Centennial Campaign Advances Strategic Priorities
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s of March 31, alumni, parents, and friends have contributed $83.6 million toward the $100 million goal for Our Time Is Now: The Centennial Campaign for Loomis Chaffee. “The remarkable generosity of the Loomis Chaffee community is truly inspiring, and we are so grateful for the outpouring of support for this campaign,” remarked Nathan Follansbee, associate head for external relations. “The school’s mission and strategic priorities are resonating with donors. If we can sustain our current momentum, we are optimistic that we can achieve our goals, which in turn will position the school to offer the best education to this next generation of students.” Chief among the school’s priorities is the enrollment of a diverse and talented student body, and financial aid is critical to that endeavor. To date, donors have given $21.5 million for financial aid, establishing 32 scholarships, including the Kravis Scholars Program, which provides life-changing opportunities for students with significant financial need from underrepresented backgrounds. Approximately $30 million in campaign gifts have enabled the school to address several facilities needs in support of both enrollment and program priorities. With the addition of Richmond and Cutler dormitories, 70 percent of students will live on campus. The renovations of Founders Hall and the Katharine Brush Library have added new classrooms and group study spaces, and support for the athletics program has resulted in new Sellers Field dugouts, a second turf field, and the anticipated funding needed for renovation of the tennis courts. To date, donors have committed $11 million toward the school’s academic programs and faculty support. Their generosity has enabled the school to establish the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies and the
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A Record-Smashing Success
T Norton Family Center for the Common Good and to enhance the Henry R. Kravis ’63 Center for Excellence in Teaching. Donors also have endowed six new faculty support funds. Finally, one of the greatest successes of Our Time Is Now has been the growth of the Annual Fund. Since the beginning of the campaign on July 1, 2011, the Annual Fund has grown from $2.82 million to $4.13 million, with this fiscal year’s goal set at $4.25 million. Looking ahead, two major campaign initiatives remain, according to Nat. The first is to meet this year’s and next year’s Annual Fund goals. The second is to complete funding for the construction of a campus center and innovation lab. With regard to the second goal, Nat explains that the school’s limited and outdated facilities for dining and socializing have diminished the student experience and put Loomis at a competitive disadvantage with peer boarding schools. A new campus center will address these issues and result in a stronger campus community. The center also will house the innovation lab, a space where students and faculty from various disciplines — including computer science, multimedia arts, engineering, and robotics — will collaborate and tap into their creativity in new and exciting ways. For more information about these initiatives and the campaign, please visit www.loomischaffee.org/campaign.
HE school declared February 29 Philanthropy Day this year, and the Loomis Chaffee community responded in record numbers. In one 24-hour period, more than 1,200 people made gifts to the Annual Fund, smashing the previous record for gifts in a single day — and on that rarest of days, Leap Day. The Philanthropy Day goal was 675 gifts, one representing every current student at the school, and an anonymous donor pledged to give $100,000 to Loomis for financial aid if the school reached this one-day participation goal. “It is striking that with 1,227 donations totaling $401,791, we not only surpassed our goal of 675 donations by nearly double, but our wonderful community gave nearly double the amount raised during Philanthropy Day last year,” says Cara Woods, director of the Annual Fund. The Annual Fund provides the resources necessary to deliver on the promise of a Loomis Chaffee education beyond what tuition alone is able to meet. The day’s total not only will help achieve this year’s Annual Fund goal of $4.25 million, but also will count toward the Our Time Is Now campaign goal of raising $100 million by June 2017. Cara credits the commitments of alumni, parents, parents of alumni, faculty and staff, friends of the school, volunteers, and her Annual Fund team for the day’s remarkable success. She says the entire community generated a surge of energy that carried throughout the day as people connected with the school and encouraged each other to participate. “It was a feel-good day all-around,” she says.
Students gather in Katharine Brush Library to write thank you notes to Philanthropy Day donors. Photo: Madison Neal