Because Gifts to the Annual Fund:

• Provide flexibility. Annual Fund gifts supply the much-needed gift of flexibility. St. Mark’s can use these unrestricted funds immediately for the School’s most pressing needs and to respond quickly to new opportunities.
• Help us move forward with confidence. When you give--and give again every year--you allow St. Mark’s to plan for the future with assurance.
• Exemplify Age Quod Agis. The spirit of your gift to the St. Mark’s Annual Fund demonstrates your regard for the School and your desire to help prepare students for lives of consequence. It reflects a tradition of giving that connects each one of us to the St. Mark’s of today and the many generations of students who received their education here.

St. Mark’s costs are high because it is a people-intensive enterprise. The 5:1 student-teacher ratio equals a substantial line item for salaries and benefits.

If you were to divide the total cost of running the school by the number of students, the cost per student would equal $63,127 for 2010–11. This year, however, St. Mark’s charges a fee of $45,100 for boarding students and a fee of $36,000 for day students. Thus, every student, regardless of whether he or she receives financial aid, actually receives a substantial subsidy made possible through our endowment and robust Annual Fund. St. Mark’s financial aid program provides an even greater subsidy to 28 percent of the student body this year. The average award for 2010-11 is $38,462 per student. Quite simply, none of this would be possible without gifts to the Annual Fund.

Absolutely! It is hard to overstate the importance of your participation in the St. Mark’s Annual Fund. Each gift, no matter its size, contributes to the whole. Consider this: Every annual dollar donated gives the School the equivalent purchasing power of $20 of endowment. Collectively, individual gifts from members of the St. Mark’s community make a crucial difference in the day-to-day life on campus.

Participation builds a strong and critical base of donors. It builds momentum that inspires others to give. Alumni are more likely to make a gift if a significant number of their peers are contributing. Participation is an expression of confidence in the School’s mission, and all those dollars add up and make a real difference.

Absolutely not! St. Mark’s uses—and appreciates—gifts at all levels. The St. Mark’s Annual Fund represents a collective effort to raise a cumulative total. The alumni tradition of supporting St. Mark’s has always been about the proportionate ability to give and a desire to share a common goal with classmates.

In relation to income or financial circumstances, one classmate’s $50 gift may be every bit as meaningful as another’s $1,500 gift. Moreover, alumni/ae capable of giving very large gifts are more willing to do so when a substantial number of their classmates are contributing what they can. Everyone’s annual gift has a more significant impact than he or she might realize.

The St. Mark’s School fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends the following June 30. Annual gifts for the fiscal year must be received by June 30 to be counted for that fiscal year.

In a word, no. Encourage your classmates to increase their giving by a little bit every year. We need our loyal donors to help us keep up with the rising costs of running St. Mark’s by increasing their gifts. One way to make this simple is to encourage recurring gifts that are automatically charged to their credit cards. Spreading their donation across months with a recurring gift may enable classmates to increase their total gift by breaking it up into manageable pieces.

• Set goals every year. Review the dollar and participation history for your class and those before and after you and set goals for the year accordingly. Then translate that into the number of gifts needed to reach your goal, and divide that among the Agents on your team.
• Divide the class list. Have each Agent on your team 'adopt' the classmates he or she will keep in touch with and solicit throughout the year. Send the lists to Sarah Smith and she'll send future lists with that information so you can easily keep track of 'your' people.
• Personalize your outreach. Calls and personalized notes on class letters have a bigger impact than mass emails and form letters. Include names, events, and phrases that only your classmates would remember. Take the time to sign each letter and write a postscript to the recipient. It only takes a moment and makes your outreach substantially more effective.

The Annual Fund is a vital source of financial support that impacts virtually every aspect of life at St. Mark’s. Gifts to the Annual Fund make up 10% of our operating budget. Your generous yearly support helps offset the 37% difference between tuition and the actual cost of educating a St. Marker and gives the leadership of our School the flexibility needed to respond to immediate challenges and opportunities. Every student and family – both those on financial aid and full-paying--pays less in tuition than they would if not for the Annual Fund. A $100 gift the Annual Fund has the purchasing power of $2000 in the endowment.

Endowment funds are restricted-use funds (meaning that the ways in which those dollars may be used is outlined by the donor) and the corpus of an endowment is never spent—a portion of the interest generated by the fund is allotted each year towards the fund’s stated purpose.
Together, these two types of financial support enable St. Mark’s to continue to prepare students for lives of consequence

St. Mark’s School is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and annual Fund gifts are 100% tax-deductible as allowed by law. St. Mark’s federal tax ID number is 04-2103623. In addition, gifts made as bequests or other forms of planned gifts can yield considerable tax benefits for donors. Please visit the Planned Giving section of this site to learn more.