SAR Bendheim Challenge Grant Brochure

An Opportunity of a Lifetime A Decision for Today

BUILDING ON OUR STRENGTH For more than forty years, SAR has provided students with a uniquely wonderful and warm, academically challenging education under the care of a faculty and staff who are dedicated to fostering positive personal connections and experiences as well as extraordinary intellectual opportunities. In our SAR environment, students are confident—open to learning, thinking and growing. The boundaries of this growth are limitless— as students move through the school, they are empowered to explore new curricula and discover their passions.

SAR’s facilities complement and enhance the educational journey. Many generous contributors paved the way to make all this happen—the Early Learning Center and Academy expansions, and the building of our High School. Over the last decade, more than 28 million dollars of a 42 million dollar budget were raised to realize the long-held dream of extending the SAR philosophy and experience, from nursery through twelfth grade.

THREE CENTERS OF LEARNING

The setting for our unique Jewish and secular education is three distinct buildings, each matching the educational philosophy of the students it serves.

More than 250 children fill the joyful spaces of the Early Learning Center (ELC). Located in the carriage house of the former Toscanini Estate, the ELC has 12 classrooms, two playgrounds and one large common area.

SAR Academy is home to 700 students in grades one through eight. Since 1974, the “school without walls” has expanded under, over and around the hill into which it is built, to ensure space for the inquisitive and caring students it holds.

Opened in 2003, SAR High School is uniquely designed to engage a community of learners. Almost 500 students utilize seven floors crowned by the Beit Midrash and its soaring atrium. It has a theater, hockey rink and full court gymnasium.

PRESENTING AN OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME

Committed to securing SAR’s strength and vibrancy for years to come, we have now embarked on the most important journey of this decade. SAR seeks to raise 15 million dollars for the Capital Campaign in order to fully retire all of the school’s outstanding debt.

Underscoring the importance of this goal, SAR community leaders Jack and Giti Bendheim have extended a once in a lifetime opportunity– the Bendheim Challenge Grant –which will match all 2012 gifts to the SAR Capital Campaign 1:2.

The Bendheims’ tremendous act of generosity, together with the philanthropy from the larger SAR community, will enable SAR to respond to 21st century demands, challenges and opportunities while ensuring that we continue to deliver the highest quality education.

Successfully achieving our goal of eliminating this debt will enable us as a community to creatively confront challenges, such as the rising costs of a yeshiva education, as well as consider the infinite opportunities that can strengthen our school.

The Challenge Grant The Bendheim Challenge Grant (BCG) was created to inspire contributions to the SAR Capital Campaign with the important goal of retiring all outstanding loans.

The Bendheims' vision is to free SAR from significant debt service payments, enabling funds to flow to the Scholarship Fund and to educational, co-curricular and religious programming that enhances the life at school for nearly 1,400 students. Capital Campaign gifts made through December 31, 2012 will be eligible for the match.

The BCG builds on the success of our previous Capital Campaign, launched in 2000, when SAR raised 28 million dollars to build the High School, and expand and renovate the Academy. In order to complete the projects, SAR secured loans totaling 20 million dollars. At the start of the Bendheim Challenge Grant in the summer of 2010, SAR had 14.7 million dollars in outstanding loans. Contributions from generous donors, together with the Bendheim match, have already made a tremendous difference and the outstanding debt is now below 8.5 million dollars. Retiring the debt will eliminate the one million dollars per year in debt service that is currently paid by SAR.

Giti and Jack Bendheim have served the SAR community for more than 30 years. They were instrumental in the creation of SAR High School and remain as SAR leaders in their respective roles on our Board of Education and as President of the Board of Trustees. During their tenure, the school has become a crown jewel of the Modern Orthodox community in the greater New York area, with full enrollment and alumni who are successfully navigating the world.

The Bendheims and their seven children, all SAR alumni, are a family who truly exemplify the spirit and vitality of SAR. The Bendheims were inspired by Erica and Ludwig Jesselson, whose extraordinary philanthropy retired the Academy's mortgage in 1978. Freed of the weight of monthly principal and interest payments, SAR reallocated monies saved in the operating budget to further the Academy's educational goals.

MATCH MATH

Each eligible gift made to the SAR Capital Campaign will be matched at 50 percent up to five million dollars.

For example, a gift of 100 thousand dollars will be matched by 50 thousand dollars from the BCG. If a donor's gift is matched by a Corporate Matching Program, the BCG will match the corporate gift as well as the donor gift.

FACTS ABOUT THE BENDHEIM CHALLENGE GRANT • All new gifts to the Capital Campaign qualify—there is no minimum amount.

• Multi-year pledges to the Capital Campaign may be made; however, only the portion of your pledge which is paid by December 31, 2012 will qualify for the match.

• Dedication opportunities are available for gifts of 50 thousand dollars or more. Our Development Office will be happy to work with you to identify a meaningful location.

THE ROLE OF THE ANNUAL AND CAPITAL CAMPAIGNS

SAR’s Annual and Capital Campaigns together generate critical funds for maintaining our school’s educational excellence and allowing SAR to keep pace with our growing and changing needs. These funds fill the gap between SAR’s expenses and revenues. There are, however, significant differences between the two campaigns as explained below.

TWO SIDES TO SAR PHILANTHROPY:

The Annual Campaign raises funds each year to cover SAR’s annual budget expenditures, including operating costs, scholarships and enriched programming. Annual Campaign contributions play a crucial role in bridging the gap in our annual budget between tuition and expenses for our children’s education.

The Capital Campaign is a source of funding that provides for new construction, facility renovation, building maintenance as well as debt repayment. Funds from the SAR Capital Campaign are also utilized for property and grounds maintenance, technology investments and purchases of any equipment, furniture and fixtures. .

GIVE GENEROUSLY TODAY Your participation in SAR’s Capital Campaign plays a critical role in positioning SAR for the future. SAR alumni stand strong as community leaders, rabbis, physicians and academics, business leaders, artists, involved parents and outstanding citizens. Most importantly, they are keepers of the flame instilled through their years at SAR. Our dream is to continue to kindle this flame for the thousands of children that will pass through these halls for many decades to come.

At this time, we ask that you give to the Capital Campaign as generously as possible. Your contribution today, matched by the Challenge Grant, will have a tremendous impact on the SAR experience for all our students and families well into the future. Please respond and help complete the Challenge Grant with the strength that has always characterized the SAR community.

DEDICATION OPPORTUNITIES Naming opportunities are available. Dedications encompass academic and recreational facilities, administrative areas and main corridors.

Each dedication plaque is customized to include your inscription and also carries a quote or pasuk to give more meaning to the SAR areas where our students learn, pray and socialize—spaces are available at the ELC, the Academy and the High School.

“Every gift makes a crucial difference in ensuring SAR’s continued strength —as a Modern Orthodox institution that sets students on a path of educational achievement, professional accomplishment and lasting commitment to Judaism and the Jewish people.”

H A RV EY BE K E R Chairman, SAR Executive Committee

For further information about the Capital Campaign or to make your gift, please contact Heidi Greenbaum at 718.548.1717, ext. 1256, greenh@saracademy.org SAR ACADEMY

SAR HIGH SCHOOL

Jesselson Campus 655 West 254th Street Riverdale, NY 10471 718.548.1717 www.saracademy.org

Dedicated to the Memory of JJ Greenberg 503 West 259th Street Riverdale, NY 10471 718.548.2727 www.sarhighschool.org

www.saracademy.org/capitalcampaign