift of any size.

Be well, thank you for the friendship these many years, and have a safe & sane New Year’s this weekend – Malcolm

Dear Classmate,

Leaves turning. Kids heading back to school. Some of us trying to squeeze into jeans last seen six months ago. All sure signs that fall is upon us, and with it, another drive for our alma mater’s Annual Fund.

Last year’s Annual Fund, which made up a full 10% of St. Mark’s 2012 operating budget, raised over $1.9 million, and over $X million of that came from alumni, which is really remarkable. Thanks in part to the gift you generously gave, our class participation was a record-setting XX% and we were able to raise over $X.

Even better, a bunch of us were able to get together and get caught up over Reunion Weekend, marveling at how much smaller the buildings have become, how incredibly uncomfortable the beds have gotten, what remarkable havoc Classmate1, 2, 3 and 4 are still able to cause, and how much more fun Sawyer would’ve been with a full bar in the hallway at all times.

All those things aside (or maybe because of them), I think we’d all agree it was a wonderful weekend and a wonderful reminder of not only how much we still care about St. Mark’s and the friendships we made there, but why we still care.

That work is still being done in Southborough today, and that’s why we hope you’ll consider joining us this year in giving to the Annual Fund. Your gift doesn’t have to be huge. But we do hope you can make one.

And, for those of you who think we’re just in it for the money, send in your stories, your updates, your photos, your news. While we got to see some old faces in June, we didn’t get to see them all, and we’d love to know what everyone’s up to. You can fill in a magazine form (and make a donation!) right online at (insert URL) How handy is that, right?

And remember, if you’re ever in our respective necks of the woods, give us a holler; we’d love to catch up. Just remember to bring a present for Karla’s new baby….

All best, Class Agent

Hi everyone,

Dear St. Mark’s Classmate,

I hope you are having a well-deserved and enjoyable Father’s Day today! At St. Mark’s, they are just winding down the annual Reunion Weekend, always a fun opportunity to visit the school we attended forty years ago and see the how much has changed and how much has been retained. The tradition of academic excellence, the camaraderie of sports teams, the friendships formed which create lifelong bonds – all wonderfully alive as the School itself approaches its sesquicentennial in 2015.

Our fortieth reunion is next year, and I would love to have you attend and re-connect with me, our classmates and the School. You really have to witness the improvements on campus to fully appreciate how St. Mark’s is keeping up and, in many cases, leading the way in preparing the next generations of students for college. I hope you will join me in making a gift to the Annual Fund to help St. Mark’s continue to provide the best high school experience in every way to its students. Please take a moment now to make a gift before the school’s fiscal year ends June 30th.

I realize that we all have other demands on our financial resources – I, for one, have two daughters and a step-son in college (none of whom attended St. Mark’s) – but on this Father’s Day, I look back and remember what a gift it was for my parents to send me to St. Mark’s where I met you all. Please help, to any extent you can, so that current and future generations of St. Markers can have a truly unique experience that is priceless.

I will be phoning around over these next ten days to catch up on news (ask me questions about our classmates, too!), thank those of you who have been so generous to our alma mater, and cajole the others with a “verbal ask”. Staying connected with you means a great deal to me, and your selfless support (remember Ned Hall’s “Agape, gentlemen!”?) of our school is much appreciated by all.

Many thanks for sharing a part of your Father’s Day with me – I look forward to speaking with you soon!

All the best,

[Name]

[Phone, email, postal address]

Dear Salutation,

Like a Sicilian on the day of his daughter’s wedding, I find it hard to refuse a favor. So when Matt Chamberlin ’84 reached out to me to ask me to take up the position of class agent for the class of 1983, I agreed. Naturally, I figured my acceptance would be rewarded with an offer of a trip to visit him in Miami and 36 holes of golf. I am sure that my invitation is forthcoming. I will keep you all posted.

In the meantime, while I do write to ask you for your support of the annual fund, I am also offering a challenge of sorts.

As I sit in New York, laptop in my lap, I am looking at a picture of plum blossoms in Japan that Peter Longcope posted on his Facebook wall. I look back at an article from National Geographic about Allan Maca’s discovery of a Mayan tomb in Honduras. And through LinkedIn, I find the smiling face of Charles Windisch-Graetz who co-founded a communications consulting firm in Santa Monica. I know he has a nicer view from his office than I do from mine.

Unlike some of you who have teenage kids (my boys at 6 and 9) I have not yet explored all the dark corners of the Internet and social media, but I do have a Facebook page (I have yet to accept any friends). I have a Twitter logon but don’t Tweet. I Skype. I Google old friends and I maintain a LinkedIn profile should anyone want to look me up and offer me a job for millions of dollars. All this means is that no matter how far we are spread across the world, and make no mistake about it, we are spread to every corner of the earth, we are almost as close now as we were on that last sunny day in June in Southborough. In many cases, we are just a mouse-click away.

I know and see that many of you are connected, at least electronically, but my challenge to you is nothing more complicated than to look someone up from the class that you have not seen or spoken to for a few years and connect, pass a couple of photos around, tell some stories, pass along some contacts. Meet on the virtual quad or in a virtual sixth form room for a few minutes.

As far as the school goes, St. Mark’s continues to deliver a world-class education with recent additions and innovations including Mandarin and a robotics team. John Warren continues to emphasize community, leadership and service and there is a dedication to excellence that in 2011 produced (out of 340 students):

• One National Merit Scholar
• Two National Merit Finalists
• The winner of the Regional Chemistry Olympiad, and the 4th place finisher
• 15 inductees into the Cum Laude Society
• 10 recognitions for excellence in German
• Record number of recognitions for excellence in the National Latin and Greek exams
• 14 medal winners on the National French exam
• 27 medal winners on the National Spanish exam
• Record participation in our nationally-recognized Math Institute which makes Math fun

As you know, all this takes resources. The Annual Fund - gifts from us - makes up more than 10% of the school’s $17 million budget.

Please join me in increasing your Annual Fund gift this year. Your gift of X will go a long way towards helping us provide an education of consequence in the coming year.

Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you. I can be reached at [email]. Send me a note, a photo or a web link. And if anyone take the class Facebook group (St. Mark's Class of 1983), off my hands, I promise to accept your friend request.

With best regards,

Andrew Marrus ‘83

P.S. Please ask your employer’s human resources office if there’s a matching gift program which could double or triple your benefit to St. Mark’s.

Dear Classmates:

We were all fortunate to go to St. Mark’s. We were fortunate to be accepted, and fortunate to afford it.

The first bit of fortune was the same for all of us; generations of stewards had prudently applied the School’s endowment and tuition funds to support a tradition of academic excellence. We met the school’s criteria, we were accepted, and we benefited.

The second bit of fortune is related. After excellent academics, an endowment can also be used to subsidize the attendance of worthy scholars.

• Was tuition competitive enough for your parents to afford St. Mark’s? You were fortunate.
• Did the endowment support you directly through scholarships? You were exceptionally fortunate.
• Did the endowment allow the school to breach financial, cultural and geographic frontiers, identify you, and enable you to attend a school that would have been not just beyond your means, but your imagination … ?

In 1994, we were fortunate that the endowment was at least good, and was well applied. Now the endowment is much, much stronger.

But that’s no thanks to us.

Over 14 years, our total giving as a class is a meager $10,809. That is all the giving, by every person, over 14 years. A whole slew of appalling statistics could follow that statement. Some things are best left unsaid.

By now our diplomas have done most of the heavy lifting. We’re in our early 30s.

The question is less: “What comes next?”

The question has become: “Who comes next?”

• If you look around yourself and find yourself not only “happy” or “prosperous,” but “literate,” “critical,” “engaged,” “accepted,” or “respected”;
• If you recognize that your St. Mark’s education contributed a fair bit to those qualities that keep you afloat in this “crazy, mixed up world”;
• If you think deserving young people should continue to open envelopes inviting them to an exceptional education, in a rare, wonderful environment;
• If you want to be able to look Jay Engel in the eyes when you’re done interviewing with St. Peter;

Contribute to “Who comes next.”

Next summer we’ll have been in the World for 15 years. We all have much to be proud of. Let’s be proud that we support our School.

I look forward to seeing you at reunion.

Cheers and thanks,

Brian Blake