Raise the Red campaign

Katie McClurg
September 29, 2008
Filed under News

With $5.3 million already raised, the Raise the Red Campaign is off to a strong start. The Raise the Red Campaign is a $31 million capital campaign which will raise money for the school. According to Dr. Bob Tift a campaign this large “is unheard of for a high school,” but it’s necessary to make Benilde-St. Margaret’s the best it can be. As Dr. Tift said, “This really is an exciting campaign.”

The Raise the Red Campaign is a 20-year plan, which actually began last year, that will greatly improve the community at Benilde-St. Margaret’s. After discussing the idea with various faculty members, students, parents, and donors, the committee prioritized and created the four main components of the plan: tuition assistance, the annual fund, redoing the fields, and building a new north wing.

Unlike the last renovations that built the library and theater, the board of directors decided that instead of taking out more loans and gaining more debt for this project it would be best to raise the money before starting the project, and the actual building will begin “as the buckets fill up.”

One of the four components of the plan is to raise $9.5 million for the First Fund, formerly called the annual fund. Many students don’t know but their tuition doesn’t cover the full cost of operating the school, so the First Fund is used to balance the budget each year. They are looking to increase the fund and increase the number of donors who will continue to benefit and protect the future of the school.

The building of the new north wing is so important to provide because most of the current classrooms are being used for every period therefore “more classroom space for the junior high and the senior high is needed.” The cost for the new north wing is $11.75 million dollars, so it will be one of the later projects due to how much money is needed for it to begin. But even though more classrooms will be added, grade sizes will stay the same.

Another very important part of the plan is the goal of raising $6 million dollars for tuition assistance in order to allow more students, who are hindered by financial situations, to attend BSM. They are trying to make the decision for parents to send their kids here a little easier by “giving more aid to the middle income families.”