Fund for Sacred Heart FAQ

The Fund for Sacred Heart is vital to Sacred Heart’s commitment to quality education. As with all independent schools, Sacred Heart’s tuition and endowed funds alone cannot provide the distinctive offerings needed to serve our students. 

Your meaningful contributions each year to the Fund are applied to the current school year to enhance academic innovation plus arts and athletic programs, faculty excellence, tuition assistance, and community strength. 

Thanks to the generous support by current and past parents, alumnae, trustees, faculty and staff, grandparents, and friends, Sacred Heart Greenwich girls pursue excellence and benefit from transformative opportunities! Your investment on an annual basis is a crucial partnership to advance the Sacred Heart Greenwich mission.

Your contributions to the Fund for Sacred Heart are applied to the current school year to enhance academic innovation plus arts and athletic programs, faculty excellence, tuition assistance, and community strength. Thanks to the generous support by current and past parents, alumnae, trustees, faculty and staff, grandparents, and friends, Sacred Heart Greenwich students benefit from transformative opportunities! 

The Fund for Sacred Heart supports our mission to educate and empower students to pursue excellence, build courage and confidence, and lead lives of purpose and integrity.

Learn more about the impact of the Fund for Sacred Heart.

EVERYONE who is a part of the Sacred Heart Greenwich community is welcome and appreciated as supporters of the Fund for Sacred Heart. Gifts to the Fund for Sacred Heart range in size from $5 to $100,000+. 

Our community’s collective goal every year is 100% parent participation. We respectfully ask that each family embrace the Fund for Sacred Heart as a philanthropic priority. Strong parent participation and generosity make a statement to our external community who review such statistics when considering their support. 

Thank you for your gift. The school values every gift, regardless of size. Your investment makes a lasting difference in the daily experience for all students and faculty.

Giving societies help the school secure a number of gifts at all levels. If the Fund for Sacred Heart is to be successful, it must reflect the balance between leadership gifts and broad participation. Our giving levels provide an opportunity for all donors to be recognized and acknowledged for their generosity to Sacred Heart. 

We expect different gifts from different people, and we value gifts from everyone.

The St. Madeleine Sophie Barat Society and the Young Alumnae Barat Society recognize those who contribute at a leadership giving level to the school in the given year. 

Thank you to the Barat Society members for their leadership level generosity and inspiration, demonstrating their commitment to the Sacred Heart vision and mission. Members will be celebrated at our Barat Society annual reception.

Society membership is open to all individuals, companies, and foundations that gift $5,000+ to the school in the given year as part of the St. Madeleine Sophie Barat Society, or that gift $100+ as part of the Young Alumnae Barat Society. We invite you to learn more about the leadership giving levels of our Barat Society.

Yes! Sacred Heart Greenwich values every gift, regardless of size. 

Your gifts enable the Fund for Sacred Heart to enhance academic innovation plus arts and athletic programs, faculty excellence, tuition assistance, and community strength. Simply put, the Fund for Sacred Heart transforms the programs and people supporting each student’s success. Your support also will often inspire others to make gifts. 

We respectfully ask that each person in our community embrace the Fund for Sacred Heart as a philanthropic priority by making a gift that is personally meaningful. 

Corporate matching gifts enable people to increase the value of their support and provide a valuable source of revenue for the school.

As always, our community’s goal is for 100% of current parents to make personally meaningful commitments to the Fund for Sacred Heart every year.  

High participation in the Fund for Sacred Heart is an important way for us to demonstrate to others in our community and to prospective families the commitment and dedication of our parents, alumnae and friends to the School and to our students. 

Foundations and corporations awarding grants to an educational institution often look at the level of parent, alumnae, and community participation in the Fund for Sacred Heart.

You can make a gift or pledge online. Donors are encouraged to make a gift or pledge by December 31 and can fulfill their pledge anytime before June 30 each year. 

Learn more about Ways to Give.

You can make a gift or pledge throughout the fiscal year, July 1-June 30. Our community strives by December 31 to raise at least 80% of our total annual goal for the Fund for Sacred Heart. 

Thank you to our generous donors who give and pledge early, allowing the school the flexibility to most thoughtfully allocate their gifts to this school year. Please plan to make your gift or pledge by December 31.

Yes!  Gifts to the Fund for Sacred Heart are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. 

There are a variety of Ways to Give. 

Yes! Donating stock is a simple strategy to increase your gift for philanthropy and your tax deduction. You can make a bigger impact by donating long-term appreciated securities, including stock, bonds, and mutual funds, directly for philanthropy. 

When you transfer appreciated securities that you have held for more than a year, you can take an income tax deduction for the full fair-market value, rather than the amount paid. Plus, you generally do not pay capital gains when you donate securities rather than sell them.

A donor-advised fund (DAF) is a simple, flexible, and tax-efficient way to give to your favorite philanthropic efforts. Think of DAFs like investment accounts for the sole purpose of supporting philanthropic organizations. 

When you contribute cash, securities, or other assets as a philanthropic gift to a DAF, you are generally eligible to take an immediate tax deduction. Then, your donation can be invested for tax-free growth, making available even more money for you to recommend grants to  your favorite causes.

Many companies do match contributions that their employees make to independent schools, allowing you to double or even triple your gift.

Check to see if your company participates in gift matching.

Yes! IRA donations are a simple, thoughtful way for people to support philanthropic institutions. For example, if you are at least age 70 1/2, you can make a Qualified Charitable Donation (QCD) up to $105,000 from your IRA for 2024 to support your charitable goals and withdraw funds from your IRA without tax consequences. The QCD can also help satisfy your required minimum distribution.

Working together, the Administration, Finance Committee, Board of Trustees, and the Advancement Committee determine the Fund for Sacred Heart goal. The process is a balancing act of forecasting tuition revenue, maximizing the Fund for Sacred Heart's potential, and acknowledging the importance of the continued health and strength of our school. If we do not meet the goal, the deficit would have an across-the-board impact, with potential cutbacks shared by all divisions.

Although Sacred Heart Greenwich raises tuition annually to guarantee growth in faculty salaries and educational programs, the school could not charge the full cost without seriously limiting the number of qualified students who could afford to attend. Augmenting tuition with the Fund for Sacred Heart also enables the school to keep tuition at a competitive rate with the surrounding community. 

In addition, your gift to the Fund for Sacred Heart is tax-deductible as allowed by law; tuition is not.

Thomas A. McCarthy, Director of Advancement at 203.532.3160.