Priorities
Tuition Assistance
We encourage all voices at Marin Academy and know that diversity in all of its forms is essential to creating an educational environment in which our students cultivate the tools they need to live their lives fully and contribute as compassionate citizens to our work.
Our shared responsibility for creating a truly inclusive environment includes enrolling the most talented students across the Bay Area, regardless of their families’ ability to afford tuition. With an annual financial aid budget of nearly $4 million, nearly a quarter of MA students receive financial aid annually. The average tuition assistance award covers 80% of tuition. MA also provides financial assistance to students receiving tuition assistance for additional costs beyond tuition—books, Outings, Minicourse, athletic uniforms, prom tickets, cafeteria, transportation—to make sure all students have access to the same educational experiences at Marin Academy. Our goal is to increase the percentage of students receiving aid, “which makes new investments in financial aid essential to building for the future.”
You can make an impact on Marin Academy’s tuition assistance program by creating a restricted fund for student tuition assistance:
- Named Endowment - This fund endows the equivalent of full tuition for one student in perpetuity.
- Named immediate use fund - This fund fully supports current-use tuition and fees for one student for the four years they are enrolled.
- Named student assistance fund - This fund endows all the extra costs beyond tuition in perpetuity for a Marin Academy student receiving tuition assistance
For more information about establishing a fund in support of financial aid, please contact Director of Advancement, Janiece Richard.
Annual Fund
Your gift to the Marin Academy Annual Fund makes an immediate and meaningful impact on each student’s daily experience.
Every day, MA creates transformational opportunities. You can see it when you witness students having the time of their lives at a performing arts production. You feel it when you hear students connect what they discussed in today’s history class with something they just learned in science. And you know it when you read about an alum who is applying the critical thinking skills developed at MA to make an impact on today’s world.
None of this would be possible without the support of the Marin Academy Annual Fund. The annual fund ensures our financial sustainability as a school, helping us bridge the gap between tuition revenue and operating costs. Comprising roughly 9% of the school’s operating budget, annual giving dollars are unrestricted and thereby make a direct and immediate impact on all of the people and programs of MA.
Help provide MA students with an education that inspires them to think, question, and create now and in the future. Join our community who make gifts of all sizes in support of the annual fund each year. Each gift makes a significant impact on our school.
Endowment
Endowments are one of the most important levers for an independent school’s financial sustainability.
Endowment funds play a critical role in shaping the future of Marin Academy, generating earnings in perpetuity that help us make valuable investments in the teaching, programs and facilities that define and enhance the MA experience.
Gifts to our endowment funds are particularly valuable because they give MA the critical financial flexibility to allocate funds where and when they are most needed. Marin Academy welcomes new gifts to existing endowments, as well as gifts for new endowment funds, both restricted and unrestricted.
For more information about establishing an endowment fund or supporting an existing endowment, please contact Director of Advancement Janiece Richard at jrichard@ma.org.
Current Marin Academy endowment funds:
Faculty Awards
Edward E. Ford Foundation Fellowship
Supports professional development expenses including conference and workshop fees, travel costs to and from professional development activities, and other costs associated with professional training for one or two faculty scholars per year.
Haas Endowment Challenge Fund
Benefits Marin Academy faculty through professional development.
Evelyn Flory Endowment Fund
Supports faculty development activities that help Marin Academy achieve its cultural diversity goals.
Endowment for Faculty Support
Supports competitive compensation for MA faculty.
McEvoy Faculty Sabbatical Fund
Established in 2005, provides time and funding for one faculty member each year to explore, restore, and pursue personal interests. Recipients must have served the Marin Academy community for at least seven years and must return for a full year of service at MA after taking their sabbatical. The sabbatical provides 50% funding for the faculty recipient and may be scheduled as a full-year away from campus at half-pay or a semester away from campus at regular, full-pay.
Henry David Thoreau Endowed Chair
Made possible by a gift from a Marin Academy family, the Henry David Thoreau Chair represents the first endowed faculty chair for the school. The Thoreau Chair uses interdisciplinary curriculum development, teaching, and mentoring of the student community to help MA students recognize that citizenship in today’s world rests on a deep understanding of ecology.
Student Awards
Matthew Clifford Endowment Fund
Established in memory of former student Matthew Clifford. The Clifford Endowment recognizes and supplements the need-based aid of one student each year who meets the following criteria:
- Recipient must have established financial need;
- Demonstrated willingness to serve the school community enthusiastically and a caring and supportive attitude in their relationship with fellow students;
- Strives to make the best of his or her academic opportunities;
- Actively participates in the extra-curricular life of the school (arts, athletics, outings, etc.);
- Demonstrates obvious integrity and citizenship.
Danielle Plumb Zumbrun Endowment Fund
Established in memory of former student Danielle Plumb Zumbrun ‘79. The fund supports a leadership training program for outstanding students in the Outings Program. Funds are awarded to students to help pay for a wilderness experience or outdoor leadership training not available through Marin Academy’s outings curriculum.
Headmaster’s Cup Endowment Fund
Established to honor Marin Academy’s first headmaster, William McCluskey. Funds were donated to support student activities at Marin Academy. Each year, the school recognizes a graduating senior who demonstrates the attitudes of mind and character that Marin Academy aims to foster.
Endowment for Awards of Special Financial Aid
Provides financial support for students to cover the incidental costs of outings, field trips, sports equipment, and other programs.
Bodie Brizendine Scholarship Fund
Provides need-based financial assistance to students who would otherwise not be able to attend Marin Academy.
The Carol L. Morse Scholarship
This fund was established in 2006 by the family of former trustee and alumni parent, Carol Morse, in her memory. The Morse Scholarship provides need-based tuition assistance to an underrepresented student who would not otherwise be able to attend Marin Academy.
Scholarship Fund Honoring MA Faculty
Provides need-based financial assistance for an underrepresented student each year.
Program Funds
Literary Festival Fund
Supports the speaking fees, stipends, and program costs of the school’s annual Literary Festival.
James F. Thacher Endowment
The James F. Thacher Endowment underwrites the Thacher Lecture Series, enabling Marin Academy to bring a prominent cultural, political, academic, or social leader to the campus each year to enlarge the experience of MA students, their families, and the Bay Area community. Funds are used for speaker honoraria, travel expenses, and event expenses.
Endowment Fund for Crossroads and Community Partnerships
Support for the school’s Crossroads Program, a mission-based outreach program for underserved middle school youth in San Rafael. As a school that seeks to cultivate diversity in all aspects of school life, the Endowment for Crossroads and Community Partnerships will affirm and strengthen our public responsibility to the broader community.
General Endowment Fund
Income from the fund can be used for expenses at the discretion of the school.
Campaign
The Campaign for Marin Academy: Going Beyond is a bold investment in our future.
Volunteer
The Marin Academy Annual Fund needs volunteers who can help with outreach, mailings, and more. Annual Fund volunteers help raise essential support that benefits the entire MA community. Most volunteering can be done at a time and place that is convenient for you. For more information contact Janiece Richard.
