Why We Ask: Fundraising at Acera

By Trent Ramsey, Deputy Director of Advancement & Families

Every year as we launch the Annual Fund, I hear the same question. And it's a reasonable one.

Why do we ask for donations, especially when families already pay tuition? The simplest answer is that tuition provides most of what it takes to operate Acera, but it doesn’t provide everything we want an Acera education to be. We’ve made choices to remain a small school, to retain remarkable teachers and to offer unique and rigorous electives, to provide financial aid, and to give teachers the freedom to follow an idea when something interesting happens in a classroom. Sometimes philanthropy means something extraordinary, like helping us create the O’Donnell Arts & Sciences Building. More often, it means being able to say yes when a teacher needs materials, when a student needs help participating in a project, when we want to improve a space, or when a class has an opportunity we hadn’t anticipated six months earlier.

After eleven years here, I’ve also learned that the amount someone gives tells me very little about how much they care about Acera. Some families can make four- or five-figure gifts; some give $25 or $50; some have years when giving isn’t possible at all. I understand that. What matters is that people participate when and how they can. When families give, volunteer, show up for an event, or stay connected long after their children graduate, they are taking care of a place that has mattered to them. Much of what our students have today exists because someone before us decided that Acera was worth taking care of, too.

I’ve now been here long enough to see students grow up and graduate, to see families leave and remain part of our community, and to watch ideas that once seemed ambitious become ordinary parts of the school. I still like walking through the buildings and seeing what students are doing. Sometimes I know exactly what I’m looking at; other times I have absolutely no idea. There might be something taking shape in the Woodshop, an experiment spilling out of the Physics Lab, students arguing enthusiastically about a problem, or a project spread across a classroom that clearly makes perfect sense to everyone involved except me. I like that about this place. After eleven years, Acera can still surprise me.

And I suppose that’s why I’m still comfortable asking people to give. We aren’t raising money simply because there’s a number on a spreadsheet we need to reach. We’re raising it because we want Acera to remain a place where curious kids have interesting problems to solve, extraordinary adults to learn from, room to experiment, and permission to pursue an idea further than anyone expected. You’ll hear more from Heather and me about the Annual Fund this year, and I hope you’ll participate in whatever way makes sense for your family. But more than anything, I hope you understand why we keep asking. After nearly thirty years of doing this work, I still believe the best reason to give is a simple one: you’ve found something you believe the world is better for having in it, and you want to help make sure it stays around.

For more information on Acera's Annual Fund campaign or to talk more about what the Annual Fund makes possible at Acera, please email me and I look forward to connecting.