Giving Overview

Giving Overview

Since Cushing Academy's founding in 1865, gifts from donors have made it possible for students to receive an exemplary education. Thomas Parkman Cushing laid a foundation for the school with his original bequest, and hundreds of alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and friends have supported his vision in the years since by making gifts of their own.

 

 

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Your gift makes a difference to Cushing Academy, and we are deeply grateful for your support. There are numerous ways to support Cushing:
 

  • Support the Cushing Academy Annual Fund. Our Annual Fund provides operating expenses for everything, from financial aid to classroom supplies, salaries, and hands-on learning experiences.
About the Annual Fund

Where tuition ends, the Annual Fund begins. The Cushing Academy Annual Fund provides critical support for just about everything that happens at the Academy. The Annual Fund is essential to maintaining and advancing our faculty, programs, activities, and facilities. Gifts to the fund provide operating support and help sustain the Academy’s budget, ensuring stability for every department’s financial resources. Knowing that we can rely on our donors’ annual gifts allows us to make the best use of resources today and effectively plan for the future. Your contribution to the Annual Fund impacts every aspect of the Cushing experience and community.

Matching Gifts: One way to maximize your giving to Cushing Academy is to take advantage of your company’s matching gift program. Employee matches typically range from a 1:1 to 1:3 ratio. Your employer’s Human Resources office can provide the information and forms you need to take advantage of this benefit. 

  • Help expand our endowment. Cushing's endowment acts as a permanent savings account for the institution. Donors can support the endowment with gifts of any size.
  • Help expand our endowment. Cushing's endowment acts as a permanent savings account for the institution. Donors can support the endowment with gifts of any size.
About Cushing Academy’s Endowment

As at any educational institution—including independent schools, colleges, and universities, both public and private—donations to Cushing’s endowment are invested and the returns on those investments are both spent and reinvested. The rate at which the funds are spent varies so that both the value of the endowment and the expenditures rise over time to keep pace with inflation.

Endowment size is related to institutional health and sustainability because the larger the endowment, the better the return. A larger return on investment means that a higher percent of the return can be spent each year. For example, an endowment that has an annual return of 10 percent might spend 5 percent of that return, thus ensuring that the principal continues to grow and keep pace with inflation. Likewise, an endowment with an 8 percent return might spend only 4 percent.

Of course, the growth of an endowment is not dependent only on investment return. The endowment also grows as a result of gifts to the school.

Often, a school's endowment is broken up into smaller funds directed toward a specific purpose such as scholarships, faculty salaries, unrestricted funds for a department, or maintenance for facilities. Frequently, such funds are named by a donor and the size of those funds varies depending on its purpose. For example, a full scholarship fund must be large enough to generate adequate funding to support a student whereas a fund that provides unrestricted funding for a department could be smaller. That said, a gift needn't be large to support a school's endowment. A gift of any size may be directed toward the endowment in support of any area of the school.

Sometimes, as is largely the case at Cushing, the endowment supplements the Academy's operating budget. However, endowments may also add to what an institution might do above and beyond operating expenses—such as constructing new facilities, helping faculty continue their educations, and allowing faculty to take students on field trips, thereby supplementing the education the students receive.

If you have questions about Cushing's endowment, its growth, or how you can support it, please contact the Office of Advancement at [email protected] or (978) 827-7400.

  • Include Cushing in your longterm planned giving. Through his Last Will and Testament more than 150 years ago, Thomas Parkman Cushing expressed his desire to establish a school for “rising and future generations.” His story lives on in the generations of students whose lives have been transformed by their education at Cushing. When you include Cushing Academy in your long-term plans, you add to that story and create your own legacy. 
About Planned Giving Opportunities

An important part of leaving a legacy is to feel confident in its purpose and stewardship. Entrusting your legacy to Cushing Academy includes the certainty of knowing you are part of a long-standing tradition of philanthropy. Thomas Parkman Cushing may have begun the story, but your gift continues it. We encourage you to reflect on your story and consider some of the planned giving strategies in consultation with your tax or legal advisors. For more information about how Cushing Academy can be helpful with your plans, please contact the Office of Advancement at [email protected] or (978) 827-7400.

Planned Giving Opportunities Guide - PDF | 7.6MB


Why give to Cushing?

Your gift makes a real difference at the Academy. Whether you support the Cushing Academy Annual Fund, the endowment, a capital project, or a specific department, your generosity makes a full Cushing Academy experience possible and life-changing for students. 

There are financial benefits to giving, as well. Cushing Academy is a recognized charity, and as such, your gift is likely tax-deductible. You should contact your tax advisor for specific information about the tax benefits of charitable giving. There are also some giving vehicles that offer other financial benefits. You can create a gift that will serve Cushing while also providing you with an income, for example. Please see our Ways to Give guide for further information.

In addition, leadership gifts are recognized by Cushing Academy in the following Giving Societies: 

Thomas Parkman Cushing Society (Lifetime Giving Society)
  • Founders - $1,000,000 and above
  • Benefactors - $500,000 to $999,999
  • Patrons - $100,000 to $499,999
Head of School Society (Annual Giving Society)
  • Cowell Circle - $100,000 or more
  • Curry Circle - $50,000 to $99,999
  • Quimby Circle - $25,000 to $49,999
  • Vose Circle - $10,000 to $24,999
  • Lamson Circle - $5,000 to $9,999
  • Heads' Circle - $1,865 to $4,999
Societies Recognizing Special Donors
  • 1865 Society - Recognizes donors who have included Cushing in their estate plans
     
  • Royal Penguin Society - Recognizes donors who have made gifts in three or more consecutive years