The Fund for Hathaway Brown

Previously known as the Annual Fund, The Fund for Hathaway Brown supports the mission of the school through budget-relieving and budget-enhancing dollars that are made possible through the generosity of alumnae, parents, faculty, staff, and friends. The Fund encourages donors to broaden how they think about supporting HB, while communicating the impact of their giving and leading the effort in building a culture of philanthropy – for today, for tomorrow, for life.

The Fund pays for books in the library; a favorite teacher's salary; paint brushes, pianos and pottery clay; petri dishes in the chemistry lab and microscopes for biology; student travel opportunities; and distinguished speakers that enhance classroom lessons. It
supports our Blazers with the purchase of athletic gear; enhances experiential learning through the Upper School’s Fellowships in Applied Studies; and supplements unforeseen emergency expenses to keep students safe and healthy.

The Fund provides the resources necessary to educate and empower girls to rise boldly to the challenges of the times and shape a future of unbounded possibility for women through the school’s mission: we learn not for school, but for life.

Alumnae remember their experience with gifts that support current students. Parents and grandparents celebrate their student with a gift; faculty and staff and the board of trustees invest in the mission; friends of the school contribute vital support. Hathaway Brown's celebrated community sustains The Fund for Hathaway Brown with generous support each fiscal year.

Gifts to The Fund in all sizes make a collective impact by enhancing the depth and scope of opportunities for students, providing tuition assistance and professional development for our faculty. Through their giving, donors make possible the small class sizes, impressive and engaged faculty, innovative curriculum, and top-notch facilities that are the unique hallmark of an HB education.

More specifically, gifts in 2020-2021 fiscal year, played a critical role in bringing our community back to campus safely and supported COVID-19 relief efforts such as surveillance testing for Upper School students, and the purchase of thermal scanners and 360-degree cameras used in the classroom during remote learning.

Giving is a personal decision and the reasons for giving are as diverse as our families, but all gifts to The Fund reflect a sincere belief in the mission of the school. Your gift contributes to a sense of partnership and pride; and your participation is a vote of confidence in the school for today, for tomorrow, and for life.

Gifts to The Fund may  be designated to an area or program that is most important to you, such as tuition assistance, the Aspire Program, professional development for our outstanding faculty, Performing Arts or Athletics. You may also choose to support the Upper School’s Fellowships in Applied Studies.

Yes! Making a gift in honor of a classmate, spouse, a fondly remembered faculty member or coach is a wonderful way to support Hathaway Brown. Some parents choose to honor their child, their child’s favorite faculty or staff member especially in milestone years such as fourth eighth and 12th grade when students are moving up or graduating.

Absolutely! In the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the HB community raised a total of $70,847 in gifts less than $200. Every gift in any amount makes an impact. Gifts of any size also help us to secure external funding. Grant-making organizations look at giving participation rates – not gift
amounts – when awarding grant requests.

Nearly all independent schools face a gap between tuition income and expenses. Tuition at Hathaway Brown only covers 72 percent of the full cost to educate a student. The remaining 28 percent is covered by contributions made to The Fund, endowment and auxiliary
income. Contributions to The Fund from alumnae, parents, families and friends are essential to help bridge this gap and maintain all that sets HB apart: incredible faculty, distinguished academics, innovative experiential opportunities, and empowered students.

Hathaway Brown is a 501(c)(3) non-profit institution. Unlike a for-profit business, which aims to increase profits, HB aims to provide our students with the very best education. In order to provide the best programs and competitive compensation to our outstanding faculty and staff, we continually evaluate and assess tuition increases, auxiliary programs, and effective fundraising initiatives. And unlike
tuition, contributions to The Fund are tax-deductible and allow each family to give at a level that is meaningful to them.

There are many easy ways to give to The Fund for Hathaway Brown. 

• Check
• Online
• Gifts of Stock, Donor Advised Funds, IRA required minimum distributions
• Bequests

Gifts to The Fund showcase the many ways in which alumnae, parents, faculty and staff and friends support HB with budget-relieving and budget-enhancing dollars that are current-use – meaning they are spent in the same year that they are received. 

Gifts to existing endowments  or gifts that establish new endowed funds exist in perpetuity. The principal amount is invested, while yearly investment income is used to fund scholarships, faculty chairs, and other vital elements that support Hathaway Brown’s mission. 

The Principle Scholars Program enables donors to profoundly support a student through a four-year scholarship investment. Donors may fund a full, partial, or shared Principle Scholar, with an opportunity to name the scholarship. The commitment is paid over four years. Gifts to the Principle Scholars Program are fully expended each year as part of current-use funds.

From time to time, Hathaway Brown conducts capital campaigns to fund transformative building, programmatic and endowment needs the school cannot fund out of tuition and other annual revenue sources. The Carol and John Butler Aquatic Center, Jewett-Brown Academic Center, Wolf Field and the Scout and Chasey Scaravilli Memorial Field, IDEA Lab, Learning Commons, and Adelaide Cobb Ward Classic Building are just a few examples of newly built or renovated spaces made possible through capital giving.

Since 1876, generations of Hathaway Brown alumnae, parents, family and friends have provided the philanthropic support critical to building and sustaining this institution. Students today are benefiting from the resources given by parents of yesterday. Ongoing support from parents and friends of the school is imperative to ensuring Hathaway remains a nationally ranked school.

Many companies match the charitable contributions of their employees and HB received just over $43,000 in matching gifts last year. In this way, the impact of your gift may be doubled or even tripled by your employer! Some companies will also match gifts made
by retirees and/or spouses, so check with your employer to see if they have a matching gift program. If eligible, please initiate the match with your employer and follow their instructions.

As part of The Fund, parent giving volunteers representing each class/division act as champions and advocates to encourage their peers to make personally meaningful gifts during the school year, with a goal of 100 percent parent participation. The annual giving team assists in this outreach by providing parent giving volunteers with resources, sample language, regular updates, and guidance on timing of outreach. Volunteers also are asked to send personal thank you messages to parents in their class who make a gift.

The parent giving program uses peer-to-peer solicitation, in which members of a peer group (parents of the same class/division; alumnae from the same class) act as advocates for philanthropy at HB and solicit and thank their peers for generous giving of any
level.