Donate/Pledge a Gift
Please remember your gift is tax-deductible and your support ensures that programs continue to grow to meet the needs of our talented students. Matching Gifts are often available from employers’ matching gift programs and can double or even triple your contribution. Please call the Advancement Office (203) 336-9091 for assistance. Thank You!
2017 Centennial Annual Fund
Every Year, Every One, Any Amount
Along with tuition, careful fiscal oversight and occasional capital campaigns, a robust Annual Fund is a key component of every successful independent school. Each year Unquowa relies on its Annual Fund to provide vital support to the school’s operating budget.
In recent years, the Unquowa Annual Fund has supported financial assistance, professional development and support for faculty and staff, innovations to programs and curriculum, field experiences, performing arts, athletics, technology purchases and more.
No amount is too small and every gift is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
For the Future…and for Today
As we celebrate Unquowa’s first 100 years, the Board is strategically focused on the long term horizon and ensuring that the school’s second century is as strong as its first. Through the 2nd Century Campaign, we will build the school’s endowment and create a fund for future campus enhancements.
A strong endowment is vital to every independent school. Carefully invested, endowment earnings provide unwavering support for curriculum, programming, financial aid, campus improvements and talented faculty. Independent schools should have an endowment that is, at a minimum, equal to a year’s operating budget. For Unquowa, this wisdom means that the school should have an endowment of approximately $5 million.
Bold Program Decisions
Innovation is often the result of bold decisions. As a small school, Unquowa is in the enviable position of being able to adapt and respond quickly and effectively to creative educational opportunities and research. Support from a strong endowment will allow the school’s leadership and faculty to continue to boldly design and enhance Unquowa’s innovative programs.
A few recent bold decisions at Unquowa include establishing the Upper School Humanities program, enhancing foreign language offerings to include both Mandarin and Spanish, building a Makerspace and expanding our Performing Arts programming.
Financial Aid
Unquowa proudly awards levels of financial aid each year that consistently place our small school in the top quartile of all independent schools in Fairfield and Westchester Counties, including those schools with huge endowments. In other words…we do more with less.
Providing financial aid to families with demonstrated need benefits our entire school community. Being part of a socio-economically diverse community expands horizons, deepens understanding, encourages compassion and nurtures empathy among all our students.
Campus Enhancement Fund
Since 1917, Unquowa’s building and campus have grown in phases to support the progressive teaching philosophy of our school’s founders by providing outdoor spaces for classes, athletics, playtime and programs. Building a Campus Enhancement Fund now will ensure that Unquowa’s leadership will be in a position to take on projects to improve our building and to consider opportunities to grow our small campus in the future.
If you would like to learn more about the Second Century Campaign or legacy giving, please contact Kate Haviland in our Advancement office. kate.haviland@unquowa.org 203-336-9091.
We hope you will join us!
The Carl Churchill Legacy Giving Society
In thinking about establishing our Legacy Giving Society, there were many decisions to make, but one thing was perfectly clear from the start. As a key component of securing the school’s future, it had to be named for the school’s longest sitting headmaster, Carl Churchill, whose twenty year tenure shaped the early years of the school’s history and laid the firm foundation for its progressive philosophy. Mr. Churchill understood and put in place at Unquowa the progressive education model of learning by doing, evidence of which we see in vintage photos that grace our halls today and the practice of which continues to grow each year at Unquowa.
In the annual report of 1940, Mr. Churchill wisely emphasized the counterintuitive notion that parents should not save their money for boarding school and college but rather spend it on the early years of their child’s education “to induce the habit of mental exploration, discovery and achievement” that would serve them through life. We cannot thank Mr. Churchill enough for the clear, steady path he laid for his successors, a path which has allowed our school to near its 100th anniversary providing the robust, impactful educational experience for children that Mr. Churchill worked so long and so hard to establish.
Overview of Legacy Giving
Legacy Giving is a way for you to support The Unquowa School through a long term strategy of directed giving that benefits both you and the school for years to come.
While any gift to the school provides vital support, a planned legacy gift offers a unique level of long-term security that strengthens Unquowa’s financial foundation for the future. As with all giving to the school, you have the option of directing your legacy gift towards an area at the school that you are passionate about or leaving it unrestricted for the school’s leadership to determine where it is needed most.
The legacy giving tools described below each offer a different path that you can take to support Unquowa while providing possible tax and inheritance benefits to you and your family.
While Unquowa can accept and monitor the legacy giving strategies included here, the school is not in a position to provide financial advice. Therefore, if you are considering making a gift to the school through one of these strategies, we suggest you discuss these options with your financial advisor.
Together we are making Unquowa stronger for the students who are here now and for those who will join the Unquowa family in the future. On behalf of all of them, thank you.
Gifts From Your Will or Trust : This gift does not affect your cash flow during your lifetime, and provides significant support to The Unquowa School.
How it works…
- Include a bequest to The Unquowa School in your will or trust
- Make your bequest unrestricted or direct it to a specific purpose at the school
- Indicate a specific amount, a percentage of your estate, or a portion of the balance remaining in your estate or trust
Benefits…
- Your assets remain in your control in your lifetime
- You can modify your bequest to address changing circumstances
- Receive a deduction in estate taxes for your charitable bequest
- You can direct your bequest to a particular purpose
Charitable Lead Trusts : This gift allows you to provide significant annual support to The Unquowa School now, while reducing the taxes on assets passed to your heirs later.
How it works…
- You contribute securities or other appreciating assets to a charitable lead trust
- The trust makes annual payments to The Unquowa School for a period of time
- When the trust terminates, the remaining principal is paid to your heirs
Benefits…
- The present value of the income payments to The Unquowa School reduces your gift/estate tax
- All appreciation that takes place in the trust goes tax-free to your heirs
- The amount and term of the payments to The Unquowa School can be set so as to reduce or even eliminate transfer taxes due when the principal reverts to your heirs
Charitable Remainder Unitrusts : This gift benefits you and your designated beneficiaries now and The Unquowa School later on and for years to come.
How it works…
- You transfer cash, securities or other appreciated property into a trust
- The trust pays a percentage of the value of its principal, which is re-valued annually, to you or to beneficiaries you name
- When the trust terminates, the remainder passes to The Unquowa School to be used as you have directed
Benefits…
- You or your designated beneficiaries receive income for life or for a term of years (varies annually based on the value of the trust)
- You receive an immediate income tax deduction for a the charitable remainder value of your gift
- Pay no upfront capital gains tax on appreciated assets you donate
- You can make additional gifts to the trust as your circumstances allow for additional income and tax benefits
Gifts from Retirement Plans at Death : This gift supports The Unquowa School and its students for years to come.
How it works…
- You name The Unquowa School as beneficiary for part or all of your retirement-plan benefits
- Funds are transferred by plan administrator at your death
Benefits…
- No federal income tax is due on the funds that pass to The Unquowa School
- No federal estate-tax liability
Gifts of Life Insurance : This gift allows you to provide significant support to The Unquowa School without adversely affecting your cash flow.
How it works…
- You transfer ownership of a paid-up life insurance policy to The Unquowa School
- The Unquowa School cashes the policy now
Benefits…
- You receive gift credit and an immediate income tax deduction for the cash surrender value of the policy
