Hill fundraises for upcoming projects

By LEXI LUBZCENKO ’25 STAFF WRITER

Upkeeping a community that houses and educates hundreds of people is an incredibly tedious undertaking. This process includes an indepth fundraising program to ensure ample money for funding the various aspects of student life. The Hill’s fundraising team earns the school millions of dollars each year from alumni, trustees, and parents, however, this can often go unappreciated in the eyes of Hill students, who are oblivious to what’s going to be done with the money.

Geoff Neese, the Director of Capital Giving and his team manage these fundraising efforts. In his role, he travels around the country to connect with alumni who are planning to invest in the school. Although Neese’s team oversees fundraising, they aren’t the ones who make decisions on the projects that take priority.

“Projects are typically given to us from the board and the Head of School. They tell us what’s important to the school, and we try to make that happen,” Neese said.

He spoke about several large previous and upcoming projects and renovations that alumni have recently supported, as well as alumni who have made significant contributions to the school. The most notable of these individuals is the previous board chair Preston Athey ’67, who made a $12 million donation and became one of Hill’s biggest supporters in the school’s history.

Christian Sockel, the Assistant Head for Institutional Giving, provided a breakdown of Hill’s annual budget and its sources that go the daily operations of Hill.

“On an approximate $40 million operating budget annually, $25 million comes from tuition and $15 million from gifts and endowment draw and other auxiliary revenue like rentals of fields and facilities.” Sockel said.

Many renovations are within the world of athletics. For example, new equipment in the weightroom, the Madden Stadium for football and lacrosse, projected to open in mid-April, and a new set of tennis facilities.

“They’re going to completely rip out all the tennis courts on Beech Street, build nine new courts, and a tennis pavilion,” Neese shared about the tennis facilities renovation.

Another large project is the construction of a brandnew dormitory between Dell Village and Wendell dormitories. The Board of Trustees and fundraising team is aware of the deteriorating condition of the older dormitories. They are working on projects to address that problem in the future.

“The original plan is to build a new dorm and use that as a swing space to be able to renovate. This is a guess, but our next campaign will probably be an overall residential life campaign,” explained Neese.

Another project that has received heavy alumni support is the renovation of the Alumni Chapel, with the goal of having all four forms to attend the service in person at the same time. The funds will allow Hill to stretch out the structure by building a choir loft on the front-facing side.

Students can also play a role in fundraising through participating in student panels.

In 2018, student leaders in the engineering class met and spoke to alumni, who are curious to see how the program is doing here long after they graduate. The engineering class went on a trip after getting a donation from the alumni. Former Head of School Zach Lehman met with student leaders through weekly breakfast. These forums could be a place where students can have a voice in the policy changes and future fundraising programs.