A Culture of Philanthropy
By Teresa S. Weber
Contributions to the Hackley Fund fuel life on the Hilltop on a daily basis.
Philanthropy is a thread weaving together the past, present, and future; it can be seen and felt across our campus.
When you peer into a classroom and experience teaching at its very best, you know that faculty are taking advantage of the ample professional development opportunities available to them—opportunities that are made possible through philanthropy. When you walk around campus and see the soaring Johnson Center for Health and Wellness or the beautiful hand-carved totem pole in our new orchard, you know that the culture of philanthropy is strong at Hackley. And when you speak with current students and alumni, and hear that their education was made possible through financial aid, you know that philanthropy is critical to ensuring that we uphold our mission to “learn from varying perspectives and backgrounds.”
Hackley’s history is filled with stories of generosity, starting with the very founding of the school. Mrs. Frances Hackley donated her Tarrytown estate to the American Unitarian Association for “the purpose of establishing a school for boys.” Her generosity was matched the following year by her good friend Sarah Goodhue, who donated $40,000 to build Goodhue Memorial Hall, housing the first classrooms on Hackley’s current campus. In the nearly 125 years since, many donors have followed Mrs. Hackley and Mrs. Goodhue’s example.
The generosity of our community can be seen across campus in such buildings as the Johnson Center for Health and Wellness.
The generosity of our community can be seen across campus—the Kathleen Allen Lower School, the Sternberg and Santomero Libraries, and the newest units of faculty housing, made possible through the collective giving of the community, are just a few examples. These investors in our school have left a visible legacy on our physical plant—one that benefits current and future generations.
While buildings create a wonderful environment for our students to learn and faculty to teach, other gifts have provided programmatic support in perpetuity. Gifts to establish endowed funds provide a nuclear fund from which interest earnings are drawn each year in support of specific School initiatives. Hackley is able to bring exceptional speakers, such as Broadway actress LaChanze, documentarian Abigail Disney, and former University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer, to campus through several endowed speaker funds. One of the key initiatives of Hackley’s current campaign, Beyond Boundaries, is to build an endowment to fund signature programs, such as Hudson Scholars. Endowed funds also directly support Hackley’s faculty and students.
Faculty benefit in several ways from the generosity of donors from years ago. When you walk into the Lindsay Room, the wall above the fireplace is adorned with plaques recognizing the generosity of philanthropists who created endowed chairs in subjects ranging from the arts to math and science to foreign affairs. Each year, faculty vote on the recipients of these chairs, which serve as a recognition of teaching excellence. Separately, faculty have the opportunity to enrich their own learning through professional development grants made possible by endowed funds. Additionally, the creation of new courses is often funded through such opportunities as iGrants, which also come from an endowed fund.
Many families and alumni have endowed financial aid funds over the years, recognizing the importance of accessibility and affordability to creating a campus community with a wide range of lived experiences. Students can also tap into the generosity of past donors through programs like the Russ Hogg Endowment for Creative Expression. Through Hogg Grants, students are able to pursue passion projects over the summer that unleash their creativity. Sam Nadol ’24 was one of the first Hogg Grant recipients in 2020 and started his nonprofit RebootPC, Inc.—an organization that refurbishes old computers and donates them to individuals in need—through his grant.
A number of the School’s endowed funds have been established through gifts made as part of our Copper Beech Society, a group of individuals who have included Hackley in their estate planning.
“Since our daughter’s first week on the Hilltop, we have marveled at the extraordinary environment the teachers create for our children every day. Including Hackley in our estate plan was our way of ensuring that the School can maintain these high standards for generations to come,” shared Nick and Cristina Savasta P ’33. Nick and Cristina became Copper Beech Society members last year when their daughter joined Hackley’s first grade.
While endowed funds contribute to the everyday life of the School in perpetuity, it is really contributions to the Hackley Fund, the School’s annual fund, that fuel life on the Hilltop on a daily basis. It supports everything from teacher salaries and classroom supplies to paying the electric bill. We typically refer to the Hackley Fund as the School’s greatest philanthropic priority because it accounts for more than 7% of our budget each year. Often when we hear the word “philanthropist,” we conjure up images of those long ago titans of industry whose names adorn so many buildings in New York City. The truth, however, is that we all have the capacity to be philanthropists. Annual giving—in our case through the Hackley Fund—democratizes philanthropy and allows each donor to make a significant contribution to the life of the organization.
It is incredible to know that nearly 1,400 people came together last year to raise a record-setting $3.5 million for the Hackley Fund. Importantly, more than half of those gifts were $100 or less. These are meaningful dollars that impact Hackley’s ability to fund every aspect of the School’s operations—many of which we take for granted but would be devastated to lose if funding no longer existed. Our collective ability to support the people and programs of a Hackley education—no matter how big or small our gift amount—is the very definition of a culture of philanthropy, one that is strong and growing with support from every corner of the School.
Without the incredible volunteerism that exists at Hackley—particularly within our family and alumni communities—this culture of philanthropy would not be possible. Every year, volunteers in every division and across nearly every alumni class year dedicate hours to ensuring the success of our fundraising efforts. They come with unbridled enthusiasm, ideas for new approaches, and a roll-up-your-sleeves attitude. They make calls, organize events, send letters, and encourage friends and classmates via social media to make a gift to Hackley. These volunteers are all-in, committed to the ideal that together we can make a difference for Hackley.
Whether you are looking back to Mrs. Hackley and Mrs. Goodhue, or you are looking forward to alumni like Maxwel Lee ’22, the first person in his class to make a gift to the school following graduation this past June, you can see the thread of philanthropy is one that ties us together for the good of Hackley. We have strength in our collective commitment, and we can take pride in all that the community’s philanthropy has made possible in the past and the present, and will continue to make possible for the future.
This story first appeared in the Hackley Review Summer 2023 edition. To see the full digital issue, click here.