St. Mary’s School Foundation and Development Board(Glossary of Terms)

In an effort to clarify the nomenclature The St. Mary’s School Foundation and the Development Board offer the following definition of terms:

Annual Fund – refers to the fund raising that is used to immediately support the operations of the St. Mary’s School.  Those needs may include supplies, salaries of our staff, support of our music and performing arts programs, and field trips as well as other areas.  An annual fund donation is spent for immediate needs.

Development Board – our fundraising unit coordinates fundraising for immediate needs of the school and our programs.  The funds raised by the Development Board will be used immediately to support the immediate needs of our school.  Fundraising programs might include the annual Christmas Tree Drive, the Jog-a-thon, and the Annual Auction.  The Development Board works closely with the Foundation Board to help raise funds to support St. Mary’s School.

Endowment fund – refers to the principal investments that are supported by our donors.   Endowed funds are held in perpetuity while the interest can either be reinvested into the corpus or be used on an annual basis to support operations of the school.

Foundation Board – our Board that manages the Endowment Fund for St. Mary’s School.  The Foundation Board works closely with the Development Board to help raise funds to support St. Mary’s School.

Immediate needs – include purchase of a school bus to bring students on field trips, and support of our music and performing arts programs. 

Operating expenses – include the ongoing business costs encountered at the school.  Those expenses can include salaries of our staff, supplies, utilities and facilities costs, and insurance, etc.

Local investments – our Foundation Board utilizes local vendors to manage our endowment funds from our donors.  Those vendors charge a small fee to help manage our portfolios.