Philanthropy at Horace Mann School
Since 1887, the philanthropic generosity of members of the Horace Mann School community has been crucial to the success of the School's mission. To continue to be able to educate capable young minds in socially significant ways, we depend on resources that exceed the cost of tuition and rely on financial donations from Parents, Alumni, Grandparents, Foundations, Faculty, Staff and Friends to provide this support.
The Alumni and Development Office works with the Development Committee of the Board of Trustees and over 350 Alumni and Parent volunteers to facilitate all major fundraising efforts for the school. Philanthropy plays and important role in ensuring HM’s continued success and we are extremely grateful to our community for their ongoing support.
The Annual Fund
The Annual Fund is Horace Mann School’s greatest philanthropic need. Gifts to the Annual Fund are truly powerful investments that ensure HM’s ability to remain one of the top schools in the nation. Like all independent schools, Horace Mann relies on fundraising to make up the difference between expenses and revenue. These contributions help to close the gap between tuition revenue and the actual cost of a Horace Mann education, about $2,500 per student. Annual Fund contributions represent approximately 8% of the overall operating budget.
Annual Fund contributions are restricted to enhancing academic and co-curricular programming, attracting and retaining the best and brightest faculty and staff, providing financial aid for an economically diverse community of students, and maintaining our four campuses. In addition, strong philanthropic support of HM allows us to restrain tuition growth each year.
For more information, please visit our Annual Fund page.
To make a gift to the Annual Fund now, please click here: Make a gift online
Capital Campaigns
All independent schools are required to raise capital funds for projects that are beyond the scope of their daily operations budget, for example, updated facilities or endowment enhancement. It is typical for a school to launch a capital campaign every five to eight years. While strong support of any capital initiative is crucial to the long term, academic and financial well being of Horace Mann, the Annual Fund and our ability to cover our annual operating expense remain our top philanthropic need. Contributions to a capital campaign should be considered as a donation made in addition to maintaining one’s current Annual Fund support.
HM in Motion was a five-year, $100 million campaign launched in September 2016 with the specific goal of funding the construction and renovation of our new science, community, wellness, and athletics facilities on HM’s Middle and Upper Division Campus. In many ways, this facilities campaign represented a natural extension of our donors’ philanthropic and volunteer leadership – an opportunity to maintain the School’s highest standards of academic excellence and national leadership in education.
We are pleased to share that we successfully closed our campaign on June 30, 2021 with over $125 million raised specifically to support the facilities project. The overwhelming support of our community allowed us not only to broaden the scope of our initial $100 million project but also to fully-fund this transformative effort. We remain grateful to all who helped us shape the future of Horace Mann School. To learn more about this record-breaking campaign, please visit the HM in Motion page.
If you are interested in learning how you can help Horace Mann School by making a major, multi-year commitment in addition to your Annual Fund support, please contact Melissa Parento '90, P'22, Director of Development at melissa_parento@horacemann.org.