Endowment Fund
Gifts to the endowment are investments in the long-term financial health and stability of St. Matthew's Parish School.
The endowment is the School's permanent investment fund, intended to provide perpetual support to our educational mission. By a resolution of the Board of Trustees, income from the endowment fund is directed toward essential school priorities:
- Attracting and retaining excellent faculty through professional development opportunities, supplemented salaries, and improved classroom resources.
- Maintaining affordability of a St. Matthew's education, by providing relief to the School's dependence on tuition for our operating budget and providing financial assistance to deserving and qualified students.
- Sustaining a high-quality environment for learning through campus and facilities maintenance, technology upgrades, and reserves for future challenges.
The fund is board-designated and professionally managed, under the oversight of the School's investment committee. Our endowment fund is structured to grow over time through reinvestment of interest, dividends earned, and new gifts.
A Tradition of Philanthropy
While tuition, auxiliary income, and contributions to Annual Giving and Parents' Council fund day-to-day operations at St. Matthew's, the School has always relied on additional generous financial support from generations of St. Matthew's parents, friends, and families. Since the School's inception, philanthropy and a tradition of volunteerism have supported St. Matthew's growth and underwritten its most important developments.
To Serve - To Lead - To Flourish
St. Matthew's has become one of the nation's most respected elementary schools. The students of St. Matthew's flourish in academics, athletics, and the arts, with an innovative approach to learning. And while taking the most modern approach to academic rigor, the School has retained its emphasis on moral growth and development in the context of a strong ethical and spiritual community. Over the decades, our 28-acre campus has been transformed with the addition of the new gym and performing arts stage, our expanded preschool with it's intuitive play yard, the cutting-edge science, technology, and art centers, several new modern classrooms, our architecturally-significant library, and our expanded pool with a huge deck. Through these updates and additions, the campus has dramatically improved and modernized, yet it has retained its character as a rural oasis for children to learn, grow, and thrive.
Building the Legacy
As we look to the future of St. Matthew's Parish School, we need to continue developing a strong and growing endowment fund. A substantial endowment is critical to a school's future, ensuring financial stability and long-term sustainability. It is also vital to current families at St. Matthew's, enabling affordability and accessibility.
In 2011, the Board of Trustees launched a campaign to build the endowment fund in the name of long-serving and former Head of School Les Frost's honor to recognize his decades of service and leadership that have enabled St. Matthew's to flourish. The Les Frost Cornerstone Campaign for the St. Matthew's Parish School Endowment added $7 million to the School's endowment fund.
The need for our financial future security is ongoing. Please consider a gift to the endowment fund.
Make an Endowment Gift
Thank you for choosing to support St. Matthew's Parish School. All gifts to the endowment are fully tax-deductible. Contact the Advancement office at 310-454-1350 ext. 155 to make arrangements.
The Annual Report on Philanthropy, published each fall, recognizes all gifts to the Endowment Fund.