Saint Mary's Forever

ONE school. With ONE vision. For ONE future.

This is how the Saint Mary’s Forever Campaign began with a simple question of “What if?”

Fall Campaign Event

With the pandemic in full swing and just a few weeks of in-person classes under our belt, Saint Mary’s “jumped right in,” as our girls say, with our Forever Campaign virtual event on October 1. A collective spirit to see Saint Mary’s thrive was the catalyst for the more than 400 alumnae, family, and friends who tuned in that evening. It was a celebration of the ongoing success of the campaign and the thousands of alumnae and friends who commit to giving to our Annual Fund each year.

There were many memorable moments during the evening, perhaps the most memorable being the moment when a scholarship endowment created in honor of Margaret E. McGlohon ’81C was announced. With Margaret’s impending retirement from Saint Mary’s at the end of June 2021, the scholarship is established to recognize Margaret’s long service to her alma mater. The class of 1981 rallied to kick off the scholarship endowment with a $116,000 total as of the October 1 event. This scholarship fund is open to anyone who would like to contribute. As of the printing of this article, the fund has already grown to over $200,000.

During the evening, we also had the opportunity to review the priorities for our Saint Mary’s Forever Campaign and some updates on where we are currently:

1. FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY, which means managing debt! Not all debt is bad, but the debt we have impacts our ability to provide an even more extraordinary learning environment for our girls. We will be talking about this quite a bit over the next few years. Why?

Because the school has worked incredibly hard to pay down the debt it incurred more than 10 years ago when making important and valuable upgrades to our campus –like the renovation of Smedes Hall and the

Rocks. However, we know that we need to continue to manage the debt in a responsible manner so we can invest our resources directly into our educational program and our girls’ experience.

Total raised:

As of December 2020 Includes grandfathered gifts

$28,200,000

And our talking about this is working! Over the last two years, we have received gifts totaling $1,030,135 towards our debt. While we have more to raise, it is amazing to see what we can do together. We are so thankful to the donors who have committed to this area of our campaign.

2. ENDOWMENT: The strength of a school rests in the breadth of its endowment. Saint Mary’s School ranks in the bottom third of peer schools when it comes to this metric. We know the campaign provides us with an opportunity to build our endowment. It is clear, creating opportunities for future generations of girls to attend Saint Mary’s was on the minds of our earliest donors who endowed scholarships and included the endowment in their estate planning. With a greater focus and awareness on building our endowment, we have already grown endowment giving and are excited to announce that to date, we have received gifts and pledges to our endowment totaling just over $5,400,000.

3. ACADEMIC INTEGRATION AND INNOVATION: Last year, we asked you to dream big! We knew our campaign would be bold and the physical projects on our campus would be a key part of what is needed to provide an exemplary education for girls.

We know girls need collaborative spaces to foster interaction through team-based projects and research. We know girls also need time and space to relax and recharge in their home away from home. The work to create these educational and living spaces is well underway. We are grateful for the support our Forever Campaign donors have provided, allowing Saint Mary’s to:

• complete beautiful updates to the Smedes-Williams Parlor, thanks to the Williams Family; • create a new welcoming space in Ragland Classroom

Building, made possible by the Isabel Lehto Foundation; • install solar panels to provide energy to the East Park science building; • install new transformers, chillers, and cooling towers on campus; • install new lighting on campus to enhance safety and security for our community; • and create additional parking spaces in front of the

Bishop’s House.

In addition, generous leadership gifts from the Springsteen Foundation and Steve and Julie Capel Williams ’77HS, in honor of their mothers Julianne Boone Capel ’55C and Lib Taylor Williams ’47C, have put wind in our sails and will allow us to tackle other much-needed enhancements to our programs and campus spaces.

Planned giving has also created an opportunity for many donors to show support today for the Saint Mary’s of tomorrow. A planned gift promises Saint Mary’s future resources to help

Scan this code to donate to the donate to the Margaret E. McGlohon ’81C and College Class of 1981 Scholarship Fund

From our perspective Saint Mary’s is all about opportunities on all levels. As parents, the opportunity to be able to share in the community of Saint Mary’s and provide opportunities for others is an honor. As our daughter was discovering her passion for science and leadership, we were discovering our own leadership opportunities. When we were asked to sever as chairs of the Saint Mary’s Forever Campaign with Frank and Ruth E. Holding ’81C, Nancy Thomason, and Anna Zevenhuizen ’07, we knew our growth with Saint Mary’s was not done even if our daughter had graduated. The Forever Campaign is critical, and, despite the pandemic, we will go on and we must strive to be the best we can be and adapt to a changing world.”

WILLIAM AND AURELIA MONK ’15P

sustain the school in years to come. Ann Beland Brooks ’73C recently shared the story of her decision to include Saint Mary’s in her estate planning to honor her mother, Shirley Currin Beland. Many years ago, Sarah “Tut” Barbee Hanner ’46HS ’48C, a proud Saint Mary’s alumna, became a member of the Heritage Society, Saint Mary’s planned giving society, and included Saint Mary’s in her estate planning. Sadly, we lost Tut this fall; however, her commitment to Saint Mary’s endures as proceeds from Tut’s annuities combined with the remainder interest from her Charitable Remainder Trust provide a most generous gift to Saint Mary’s. Her charitable heart and thoughtful planned giving will FOREVER impact the place she loved and called her alma mater. As the planning by Ann and Tut demonstrate, planned giving provides creative and easy ways for donors to make a lasting impact at Saint Mary’s.

Other Forever Campaign news

Last year, we announced two gifts – one that would kick-off our campaign and one that would complete it. The first gift, building a new faculty residence to make space for a new academic building, was completed in the winter of 2020. The second gift, building a Pavilion to beautify back campus near the Class of 2010 Victory Bell and Hannah Smith ’12 Quad, was completed this summer. Over the past two years, we have also shared our vision for Eliza Battle Pittman Auditorium. The latest plans offer exciting updates outlining even more electrifying possibilities than our initial thoughts. The new plan accomplishes renovating the existing space and increasing our footprint with an addition providing a balance between open and closed spaces, flexibility to accommodate change and multiple uses, advanced technology infrastructure, and collaborative space. These updated plans will truly create a comprehensive performing arts center and make the space our largest gathering place on campus.

In closing

Between the improvements to our plans, fundraising for debt elimination, and our planned capital projects, we are proud of what we have and will accomplish together. Most importantly, we hope you are proud of Saint Mary’s and will be inspired to consider how you can make an impact and help us secure Saint Mary’s future.

By Julie Ricciardi, Director of Development