Ways to Support Burke's

List of 7 items.

• Annual Fund

  The Annual Fund delivers nearly 10% of the school’s annual operating budget and supports a wide range of initiatives at Burke’s. Among these are academic programs, teacher professional development, student financial assistance, and the maintenance of our classrooms and beloved 3.5-acre campus. For this reason, we ask all families to give to the Annual Fund before they support any other philanthropic initiatives. Last year we had 100% participation in the Annual Fund from the Board of Trustees and the Alumnae Board, and our faculty and staff had achieved 100% participation for seven of the last eight years. We have achieved 99-100% participation from current parents for the last six years, and last year we saw 14% participation from our alums. The broad reach of Burke’s Annual Fund means that each student, family, and faculty member benefits from the dollars we raise together.

  
  

  Like all independent schools, Burke’s intentionally charges a tuition below the true cost of educating a student. Our Annual Fund offsets this difference, which we call the Bridge. Because our donors’ generous Annual Fund support bridges this difference between tuition and operating costs, we are able to keep Burke’s more accessible to a broader range of families, allowing us to sustain a more diverse population in our girls’ classrooms and throughout our school community. A strong Annual Fund also helps mitigate tuition increases, protecting our current families from significant unexpected changes to their financial planning. Current families and other Annual Fund donors are able to make Annual Fund contributions of amounts that are personally meaningful to them and are tax-deductible.

  
  

  Our donors who make a philanthropic gift to Burke's for nine consecutive years become members of Burke’s Loyalty Society. Loyalty Society members are the foundation of the Annual Fund and their longtime support and consistent giving allows Burke’s to maintain its high standard of excellence and ensures that every student will receive the tools necessary to thrive. As a token of our sincere gratitude and appreciation, Loyals receive a commemorative pin upon joining and annual invitations to select events over the course of the year, including the International Women’s Day student assembly with a special guest speaker and a special luncheon following.

• Eighth-Grade Class Endowment Fund

  Each year, the eighth grade class endowment initiative raises crucial funds to grow Burke's endowment. Most years, the families of the graduating class raise about $200,000 to benefit future generations of Burke’s students. Each endowment fund honors that graduating class in perpetuity, well after they become Burke’s alums, as a lasting tribute. All parents and grandparents of the graduates are asked to support the fund in lieu of the Annual Fund during that year. We hope that these alums, in turn, might someday contribute to this fund themselves, giving back to the school that helped lay the foundation for who they become.

• Capital Campaign

  Capital campaigns have made the Burke's campus into the unique and treasured place that it is today and have grown our endowment to support our exceptional teachers, robust financial assistance program, and innovative curriculum. Similar to all independent schools, Burke’s conducts special campaigns that fund renovations or new buildings, endowment, and other capital projects on average every three to five years. Burke’s exceeded the goal of Many Hands. Many Voices. All Burke’s.: The Campaign for Girls by raising $22 million to fund a state-of-the art Campus Center and performing arts space, increased endowment and new programmatic initiatives through two Innovation Funds.

• Endowment

  Burke’s welcomes gifts to its endowment as an important way to contribute to the long-term financial stability of the institution. Without adequate, wisely invested endowment funds, an institution is forever at the mercy of conditions beyond its control, such as economic, philanthropic, and demographic fluctuations, and unforeseen catastrophic events. A strong endowment is the mark of an esteemed and enduring institution. Many of our families and alumnae have established named endowment funds to honor loved ones or their family’s legacy to the school.

• Fundraising Events

  Burke’s Parents' Association holds two major fundraising and community building events each year: Family Festival in the fall and Burke's Benefit in the spring, which provide funding for our student financial assistance and faculty and staff professional development programs. The Burke’s DASH, a semi-competitive family walk/run also held in the spring, raises funds for physical education and athletics.

• Planned and Estate Gifts

  Many members of the Burke’s community have included the school in their estate plans. The Barbara Burke Legacy Society honors alumnae, past parents, grandparents, parents, and friends who have remembered Burke’s with a bequest or who have made a life income gift or other type of planned gift. You can become a member of our Legacy Society by:

   

  • placing Burke’s in your will
  • making Burke’s the beneficiary of a retirement account
  • making a gift of a life insurance policy (a gift of life insurance can result in tax savings and can be made through an existing or a new life insurance policy)
  • establishing a charitable trust
  • making a gift of real estate or other tangible property

  Each of these gifts can result in substantial tax savings for the donor. For more information on these giving vehicles, click here or contact Yukiko Meadows.

  
  

  Please notify the Advancement Office if you have made a deferred or planned gift to Burke’s, so that we can include you in The Barbara Burke Legacy Society.

• Special and Restricted Funds

  Burke’s has a variety of funds that have been established by donors to support students, library programs, arts and faculty professional development initiatives. Assets in these funds are temporarily or permanently restricted according to the donor’s wishes. Please contact Yukiko Meadows for more information about these funds, or to discuss a restricted gift outside of these funds for a program or purpose that is important to you.