$100 Million Capital Campaign Makes History

ON ANY GIVEN DAY in room 1103 on the San Mateo campus, you’ll find upper school students tinkering with computer-aided designs, practicing for a debate tournament, or reciting Shakespeare. On the Hillsborough campus, in EC 108, you might see lower school students engaged in a soil study or middle school students discussing game theory. Just a few years ago, these essential learning spaces on our two campuses were merely a vision.

It is the execution of this vision that puts our school in a league of its own. Nueva has achieved a rare distinction among independent schools: breaking the $100 million mark with a single capital campaign. Six years in the making, and paused midway due to the pandemic, the Realize the Potential (RTP) capital campaign made history at Nueva in several ways.

RTP was launched to raise funds for a range of new facilities and improvements at the school.

Of the total funds raised— over $100 million—$65 million was earmarked for campus projects. Thanks to careful fiscal planning and construction management, the Nueva community has already benefited from new facilities funded by the campaign. In

2019, the San Mateo campus’s new Diane Rosenberg Wing (seen here) opened, and in 2020, the Hillsborough campus’s new Science and Environmental Center (next page) and expanded café opened. Built with sustainability in mind, these new facilities make significant use of solar power and have a net carbon footprint of zero. The remainder of the funds earmarked for facilities, along with funds above our $100 million goal, has been allocated to future improvements to the school’s humanities, athletics, and arts facilities, as envisioned in the 2022–2027 strategic framework, Renew | Belong | Innovate (see page 34). Plans for these improvements are already underway.

Realize the Potential also yielded an unprecedented

Potential Realized

The Rosenberg Wing (seen here) opened on the San Mateo campus in 2019, and the new Science and Environmental Center (next page) opened on the Hillsborough campus in 2020. These new facilities dramatically increased the number of classrooms on both campuses, and fortuitously so, given the sudden need for social distancing and smaller cohorts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

$35 million increase in Nueva’s endowment, bringing its anticipated total value in 2025 (when all pledges have been fulfilled) to $45 million. The new endowment funds have been allocated for two purposes: first, to expand and enrich the professional development opportunities available to the faculty and staff who make Nueva an unparalleled home for gifted students; and second, to offer additional financial assistance to more families so that the community’s commitment to broad socioeconomic representation can be achieved.

Credit for the phenomenal success of the RTP campaign is due to Nueva’s deeply generous community—and a veritable army of campaign volunteers. Bruce Cozadd, a longtime member of the board continued next page >>

A “RELENTLESSLY OPTIMISTIC” CAMPAIGN CHAIR

From his first years as a Nueva parent, Bruce Cozadd has always been one of the most stalwart champions of the school’s mission.

“Nueva has emerged as a national model for gifted learning,” he said during the campaign, “not because we follow the tried and true path, but because we blaze our own trail.” and five-time Nueva parent, served as campaign chair.

“He was relentlessly optimistic about what we could achieve,” said Gerald Risk, trustee and former board co-chair. “He set a goal of a hundred million dollars… I think he was literally the only person that believed that that was possible. He did more work than anyone. He made more phone calls, he reached out to more people, he had more meetings.”

A remarkable 76 members of the Nueva community served as campaign volunteers. From committee co-chairs (see below left) to solicitors, they worked tirelessly to secure commitments from their peers.

“Our volunteers’ enthusiasm, commitment, and belief in Nueva’s mission and vision cannot be overstated,” said Joe Cheeseman, director of development. “Over the past seven years, the number of personal interactions that our volunteers had with the Nueva community to secure over $100 million in commitments must be in the thousands, maybe tens of thousands.”

Head of School Lee Fertig also expressed his gratitude.

“The success of RTP is a testament to this extraordinary place and its profound and

Volunteer Leadership

For generations to come, Nueva students, faculty, staff, and families will be the beneficiaries of the campaign’s leaders, listed below.

RTP Capital Campaign

Bruce Cozadd

Transformational Gifts

Bruce Cozadd

Leadership Gifts

Mei Chen

Robert Frank

Melissa Kraus

Community Phase Gifts

Janet Cheston

Puja Kaul

David Popowitz

Arvind Sharma

NF + RTP GIFTS

Millie Chou

Brent Cromley

Jason Friedrichs

Katherine Lau

Maribeth Portz

Chris Sun ’96

Senior Class Gifts

Robert Frank, 2019 Chair

Buffy Poon, 2020 Chair

EXTRAORDINARY, PACE-SETTING GIFTS

The capital campaign benefitted from several remarkable partnerships between the school and our generous supporters. As the school successfully secured funds for facilities, a Nueva family ensured similar commitment to institutional sustainability by pledging a second $1 million gift toward our goal of raising $35 million for the endowment. Another family offered a $1 million leadership-gift challenge that yielded seven additional significant gifts, each between $100,000 and $250,000.

Last spring, as the campaign prepared to enter its final phase, a third Nueva family offered a $20 million dollar-for-dollar challenge match. Eighteen million dollars in major gifts and pledges were secured quickly; in the final phase of the campaign, a $2 million dollar challenge match was presented to the entire Nueva community and inspired a resounding response. All in all, this gift represented $40 million raised for Nueva!

Finally, just as the Realize the Potential campaign was concluding, another generous donor pledged $15 million, which will help accelerate new facilities to support humanities, arts, and athletics on our Hillsborough campus.

lasting impact on so many students and families. We are eternally grateful to every person who contributed to this campaign, whether by volunteering their time, making a gift, or both. Your efforts will benefit Nueva students for generations to come.

“With the conclusion of the campaign and the launch of a new strategic framework,” Lee continued, ”we mark the end of one momentous chapter in Nueva’s history and begin an exciting new one. The Realize the Potential capital campaign has set the stage for a very bright future.”

SO MANY PEOPLE TO THANK!

This summer, commemorative plaques will be installed at both campuses to recognize the hundreds of people who made campaign gifts of all different sizes.

592

TOTAL GIFTS

28 DONORS gave between $1 million and $20 million

519 DONORS gave between $1 and $10,000