The Madeira School has a lot to be thankful for these days, namely the generous alumnae and other donors who have contributed many millions to our capital projects and the Madeira Fund over the past five years.
Since 2012, when Madeira began raising funds for the current capital projects, the school has raised a total of $52.6 million. Ten donors have given $1,000,000 or more. What really got the ball rolling was a $10 million challenge gift from an anonymous alumna donor for the dormitory renovation project. This remains the largest single gift ever received by Madeira. The challenge was matched in 21 months, with a remarkable 85% of the gifts received in cash.
The challenge money allowed Madeira to renovate several dormitory buildings along with drilling wells and installing geothermal heating and cooling systems for the renovated buildings, originally constructed in 1931.
Inspired by the success of the first challenge gift, Nancy Marshall Athey, Madeira class of 1968, initiated a new challenge. Mrs. Athey was so impressed by the original donor stepping up, that she gave $1 million dollars outright, and also issued a $3 million matching gift to raise a total of $7 million for renovation of an additional dormitory and two other smaller buildings, as well as to complete the handset masonry hardscaping on the iconic central “Oval “of the campus. For this challenge gift, cash was matched one-to-one, and pledges were matched 50 percent in cash by Mrs. Athey.
Elizabeth Zeigler, President of Graham Pelton Consulting and an expert in philanthropy data and strategies, commented on Madeira’s fundraising success, “It’s really unusual for an institution to raise over $52 million and have such a high percentage of pledged commitments received in cash at this point in the campaign.” Zeigler said. “It’s a testimony to the dedication of these alumnae and their ability to set an example for their fellow alumnae to give.”