Campaign for Teaching & Learning

The M.V. Williams Challenge

In 2000, Saint Mark’s School received an anonymous $2 million gift to be distributed over ten years to increase the number of financial aid students at Saint Mark’s. The donors believed strongly in the mission of our school and named their fund, The Mary V. Williams Scholar Program, for a former Upper School head who crusaded for financial aid and believed deeply in offering a quality education to all students. An intrinsic component of this gift was to encourage Saint Mark’s to raise an additional $4 million to support these students when the gift is done in 2010. This “challenge” fits squarely with Saint Mark’s current Strategic Plan and its goal of increasing the number of financial aid students and the percentage of the operating budget devoted to financial aid. This generous gift, along with other donor designated gifts to financial aid, currently allows Saint Mark’s to contribute nearly $900,000 annually to 20% of Saint Mark’s families. We need to ensure that Saint Mark’s has the funds to carry on this scholarship program when the donor’s pledge is fulfilled in 2010 — just three years from now.