T h e
C ampa i g n
Spring 2018
Koenigsberger Challenge An Undeniable Success Campaign Surges Past $80 Million Spurred by a 4-to-1 challenge grant of $4 million made by Robert and Dilek Koenigsberger P ’13, ’16, Millbrook raised its campaign goal from $65 million to $80 million and then met that revised objective within one year. By every measure this is a spectacular achievement, seldom, if ever, seen in private school fundraising. The board of trustees displayed their leadership yet again, as they have throughout the eight-year campaign, in both capital and annual giving. Over the course of the drive, many new building and renovation projects were completed including the squash center, the renovations of the Mill and the Barn, a solar field, a new dormitory, a new dining hall, and a new maintenance
facility, all state of the art and designed and built to the highest green standards. Many other truly important projects were also completed, and final efforts were dedicated to adding $20 million to the endowment.
Challenge did just that. The role of
Fundraising for endowment had lagged during the campaign, and something was needed to make clear its importance. The Koenigsberger
pledges are paid over the next several
endowment is to build in long-term quality and provide for the stability of our school. At the start of the campaign in 2010, the market value of the endowment stood at $18,500,000. When years, the endowment fund should reach $60,000,000 representing a 225% increase over the period.
Millbrook Trustees Weigh In:
The Campaign and the Koenigsberger Challenge
Bill Menard ’78, P ’09, ’12, ’12 Chairman of the Board of Trustees
This addition to our endowment brings Millbrook to a whole new level and allows us to increase faculty support and scholarships and provide, to a far greater degree, the maintenance of a campus that has been largely rebuilt and restored. But there is still much to do. The real question is to what extent will the momentum this campaign has created inspire us to take another step to strengthen all that we offer our students. I think we can build on this achievement, and I am sure others do as well.
Success Begets Success The campaign not only met its $65 million goal but raced past it because of the consensus that Drew, his administrative team, and the board have been able to build around the school’s most pressing priorities and how to raise Millbrook School to the next level. People are willing to invest in a well-managed enterprise when their interests and the school’s interests are aligned. Everyone who contributed to the campaign knew that every dollar raised and spent will move the school forward in meaningful ways.
Maintaining the Momentum We need to continue to listen to all stakeholders about the most pressing of the school’s priorities, and we need to continue to keep a laser-like focus on realizing those priorities, always expanding and deepening the circle of parents, alumni, and friends who want to partner in that effort.
What Makes Millbrook, Millbrook Millbrook knows itself. The school is not playing catch up or reinventing itself to chase some idea in the marketplace. Our journey has been to make Millbrook the best expression of what it is and has always been, a community where students can grow into their best selves, with guidance and support of highly committed and capable adults.
Robert Koenigsberger P ’13, ’16 Trustee
Why the challenge? Dilek and I wanted to ensure that Millbrook’s current strategic plan, Vision 2017, was an undeniable success. Prior to the Koenigsberger Challenge, we were convinced that Millbrook had achieved major elements of its strategy in regards to buildings, students, faculty and staff, but that we still had a ways to go on our goals related to boosting the endowment and what that would mean to the school.
Why has this campaign been so successful? In addition to hard work by many people, it is clear to us that the Millbrook community responded in recognition of how far the school has come over the past few years and in anticipation of what is yet to come.
When this community aspires, the sky is the limit!
Lisa Selz P ’12, ’17 Trustee
This campaign has allowed us to execute so many important building projects and faculty initiatives. The growth of our endowment will allow us to further advance the education and diversity of our students. Will we ever feel as though we have reached a point where we are satisfied? Probably not, because Millbrook is, by nature, a school that is always striving to get better in ways that support our mission and allow us to better prepare students for lives of meaning and consequence.
New Faculty Housing
Chris Holbrook ’82, P ’11, ’12, ’14 Trustee
The success of the campaign, and of meeting the Koenigsberger Challenge in particular, allows Millbrook to look forward with confidence. Thanks to the increased endowment, we now have the opportunity to address pressing needs such as catching up on deferred maintenance and increasing our financial aid. One of the key factors to Millbrook’s success has been the unwavering support of the school, its mission, and its senior administrators by the board of the trustees. The board is comprised of individuals with diverse skill sets who are willing to “get down in the trenches” and wrestle with difficult, complex problems and issues and work to arrive at solutions that allow Millbrook to move forward in the most thoughtful way possible.
Rick Stuckey P ’00, ’03, ’09 Trustee
At this juncture in our school’s history, gifts to our endowment have the greatest possible impact across both current and future generations—it is the funds in our endowment that allow us to hire and retain the best possible faculty, that produce the financial aid we need to build a dynamic student body, and that provide financial strength and flexibility needed to fulfill our mission.
Drew Casertano Headmaster
Millbrook is its people – our students, their parents, our faculty and staff, our alumni, and our friends. The success of the Koenigsberger Challenge gives us dramatically increased resources to support those people through financial aid, salaries and benefits, and care for the places where we work and live. I simply could not be more grateful or excited as we’re poised to sustain our momentum in our tireless pursuit of creating the best possible Millbrook.
Vision 2020 Over three years ago the Board of Trustees held an off-site retreat to revisit Millbrook’s mission and shape strategies for the school moving forward. That exercise, called Vision 2017, provided much of the substance that drove us to meet the campaign goals. Last year the board repeated this exercise to make sure the school, led by the trustees, the headmaster, and his senior administrative team, remains ambitious and focused on efforts to create the best Millbrook possible. Millbrook’s aspirations encompassed within Vision 2020 include:
Expect the best Educate our students for lives of meaning and consequence Enhance our ability to attract the students we want Support our covenant with the faculty and staff Remain fiscally and physically fit
Transforming Millbrook Facilities: New Construction or Building Renovations Millbrook Farm 3 acres The Barn 8,950 sq ft
Flagler Memorial Chapel 2,000 sq ft
2012
2013
2014
2015 Solar Field 7 acres
The Mill 1,500 sq ft
2016
2017
New Dining Hall 15,000 sq ft
New Faculty Housing 9,000 sq ft
West Hall 25,250 sq ft
Reese Squash Court Additions 15,000 sq ft
Maintenance Complex 11,270 sq ft
Prum Meeting Room 1,930 sq ft
Health Center 1,430 sq ft
$80 $70 $60
Growth of the Campaign Since October of 2010 includes cash and pledges
In Millions
$50 $40 $30 $20 $10 $0
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
$55 $50
Growth of the Endowment
$60,000,000
includes cash and pledges
In Millions
$40
$33,000,000
$30 $20 $10
$18,500,000 $15,500,000 $10,000,000
$0
’98 ’99
’00
’01
’02 ’03
’04
’05
’06
’07
’08
’09
’10
’11
’12
’13
’14
’15
’16
’17
Growth of The Annual Fund Annual Giving on a Steady Rise In addition to raising substantial capital monies, Millbrook has enjoyed parallel success in annual support. During the five years of the drive annual giving moved from $1,686,000 to $2,239,000, a 33% increase. The school has a deep tradition of securing annual support, and this incredible performance is a real reflection of what parents, alumni, and friends value. Most campaigns would not see these kinds of increases while raising substantial capital monies, but because of the increased support from the board others followed as well. Alumni participation moved from 29% to 41% in the last six years. Parent participation also increased dramatically moving from 79% to 93%. $2.5 $2.0
$1,862,462
$2,149,866
$2,158,148
2014-2015
2015-2016
$2,239,497
$1,686,094 $1,521,663
$1.5
$1,441,269 $1.0 $500 0
2010-2011
2011-2012
2012-2013
2013-2014
Parent Annual Giving PARTICIPATION
2016-2017
93%
79% 2010-2011
2011-2012
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
2015-2016
2016-2017
Alumni Annual Giving PARTICIPATION 41%
29% 2010-2011
2011-2012
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015
2015-2016
2016-2017
From the Campaign Chairs: Peter Chapman P ’11, ’12 and Caroline A. Wamsler, PhD ’87 When we embarked on our capital campaign in 2010 with the lofty goal of raising $65 million to fund the Student Life Master Plan, few could have imagined that our $65 million goal was merely a waypoint to what we were able to accomplish. As we approached the finish line, we were presented with a unique opportunity—raise an additional $16 million and the Koenigsberger family would contribute an additional $4 million, with the entire $20 million earmarked for endowment. By year-end 2017, we surpassed our goal! So many people came together to ensure we succeeded
But there is much left to be done if we are to achieve our goal of being the best boarding school in the country. There are many measures of what defines “best”—quality of faculty, admissions selectivity, excellence of the program, college placement, size of the endowment, facilities, and administrative leadership. By all these measures, Millbrook is gaining momentum, moving forward with greater speed and intensity. And while we have accomplished much over the past several years, we are not content to rest on our laurels. We want to capitalize on our past success, continuing to invest in our faculty and facilities and grow our endowment. Millbrook is ‘better by design,’ and our mission to educate students who will lead lives of meaning and consequence in college and beyond lies at the core of all we do. The progress we have made is the result of the tremendous support of our constituency. Yet, we must act so we can maintain our momentum and continue to become an ever better Millbrook. Join us, help us keep the momentum going, and share the pride as we celebrate Millbrook’s history and forge its future.
- alumni, parents, past parents, students and faculty, friends of the school. To all of them
we are eternally grateful.
Produced by Millbrook’s Development Office
845-677-8261 • www.millbrook.org