Raising the bar, raising hopes, raising funds

Advancement DEPARTMENT

Raising the BAR,raising HOPES,

By James McMillan, director of advancement

Our vision at Selwyn House is “To develop a lifelong commitment to Selwyn Veritas” and our Mission Statement says that we are “a CEGEP/University preparatory school for boys, combining academic and program excellence, a dedication to the French language and culture, and a compassionate and supportive environment enabling boys to live a happy, balanced and purposeful life.”

The purpose of the Advancement Office is to support the vision and mission of the school. This is achieved primarily by offering a multitude of friend-raising opportunities, such as reunions and sporting events throughout the year in cities across Canada, as well as New York, Boston, London and Paris. At each of these friend-raising events we take the time to let everyone know all the great things that are going on at the school and what new programs and directions our dedicated and talented staff are encouraging the students to follow.

The most progressive changes have been the addition of Advanced Placement (AP) courses, the focus on experiential education, new French courses, the addition of a learning strategist for Grades 4 to 8, student and faculty leadership opportunities and conferences, and the continual promotion of professional development for the staff, particularly in areas such as boys’ education.

Most of these initiatives originate from staff or students, and are meant to challenge and “raise the bar” for both teacher and pupil. Whether the activities consist of AP courses, leadership opportunities, drama, debating tournaments, or any of the other opportunities provided during the year, they are meant to make a meaningful experiential difference above and beyond what is normally expected from the governmentmandated curriculum.

Challenging and experiential academics, combined with a powerful athletics and a growing arts program, create an incredible learning environment that is referred to simply as the Selwyn House Experience. Raising Hopes

My name is James McMillan, and I have the best job in the world. I am the Director of Advancement at Selwyn House School, and have been since 1987. The faculty and staff at Selwyn

From left:Joseph Lapenna,Jonathan Trafficante and

Marco Covello at the Class of 2012 graduation

House are amazing, energetic, and extremely talented people. The alumni of Selwyn House are also an incredible group of men who constantly demonstrate the virtues of Selwyn Veritas: be true to yourself, true to others and true to your school. The current parents are unbelievably supportive of the school, the staff and all the students, not just their own sons. Parents of alumni still support the school and constantly return when they can to attend an event or watch a game.

One of the best parts of my job is being a member of the Bursary Committee. This is an honour for me because not only do I get to work with our donors to raise money for the endowment, but I also get to be a part of the process that distributes the needs-based bursaries to our students. As of three years ago, all of Selwyn House’s bursaries became needs-based and not merit-based. (There are still a few merit-based scholarships that were awarded previously and will continue until the recipients graduate, after which time those funds will be added to the needsbased pool.) As of last year, only students entering Grades 7 through 11 are eligible for a bursary. When I speak with a family that is applying for a needs-based bursary, I tell them that they have already completed the first step: they have been accepted by the Admissions Office. After that, it is the Bursary Committee’s job to do whatever it can to help this student and his family throughout his time at Selwyn House. Since Selwyn’s bursaries are needs-based, each family must complete a bursary application online using a web-based application called FAST (Financial Aid for Student Tuition). This application was designed by a company in the USA, Independent School Management (ISM), and was adapted for use with Canadian data from Federal T1 tax forms. The program uses the data supplied by the applicant to compare income and expenses with assets and liabilities and, after figuring in preset cost-of-living allowances, establishes if there is enough disposable income to afford tuition. If there is, then the FAST recommendation is zero. If there is not enough income, then the FAST recommendation is the difference

Advancement DEPARTMENT

raising FUNDS

between the disposable income and the tuition fee, up to a maximum of the full fee. The Bursary Committee reviews all applications and follows up on data explanations with families, if needed.

Applicants must send FAST their T-slips, Income Tax Returns, and Notices of Assessment each year that they apply for the bursary. By using this system, we can monitor the income of each applicant’s family and ensure that they still qualify for the level of bursary that they are receiving.

I can honestly say that the recipients of our bursaries are incredibly grateful and appreciative. I always tell them that their bursary was made possible by our many generous donors who believe that endowment is an important tool to guarantee that if a student has earned the right to be at Selwyn House, then the endowment is there to help him. The endowment helps to raise the hopes of families who should be attending Selwyn House but simply cannot afford to do so. Raising Funds

In addition to friend-raising, there is always fundraising. At Selwyn House, we have two not-for-profit organizations that issue receipts each year: Selwyn House Association and The Veritas Fund.

Donations for endowment, campaign donations, and annual giving donations are receipted from The Veritas Fund. Donations for support of school events or donations-in-kind to the school are receipted through Selwyn House Association. The total amount of receipted donations by both organizations is referred to as our Annual Fund.

Even though we did not have any major capital or endowment campaigns running this year, we receipted over $1,088,242 between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012.

The Annual Giving, the proceeds from which are included as part of the Annual Fund, is a specific appeal, primarily for unrestricted funds and funds towards specified projects and goals. This year was our largest Annual Giving appeal ever. The main focus of this appeal was participation, and I am very happy to report that we achieved 100 per cent participation from both the Selwyn House Association Board of Directors and the Selwyn House Old Boys’ Association Board of Directors.

We are very pleased that over 40 per cent of Selwyn House staff members have participated in Annual Giving this year. Another first and a great place to start from for next year’s appeal.

We also had our largest participation from our current parents, with an average of 40 per cent participation from all grades. A special congratulation goes to the parents of Grade 7, who reached a level of 50-per-cent participation.

The alumni goal was to get 10 per cent, or 250 of our active alumni, participating in the Annual Giving appeal. Ninety alumni (3.5 per cent) participated this year. This is an encouraging start, and we look forward to building on these participation levels next year.

Parents of alumni and other friends of the school also participated in this year’s Annual Giving appeal, which raised $342,938, of which $251,938 is for use for next year (201213) and $91,000 for endowment. Great History, Encouraging Future

Whether you are an Old Boy, current student, current parent, parent or grandparent of an Old Boy, or a friend of the school, you are part of a very special group of people; you are part of the Selwyn House Family.

Over the last 12 years, the Selwyn House Family has contributed over $30 million to help build the Speirs Building, renovate the Lucas and Macaulay Buildings and create an endowment of about $10 million.

The school is in great shape, both physically and financially. There is no debt, enrollment is strong, and we are attracting very talented and bright students from diverse backgrounds to the school every year.

Our tuition fees now average almost $20,000 for every grade, and since tuition only covers about 80 per cent of the cost of education at Selwyn House, the remaining funds must come from government grants and other sources, including fundraising.

While we are confident that we can continue to attract talented and bright students from all constituencies of Montreal, we anticipate that, in the near future, we will need to double our current endowment in order to be able to help these students afford a Selwyn House education.

We also see endowment as a tool to help Selwyn House guarantee quality athletic facilities with long-term rental agreements.

Endowment for long-term needs, Annual Giving for immediate needs, both are important and both are necessary to the future of the school. Participation: It Does Make a Difference.

There will be an Annual Giving appeal next year and there is also a possibility of an athletic endowment campaign as well. You may be asked to participate by someone from the Advancement Office, a classmate, or a fellow parent. Your first and most important decision is to participate, your second decision will be at what level to participate.

In the past, Old Boys, parents of Old Boys and the current parents at that time helped to guarantee the school’s current needs with their support of various campaigns to create facilities and build endowment. Many of these people will continue to support Selwyn House in the future; however, it is equally important that today’s current families and all young alumni participate, in any way, in order to guarantee that the next generation of students will have the support they need to be able to benefit from a Selwyn House Experience. ■