SFFS Annual Fund Information

Why Your Annual Fund Support Matters Why should I make a gift to the Annual Fund?

Like all independent schools, tuition alone does not cover the full cost of providing an exceptional education for every student at Friends. In fact, tuition only covers 89% of our annual operating budget. Gifts to the Annual Fund are unrestricted, and are put to use in every part of our school including: faculty salaries, technology, facilities maintenance, classroom resources, adjustable tuition, and professional development.

Total 2023-24 Operating Budget = $21,105,000 b

Why not just increase tuition?

Friends remains deeply committed to keeping our tuition levels the most affordable as possible while continuing to provide an exceptional program for our students. Unrestricted gifts to our Annual Fund help support the 26% of families who received adjusted tuition.

How much should I give?

We simply ask that each family make a gift that is accessible and meaningful to them, whether that is $10 or $100,000. Last year we reached 91% family participation in our Annual Fund, and we hope to reach 100% during this school year.

Are there other fundraisers I am expected to support?

In addition to our Annual Fund campaign, Friends hosts a two-day digital fundraising campaign called 48 Hours for Friends each spring where all funds raised support the Adjustable Tuition program. We ask all current families to support the Annual Fund first.

How can I make my gift?

You can make your gift online at sffriendsschool.org/give, in person, via mail, over the phone, via securities transfer, and more. If you have any questions, please contact Assistant Director of Development, Lauren Becker at Lbecker@sffriendsschool.org or 415.565.0040 x 235.

THANK YOU! The generous support from our community to the 22-23 Annual Fund impacted every student in every grade. We hope you will join us this year!

In June, Kindergarteners hosted a bake sale for our neighbors at the Mission Neighborhood Resource Center. Throughout the year, students learned about houselessness and how they can help those experiencing it.

1st grade participated in an assembly led by our Mission District neighbor and performer, Manolo Davila, who shared various folkloric traditions of the African Diaspora from the Caribbean to the U.S. through a beautiful and interactive program that involved drums and percussion instruments from around the world.

As part of their Writers Workshop, 2nd graders supported one another in a special cross-class celebration, reading their newly published "small moments" stories and toasting their accomplishments afterwards with some delicious sparkling cider.

In 3rd grade, students learned about the Chinese immigration experience in San Francisco, and what many endured during their journeys and once they arrived.

The class visited Angel Island and Chinatown, researched the Chinese Exclusion Act, and reflected on their own family histories of immigration.

4th grade went to the California Academy of Sciences where they took in the beautiful wildlife exhibits and the aquarium and worked in the lab with some of the biologists on staff.

On their first middle school overnight, 5th graders hiked, played on the beach, and ate every meal together outside. Throughout the trip, each student performed their Joyful Noise poems with their own choreography and staging.

From the eerie lighting to the tension on stage, the 6th grade brought the house down with their early human ritual performances in Drama class.

7th graders answered the question, “How am I a mathematician?” by investigating how math is everywhere and looked inward to identify how math is involved in their everyday lives.

On their trip to Savannah, Georgia, 8th graders continued to learn about the history of Black land ownership in the South through the experience of the Gullah Geechee people.