<p>Whoa. </p>
<p>Thacher’s gift levels are below. I don’t know what their protocol is with regard to the callers knowing past giving history. I’d be more comfortable if he or she only knew whether I gave last year or didn’t. It skeeves me out to think that the caller might know the exact dollar amount. I have zero fund raising experience and so I don’t know what’s normal, but if you’re already self-conscious about the size of your donation (and this could apply to some who make huge donations too), knowing that Joe Schmoe alumnus, or some judgmental or gabby parent or, worse yet, a sieve-like current student knows specific dollar amounts - then yuck. I don’t like that at all. Again, I may be showing my ignorance about fundraising.</p>
<p>Sherman Day Thacher Associates
Gifts of $10,000-$24,999 </p>
<p>The Pegasus Society
Gifts of $5,000-$9,999</p>
<p>The Chambered Nautilus Society
Gifts of $2,500-$4,999</p>
<p>The Casa de Piedra Society
Gifts of $1,000-$2,499</p>
<p>The Diamond Hitch Club
Gifts of $250-$999 or $100 to $999 before the 10th Reunion</p>
<p>And Lucie - your comment about public schools etc to RoomNacht had the very sort of judgmental tone (probably unintended) that worried RN in the first place!</p>
<p>So sorry! I really didn’t mean that to sound judgmental at all!</p>
<p>What I’m trying to communicate is that most successful private schools, especially the ones with the huge endowments that enable them to offer generous FA, practice some pretty rigorous fundraising. Let’s not pretend otherwise. Private colleges and universities have staffs dedicated to prospect research and other practices that some families may be very uncomfortable with, whether they’re very wealthy or receiving aid. But these schools also tend to be very discreet. Nobody is gossiping about anybody, and as I said I can’t recall what exactly is on the call sheets I’ve used. I’m sure it varies from school to school. </p>
<p>But as to the larger issues of privacy, there are no doubt some nosy and nasty people out there, but if they want to pass judgment on you, they’re going to regardless of how big your annual gift is. There is no shortage of information available if people want to dig. In my experience very few people are like this.</p>
<p>Public universities historically have been much less aggressive in their fundraising practices, although they’re catching up as they receive less and less funding from their states. But still, if you’re more likely to be able to afford tuition at your flagship than a tony private, and you’d rather avoid a lot of annual fund practices you find unseemly, I think you may be more comfortable at a public institution. I’m not sure why it was inferred that going to a public is an insult–my own kid will be attending one in the fall–but apparently that’s how some folks took it.</p>
<p>Backing out of this forum now…</p>
<p>My kids are not at boarding school, but do attend a private school. Each year our room parents contact families who have not yet given to the annual fund. While I respect that professional fund-raisers are discreet, I’m not sure I’d trust each and every room parent to have the same level of discretion. It’s bad enough that we’re printed in the booklet with what “tier” we donate too - I don’t need parents talking about what we give (I tried giving anonymously in the past, but that caused significant headaches as I was barraged with contacts from several parents in the class who thought I was a holdout keeping the class from reaching 100% participation). </p>
<p>And what we give is on the lower end of the spectrum, but that’s because we chose not to apply for financial aid, which we may have been eligible for (based on what we know from other families). It’s rather counter-intuitive to think of FA families donating large amounts. However, we will continue to donate annually long after our children have graduated - we still donate to H’s private high school and the school where we went undergrad.</p>
<p>@InigoMontoya I just have to give a completely random shoutout to you for your awesome username. That is all. 
</p>
<p>Recent postings detailing the donor levels will allow us to think about the original question in clearer context. (Thanks @Thacher and @GMT)</p>
<p>So using the Thacher’s level as an example
The Chambered Nautilus Society
Gifts of $2,500-$4,999</p>
<p>The Casa de Piedra Society
Gifts of $1,000-$2,499</p>
<ul>
<li>How ‘appropriate’ is it for us (as a family on ~20% FA) to donate at these levels?</li>
<li>Are there other families receiving partial FA who donate at these levels?</li>
</ul>
<p>When I was on the development staff at a NE prep school, we treated the donation amounts with confidentiality. Only the development staff, the trustees on the Development committee, and the Head of School saw that information. Donation amounts were never given to parent liaisons or alum class agents or student phonathoners.</p>
<p>And yes, most boarding schools, too, have a development staff member whose specialty is “prospect research”.</p>
<p>Pardon me if I am missing the math of it all here, but if you are receiving financial aid at your family’s demonstrated level of need (or below, even), how is it possible to make a $1000 donation? </p>
<p>I’d need to figure that out before grappling with whether or not I “should.” Am I missing something?</p>
<p>^^ Please read the post I wrote to kick off this thread.</p>
<p>booklady: If you read the entire thread, it appears that the OP is embarrassed for anyone to know that their family is on FA and is trying to keep up with the Donor Joneses without raising eyebrows in the FA office. I just can’t seem to read this question any other way.</p>
<p>What you give is your business. Whether you give is your business. I could care less what any other person (parent or development person) thinks of me or of my donation. We give what we feel we can contribute, and do so every year. Some years we have extra available and give extra. As so many have said before me (very well, I might add) : PARTICIPATION is the key. I will admit that I am very comfortable being who I am - it is no one’s business but mine and the school’s what I donate. Think of it from the other side: do you comb through the various donation tiers and figure out who gave what and how often? I thought not. Contribute. Participate. Ignore all comments to the contrary. </p>
<p>If I have confused your original post, and your primary concern is whether giving a “large” amount will jeopardize your FA award, I suggest calling the FA office of your school and asking them:</p>
<ol>
<li>Do contribution amounts affect aid?</li>
<li>What do other FA families with similar awards do? Obviously NOT what they give… But what is the most common percentage they give. </li>
</ol>
<p>Once you have that information, my advice is still to evaluate any details received, but to do what YOUR FAMILY is comfortable with. </p>
<p>I am NOT going to call the school. Was hoping that the community with their anonymity could just share their experiences.</p>
<p>^But you’re asking people here to share the very information you do not want anyone to know about you. My .02 is that it is ridiculous to worry about getting your name printed on some list so that you can appear affluent-generous when you receive FA. If you can afford to contribute to one of those buckets, you are effectively telling the FA office that they left money on the table, and I’m sure this thread is causing many readers who also receive FA to wonder just how you qualified for an amount that still enables you to be able to donate at that level. What’s your secret?</p>
<p>Ultimately, I’m with @london and others who say stop worrying about finding that “sweet spot” and just give what you comfortably can and don’t think twice. Participation is ALL that matters, but if you want someone to throw out a number, I say give $100 dollars (because you can), and sleep soundly. If anyone questions your donation, smile and say, “As a family who receives FA, our donation is as generous as we are able to give at this time.”. That will stop any further comment.</p>
<p>To clarify, I understood the OP’s question completely. </p>
<p>I am just wondering about how someone who receives any amt of financial aid is going to come up with thousand dollars to get their name on the list. I feel like if you have an extra $1k to give, your FA award is $1k too much. </p>
<p>I concur booklady123. We chose to (temporarily) suspend optional activities such as large charitable donations while paying for our children to attend private school (lots of other financial cuts as well). We still give $50-100 here and there, but larger donations (other than weekly to church, which was cut back but not eliminated) are not in our budget. We chose to cut rather than apply for financial aid. It just didn’t seem right to essentially have our children’s school subsidize our charitable giving to other organizations (or our premium cable bill and other optional expenses that we cut). Although I suppose that’s better than the families I know that receive FA and are members of country clubs. I fully support providing assistance to families with real need, especially those who are generous with their time, but sometimes wonder how the decisions are made - but it’s not my place to question. We all make our own choices.</p>
<p>To the OP though, if you feel a need to “keep up with the Jones” when it comes to donating, what will happen in other situations where money is being spent that you don’t have? If people at the school are going to judge you for not donating large sums, will they also judge you if you don’t bid high in a school charity auction? Or if you don’t send you kid on expensive spring break trips like the other kids at school take? You should donate, but only within your means. No one here can tell you if your FA will be reduced if you donate a large amount - but realistically it should. You’ve shown you have the money.</p>
<p>@choatiemom - I find your suggestion very reasonable, but based on earlier posts in this thread other families don’t know OP is on FA and OP would like to keep it that way. OP has also stated that s/he will not donate to the school after their child graduates, so they feel no need to pay back what they received - all the angst about donation is related to status.</p>
<p>@Inigo: That is precisely my point. The OP feels that it is important to hide their FA status (none of anyone else’s business) while simultaneously wanting to make their generous donation everyone’s business. @booklady’s comment is spot on.</p>
<p>The FA director at my kids’ school has said in a Q&A session that contributions to the annual fund are a reasonable discretionary expense. That said, I think they expect these contributions to be at the participation level and not a tiered level. The school proactively addresses the question of whether FA families should buy tickets to ticketed fundraising events by sending free tickets to financial aid fundraising events and offering discounted tickets to other fundraising events.</p>
<p>As mentioned above, a great way to contribute to a school non-monetarily is by volunteering. Even a school with many parent volunteers can always use more. And if you’re concerned about the appearance of supporting the school, it gives you more visibility than having your named published in the annual report, which people may or may not see.</p>
<p>Mercersburg:</p>
<p>Torchbearer - 3 or more consecutive years of giving (any amount)
William Mann Irvine Society - at least 1893.00
McDowell - cummulative gifts of at least one million
Marshall Irving Alliance - planned giving (bequeaths) no amount mentioned</p>
<p>I love the way there are only two “tiers” by dollar amount. 1893.00 (which most people could make, especially as an automatic monthly payment of about 160.00) and a million plus. So just about everyone, except those on major FA, could be recognized and no one will know whether they gave 2000.00 or 600,000.00</p>
<p>On the giving page, it lists only the names of who gave. That’s it.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.mercersburg.edu/Page/Giving/Donor-Recognition”>http://www.mercersburg.edu/Page/Giving/Donor-Recognition</a></p>
<p>Thanks to those that are providing specifc $ amounts as guidance. And I believe that we learned that NOBODY on FA contributes to the first donor level, it simply isnt appropriate.</p>
<p>But… Please STOP cluttering the thread by repeating the same points over and over and over. I have known for years that
- Participation is more important than amount
-There are ‘other’ ways to contribute besides financially, like volunteering - I can always call the school and ask</p>
<p>And I have been lurking for some time and was fully prepared for the judging and snide comments. I just chalked that up as the cost of trying to get some insight. Judge away, I dont mind. But please provide some new insight or preferably specific $ amounts.</p>