Welcome
Greetings from the Development Office!
The Development Office serves several functions at Saint Mark’s, but the most rewarding by far is our role as the school liaison for our parent volunteers. In the endless hours of planning required to execute the Spring Fundraiser, Bookfaire, or any number of other parent-led events, we get to know some parents very well indeed. Decorating bathrooms and bookstores, designing invitations and banners, soliciting and storing donations, cooking, baking and arranging catering, licking envelopes, tracking down surfboards or stuffed horses or vintage travel gear—all these are just parts of a day in the life of the partnership between the Development Office and the school’s fabulous parent volunteers.
Fundraising, of course, is our other main function. And, in this, we are also inspired by the generosity of our community. Every year we work with a team of parent volunteers to execute the Annual Fund. In 2006–2007 we raised over $500,000 for the first time. Last year’s co-chairs, Bonnie Kirkpatrick and Len Galla, are stepping up again to go for another record-breaking campaign. Last year we also celebrated a milestone in the school’s history: the Campaign for Teaching and Learning, Saint Mark’s first-ever endowment campaign. Led by another team of committed volunteers, we hope to raise $4 million in endowment funds for financial aid, faculty salaries, and professional development by the conclusion of the campaign in the 2007–2008 school year.
Our other duties include coordinating the school’s alumni program, managing the website and producing most of the school’s publications, including the Hip Pocket News. Come by and see us—we’re right by the eighth grade lockers.
The generosity of our parents as donors and volunteers makes our community truly remarkable. We are so fortunate to have so many committed families in our midst: those who give both their time and their financial resources to improve the health and strength of our school.
Thank you for all you do!
Kim Roberts
Director of Development
