THE KEY TO SECURING A PROGRESSIVE
THE ENDOWMENT CAMPAIGN FOR THE BANK STREET SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN
Message from the Dean
I am very excited to invite you to learn about the Bank Street School for Children’s first-ever endowment campaign, and to join us in stewarding it to a resounding success. We all know that Bank Street has a profound impact on children’s learning and growth. The School for Children community also deeply engages the families of those children and their teachers in a shared sense of joy in learning. This kind of work is important for the world to have and contributes to our belief in education as a vehicle through which to build a better society. In 2011, Bank Street embarked on an endowment campaign, Securing a Progressive Future, to be able to step boldly and confidently into a future in which we continue to lead through our vision and practice of progressive education. We hope you will be a part of the success of this transformational undertaking. The call to action in this Endowment Campaign booklet is sincere and earnest. I want to acknowledge the Co-Chairs of the Campaign Steering Committee, David Guyer and Sandra Pinnavaia, for their strong leadership, as well as all the members of the Campaign Steering Committee, whose names you will see at the back of this book. We hope that you will feel inspired to give back to an institution whose dedicated educators have nurtured you, your child(ren) and your family. Thank you for your participation in creating a School that reaffirms its commitment to educational excellence and promoting a just and humane society through its mission every day. We look forward to your partnership as we reach toward achieving our $8 million goal by January 2014! Sincerely,
Alexis S. Wright Dean, Children’s Programs
Now is Bank Street’s Time
Bank Street School for Children and Bank Street College of Education: Progressive Education in Practice Children and teaching have always been at the core of our mission. Bank Street was founded almost 100 years ago on progressive principles that defined innovative and powerful new ways of thinking about education and teacher preparation. Children become lifelong learners when knowledgeable, dedicated teachers guide their growth through a process of developing their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical capacities and by allowing them to make meaning from direct experience with the world around them. Bank Street’s progressive approach to educating the whole child has its fullest expression in the School for Children, and continues to inspire us and generations of families and educators. Bank Street Redefines Progressive Education Every Day Because of its connections to the Graduate School of Education, the School for Children benefits from some of the best teacher preparation, advocacy, research, and policy development in the country—theory and practice, all in one place. This special environment allows teachers to rethink our commitment to children every day and to provide fresh ways to educate our students in a rapidly changing educational world.
A healthy and substantial endowment will ensure that the School for Children has the continued capacity to lead, and to take advantage of opportunities presented by the world in which children and teachers learn. This effort is one of the most important undertakings in the School’s history. Now is the time to invest in Bank Street’s present and plan for a future of leadership, promise, and possibility— redefining progressive education for the 21st century. Join us!
“The School for Children is a two-for-one education: parents learn about child development, and the School produces an unrelentingly curious student who is a lifelong learner with a strong sense of social justice.” Sandra Pinnavaia, Trustee, SFC Alumni Parent
Now we are moving ahead with a major fundraising effort to significantly build the endowment of the School for Children to support our faculty, a diverse community, and the programs that nurture our children to explore their world in school and in life, and to contribute to creating a just and democratic society.
1
Securing a Progressive Future: An $8 Million Endowment Campaign
By increasing our endowment, we will ensure that the School for Children remains strong and continues to evolve as a leading voice for progressive education. A strong endowment provides a secure base of resources, reduces dependence on tuition, facilitates long-term financial planning and program objectives, and provides for programmatic flexibility and organizational change. How will a strong endowment help us educate the next generation of children?
“Are you forming children who are only capable of learning what is already known? Or should we try to develop creative and innovative minds, capable of discovery from the preschool age and beyond, throughout life?” Jean Piaget, developmental psychologist and philosopher
Keep the School for Children open and accessible to all children and families. We pride ourselves in holding a broad concept of diversity and community. Endowment income will continue to ensure that families from a broad range of socioeconomic circumstances will be able to join our community. Need-based financial aid is the key to creating an affordable Bank Street. Retain and support our superb faculty, and attract new talent to our community, by providing enhanced professional development opportunities, leadership incentives, and a collegial professional environment for educators. Sustain educational excellence through curriculum development, technology enhancements, and other programs to support the individual learner as well as the collaborative learning community. Build the School’s capacity and financial infrastructure for future sustainability, ensuring that Bank Street will thrive and lead for future generations. The income generated from the endowment will provide a new, guaranteed revenue stream for the School’s top priorities. Combining the two main sources of support—a new endowment revenue stream and a robust Annual Fund—will sustain a strong program in the School.
2
Your gift advances our educational mission in three critical areas: Educational Excellence
Curriculum development Technology enhancements Educational initiatives
Faculty Excellence
Professional development Leadership incentives Recruitment and retention
Community And Diversity
Need-based financial aid grants to ensure socioeconomic diversity
3
4
The Case for Endowment
“What potentialities in human beings—children, teachers, ourselves—do we want to see develop? Flexibility when confronted with change and ability to relinquish patterns that no longer fit the present.” from Bank Street’s credo
Why now?
Being a beacon of progressive education has a price
In 2010, Bank Street’s Dean of Children’s Programs, the Board of Trustees, and the President embarked upon a strategic planning process focused on the need to build the School for Children endowment, which was far lower than our benchmarking group of independent schools. In September 2011, we began the “quiet phase” of the endowment campaign, with the goal of completing the campaign in three years, and quadrupling the School’s endowment. We are now in the “community phase” of the campaign, seeking gifts and pledges from our entire community of current families, alumni, alumni parents, and grandparents.
We are committed to providing vigorous leadership in progressive education. To fulfill this commitment, we must both build on our strengths, and look ahead. While the School for Children is thriving, we have reached a critical juncture in our efforts to balance tuition increases, the need for financial aid to support a socioeconomically diverse community, and to support at the highest level possible our exceptional faculty. Our peer schools, with which we compete for faculty and students, have aggressively added to their endowments.
Peer Comparison: Endowment per Student (2013-14) 0
$20,000
$40,000
$60,000
$80,000
$100,000
Little Red Schoolhouse & Elizabeth Irwin $3,295 Bank Street (at start of campaign) $6,050 The Calhoun School $9,549 Bank Street (now) $12,442 Village Community School $12,408 Trevor Day School $21,128 Future Bank Street $25,581 Friends Seminary $25,852 Ethical Culture Fieldston School $40,936 Grace Church School $48,603 The Dalton School $55,791 The Town School $87,743
5
Endowment Supports‌
Excellence
Teachers
By supporting our efforts to attract and retain the best teachers, endowment underwrites excellence in education. There is a well-documented teacher shortage looming in the 21st century. Bank Street must continue to make a career in teaching an attractive choice for the most promising educators.
For the School to remain a leader, we must invest in our teachers today, giving them the opportunities and resources to embrace the best practices and innovations of the 21st century learning environment informed by our progressive principles. Through collaboration and incorporating best practices, and continuing their own learning, the School for Children’s outstanding faculty will continue to be encouraged to constantly improve their craft. The endowment campaign will underwrite: Professional development funds for faculty to attend and present at conferences The Michael Cook Fund for Science, Math, Technology & Environmental Sustainability Summer grants for faculty to pursue research and develop curricula Leadership incentives A dedicated and talented faculty who are passionate about teaching and learning
6
Community & Diversity
Innovation
Opportunity
The School for Children makes a major effort to recruit and retain children, families, and faculty from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds in order to reflect the diversity inherent in our multicultural society. Diversity is explicitly highlighted in our mission. This effort is consistent with the progressive idea that schools should represent the demographics of the society in which they exist, and that all members of a community benefit from a diverse learning environment. We strive to support and advocate for a community of children and adults who are aware and embrace diversity, including race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation, family structure, physical ability, and learning style. Our philosophical beliefs and day-to-day practice have a prominent anti-bias foundation, as well as a social justice and equity-driven curriculum.
By underwriting the development of new curricula, the School for Children endowment will help keep us at the forefront of creative and engaging curriculum development. Who, for example, could have foreseen a few decades ago the important role that costly technology would play in a Bank Street education?
During every school year, unexpected educational opportunities emerge. They may be new teaching materials or off-campus experiential endeavors. A larger endowment will give the School flexibility to take advantage of these options even though they are not in the operating budget.
At the same time, demand for financial aid from highly qualified students has been growing dramatically, and the School has been unable to meet the need. Our commitment to diversity means having a robust financial aid program that not only includes need-based tuition assistance but also support for ancillary costs when needed, such as tutoring, counseling, and test preparation assistance. The endowment campaign will underwrite need-based financial aid to sustain our broad spectrum of socio-economic diversity
Peer Comparison: Percentage of Students Receiving Need-based Financial Aid 0
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Village Community School 22% Trevor Day 18% Town School 15% Dalton 22% Calhoun 18% LREI 33% Grace Church 24% Friends Seminary 22% Ethical Culture Fieldston 21% Bank Street 34%
7
A Vision for the 21st Century
What will it mean to be a progressive school in the future? Bank Street must continue to embrace a blend of our foundational values with new tools and new ways of learning. We will find new ways to demonstrate the nexus of critical thinking and collaboration, and continue to nurture in our students creativity, confidence, and curiosity. In the 21st century, we know that our students should also develop cultural literacy, and an ability to reach beyond their own community and engage in the world. We can lead by documenting our curricula and sharing it with other educators. What will teaching and learning look like in the future? We know that the global community will have an increased reliance on technology, math, science, and engineering, and the School must ensure that we remain strong in these areas. We will continue to expand the physical boundaries of the classroom to encourage our students to explore the world even further. We remain deeply committed to a broad, humanistic view of education. Connections and collaborations with people of different cultures, religions, and sociopolitical viewpoints will become increasingly important, and so the School must continue to provide students with experience in such collaborations. Though our curriculum evolves and our educational tool box expands in response to the changing needs of children and families, our broad definition of education will continue as a defining value. Our program will continue to evolve in ways that align with our values, to foster critical thinking, infuse the curricula with a strong commitment to social justice and advocacy, nurture the confidence to approach problems creatively, and develop the ability to be fully human in all areas of life.
8
What challenges do we anticipate over the next decade? Like many independent institutions, we are reliant on tuition revenue. As tuition increases, we expect greater demand for financial aid, with larger financial aid packages required to preserve access for middle and lower income families. One of the most pressing challenges we face is how to meet the financial needs of these students and families. As we strive to minimize tuition increases, we also need to invest in improvements to our programs. With more educational opportunities in New York City for families to choose from, we will have a greater need to articulate and demonstrate the value of a Bank Street education. We expect our educational program to be both local and global, as is our community, and will ensure that our curriculum continually reflects that rich mixture. As a school, we are susceptible to larger economic trends, and without the protection of an adequate endowment and full enrollment, we could be vulnerable to external financial pressures. This campaign—Securing a Progressive Future: The Endowment Campaign for Bank Street School for Children—is a compelling affirmation of our values and leadership. Through the campaign, the School will garner the resources needed to sustain our socioeconomically diverse learning community, as well as to develop the programs, innovative curricula, and highly skilled teachers that will continue to define excellence in progressive education.
9
10
Endowment Questions & Answers
What is an endowment? An endowment is a permanent, self-sustaining source of funding.
How is the endowment managed?
Endowment assets are invested, and each year a portion of the earnings, “endowment draw,” is paid out for the purpose of the fund, while the rest is reinvested to build the fund’s market value.
The SFC’s endowment is part of Bank Street’s investments which now total over $36 million. The College’s investments, including endowments, are managed by an outside financial services firm, under the guidance of the Finance Committee of the Bank Street Board of Trustees.
The School for Children endowment funds can grow, and provide support for the School in perpetuity.
Investments represent a diversified portfolio within the parameters of our approved asset allocation policy.
How did Bank Street School for Children build its endowment? Two previous Bank Street capital campaigns (199194 and 2000-04), in which the SFC had a small goal within a comprehensive institutional goal, established a $2.9 million endowment. What is the value of Bank Street School for Children’s endowment now (as of December 31, 2013)? Total endowment: $5,350,000 Endowment per student: $12,442 When the Campaign concludes, what will the value of the SFC’s endowment be? Total endowment: $11 million Endowment per student: $25,000
What is Bank Street’s endowment spending policy? The Board of Trustees authorizes a percentage of the total endowment fair market value to be used annually to help fund scholarships and operations. The current draw is 1% per calendar quarter, 4% per year, of a rolling 20-quarter average of the fair market value. This approach reflects best practice for colleges, schools and non-profits, as well as adherence to the regulations and guidelines of New York State. This conservative spending policy allows for the growth of the endowment over time while providing essential funds for the School to use on an annual basis. Imagine if the SFC’s endowment were increased by $8 million, added to the base of $2.9 million at the start of the campaign, bringing it to $11 million. The annual yield, after 20 quarters, would increase to approximately $440,000, while the endowment continues to grow.
How much has been raised for the endowment so far in this Campaign? $7,000,194 (65 donors)
11
How does this impact my Annual Fund gift? The Annual Fund is the School’s lifeblood—similar to a checking account, it makes up the gap between tuition and the actual expense of each child’s education. The Endowment is similar to a savings account— providing greater stability from year to year, taking pressure off tuition and annual giving to fund education programs. It is crucial that all families sustain their comfortable level of annual giving first. The endowment gift is a special, stretch gift to the School, payable over a period of several years.
12
School for Children Alumni College Matriculations: Classes of 2006 – 2010 Alfred University American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA), College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts Amherst College Babson College Bard College Barnard College Bates College Bennington College Berklee College of Music Boston College Boston University Bowdoin College Brandeis University Brooklyn College Brown University Bryn Mawr College Bucknell University Carleton College Claremont McKenna College Clark University Colby College Colby-Sawyer College Colgate University College of Charleston College of Wooster Colorado College Columbia University Connecticut College Cornell University The Culinary Institute of America DePaul University Dickinson College Duke University Earlham College Eckerd College Emory University Endicott College Florida Southern College Georgetown University George Washington University Hamilton College Hampshire College Harvard University Johns Hopkins University Lewis & Clark College Loyola University, Chicago Loyola University, New Orleans Macalester College
1 1 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 1 5 1 1 4 1 2 3 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 1 6 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 5 2 2 3 1 1 2 1
Marist College Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts McGill University Middlebury College New York University New York University Steinhardt School for Vocal Performance/Musical Theater Northwestern University Oberlin College Parsons School of Design Pitzer College Pratt Institute Purchase College Reed College Rhode Island School of Design Sarah Lawrence College Skidmore College Smith College SUNY Geneseo SUNY Potsdam Swarthmore College Syracuse University Tufts University Tulane University Union College University at Albany, State University of New York University at Buffalo, State University of New York University of Chicago University of Connecticut University of Colorado at Boulder University of Delaware University of Maryland, Honors College University of Massachusetts Amherst University of Michigan University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill University of Pennsylvania University of Richmond University of St. Andrews (Scotland) University of Vermont University of Virginia Vanderbilt University Vassar College Washington University in St. Louis Wesleyan University Williams College Yale University Total All Alumni * Total number of schools attended from 2006-2010: 93
1 1 2 3 2 1 3 5 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 2 3 1 1 1 5 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 3 3 1 6 7 5 175
School for Children High School Matriculations: Classes of 2010 – 2014 Avenues Berkeley Carroll Brearley Brooklyn Friends Browning Calhoun Chapin Claremont Prep Collegiate Columbia Prep Cushing Academy (MA) Dalton Deerfield Academy (MA) Dwight Dwight-Englewood (NJ) Ethel Walker School (CT) Fieldston Forman School (CT) Friends Seminary Grace Church Hackley Heschel Horace Mann Lawrenceville School (NJ) LREI Loyola Miss Porter’s (CT) Nightingale-Bamford Packer Collegiate Philips Exeter (NH) Poly Prep Professional Children’s School Putney (VT) Riverdale Country Rudolf Steiner Spence St. Ann’s Suffield Academy (CT) Trevor Day School Trinity York Prep
1 1 1 2 1 5 1 1 2 10 1 8 1 2 4 1 15 1 14 1 3 1 11 1 11 2 1 1 10 2 2 1 2 4 1 1 2 1 7 5 1
Subtotal Independent Schools
143
American Studies (Lehman) Bard Early College Beacon Dobbs Ferry HS (NY) Eleanor Roosevelt Global Learning Collaborative LaGuardia High School for Music, Art and Performing Arts Millennium NEST (New School for Sci. & Tech.) Stuyvesant
3 7 16 1 3 1 16
Subtotal Public Schools
52
Total All Schools
1 1 3
195
* Total number of schools matriculated to, 2010-2014: 51
13
Ways to Make a Difference
By participating in the endowment campaign for Bank Street School for Children, you are helping shape the lives of students and teachers, as well as helping to transform an institution. Here are several ways you can make a gift to the campaign: Outright gifts or pledges Gifts made in their entirety are welcomed and appreciated. However, having the option to pay a gift over time often makes it possible to make a larger total gift. A pledge made to the endowment campaign can be paid over three to ďŹ ve years, but will make an immediate impact on our campaign goals. Gift of appreciated stock Corporate matching gifts Planned gifts Naming Opportunities Donors of $100,000 or more will be offered speciďŹ c naming opportunities in a campaign fund of interest.
Take the next step Contact Carla Scheele Director of Endowment and Special Gifts 212.961.3329 carlas@bankstreet.edu
14
15
Board of Trustees
Associate Trustees
Campaign Steering Committee
Yolanda Ferrell-Brown, Chair
Chris Black, Student Associate Trustee
David Guyer, Campaign Co-Chair
Anthony Asnes, SFC ’75
Jody Gorton, Parent Associate Trustee
Sandra Pinnavaia, Campaign Co-Chair
Jay Chakrapani
Ali McKersie, Staff Associate Trustee
Susan Brune
Tiffani Chambers
Rose Klein Young, Parent Associate Trustee
Sonja Carter
Suzanne Childs
Mollie Kruger Walsh, Staff Associate Trustee
Laura Clark Jonathan Cole
Jonathan Cole Bettye R. Fletcher Comer
Life Trustees
Margot Egan
Tom Fennimore
George P. Scurria, Jr.
Elizabeth Goldman
Felice Friedman, GS ’76
Margaret L. Stevens, GS ’77
Andrea Goren
Sarah Gund, GS ’73
Jody Gorton
Victoria Hamilton
M. Elaine Johnston
Sue Kaplan, Vice Chair
Keith Lender
Kenneth B. Lerer
Rebecca Mai
Adam H. Litke
Lori Malloy
Christopher Mayer
Adam Max, SFC ’72
Joel H. Moser
David Orr, SFC ’93
Michael T. Nettles
Camilla Rab
Dr. Laura Parsons
Pamela Bol Riess
Elizabeth S. Pforzheimer
Nina Ellsworth Sanger, SFC ’88
Sandra Pinnavaia
Anne Shutkin, SFC ’95
Shael Polakow-Suransky, President *
Rose Klein Young
Anne V. Shutkin, SFC ’95 Howard S. Stein, Treasurer
Ex-Officio
Lynn G. Straus, GS ’57 , Vice Chair
Alexis Wright, Dean, Children’s Programs
Jeffrey I. Sussman, Vice Chair
John Borden, Vice President, Development & External Relations
Kate R. Whitney, Secretary
Carla Scheele, Director, Endowment & Special Gifts
Debbie Zlotowitz
Adam Litke, Trustee & Chair, Advancement Committee
* President serves as ex-officio
16
Mission The mission of Bank Street College is to improve the education of children and their teachers by applying to the educational process all available knowledge about learning and growth, and by connecting teaching and learning meaningfully to the outside world. In so doing, we seek to strengthen not only individuals, but the community as well, including family, school, and the larger society in which adults and children, in all their diversity, interact and learn. We see in education the opportunity to build a better society.
17
www.bankstreet.edu