If youโve ever wondered whatโs required of parents, here are answers to seven of the most common questions we hear on the topic of private school donations.
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The barrage of emails, mailings, and phone calls are familiar to all private preschool and Kโ12 parents.
These solicitations are the inevitable donation requests that youโll receive from schools your children have attended, currently attend, or plan to attend. You may wonder: After all youโre paying in tuition, why do they come back for more?
Private Schools Are Expensive to Operate
The common claim made by private schools is that tuition only covers a portion of their operating expenses. This claim, anecdotally, seems to be true. Private schools are expensive to run for reasons many parents may not have realized. To start, there is the expense of purchasing, owning (or renting), and maintaining a school property, along with the insurance necessary to be in business. There are also salaries and benefits for faculty and staff. And recruitment isnโt cheap, either.
Suppose a school wants to expand its facilities. How will it pay for that new building or gym? Or what if it wants to offer need-based financial aid to eligible applicants? The board of trustees, in consultation with the schoolโs leadership, will decide how the schoolโs budget is allocated โ but where are they going to get the funds to pay for these additional undertakings?
This answer is, in short, donations.
Top 7 Questions (and Answers) About Private School Donations
If youโve ever wondered whatโs required of parents, here are answers to seven of the most common questions we hear on the topic of private school donations:
1. Are parents obligated to donate as well as pay tuition to the schools their children attend?
Absolutely not. Donations to private and parochial schools are not mandatory. A familyโs financial obligation to these schools begins and ends with tuition.
2. Do parents face pressure to donate?
From the school itself, almost never. Private schools do not operate this way. Development staff are likely to ask for donations repeatedly. This may feel like โpressureโ, but it honestly is not. School staff recognize that they will not receive donations if they donโt ask, but they also understand that there are families who will not provide financial support, for one reason or another.
School parents or Parent Association groups may be a different story. Officially, parent volunteers who take on the role of fundraising on behalf of the school are subject to the same rules that the school has established for itself: no pressure on non-donors. Unfortunately, how these parents behave privately toward both donors and non-donors sometimes deviates from these guidelines.
3. Do the children of large donors receive better treatment than the kids of parents who donโt donate?
Again, absolutely not. No school functions this way because it would be a public-relations disaster. The world of private schools is small, and word of favoritism based on parental donations would have a negative impact on a schoolโs reputation โ among prospective applicants, current families, and other schools โ for years to come.
4. What about parents who choose to donate a small amount of money to their childโs school?
This is fine. One dollar is better than no dollars (particularly for schools that seek to tout the percentage of student/alumni donors). Parents are always encouraged to donate what they can or are willing to give.
5. Are there non-monetary ways to donate?
There are many, particularly through volunteering and in-kind donations. The parent who helps out in a childโs class or organizes grade-level activities is as essential to the school community as a financial donor. Most schools cannot run successfully without parent volunteers, so donโt underestimate the value of this type of donation. In-kind donations, such as products or services that parents offer free of charge, are also critical to schoolsโ fundraising efforts.
6. Do private preschools tell the Kโ12 schools to which families are applying whether those families are donors?
They may, but this is not an important factor in successful preschool ex-missions (i.e., graduations) or private K-12 admissions. Preschools, moreover, will never attach a familyโs donation profile to a school report. They are more likely simply to state that parents were โinvolvedโ in the schoolโs continuing development efforts.
7. Can parents โbuy their wayโ into a school by offering large donations, either before or during the admissions process?
Once a child is accepted to a school, parents may donate as much or as little as they choose. Donating prior to admissions, however, constitutes a bribe and is prohibited. While instances of this behavior surely occur, it carries tremendous risks. A parent who attempts to make a large donation before her child is accepted faces the real possibility that the school will simply return her donation and reject her childโs application. Donโt gamble in this way.
A Final Thought
Many private schools in major urban areas like New York City have large endowments, for which the schoolsโ development staff must continuously fundraise. Families, who benefit from the programs and facilities that these monies make possible, will be asked to help support their childrenโs schools. If you choose to give financially to your childโs private school, itโs wonderful. But there are many avenues for your generosity โ and schools value all of them.