School News

The Heart of Our Community: The Power of Giving

11/6/2025

Kim Ridley, Head of School

When I started at Fayerweather in 2018, I’ll admit that one of my greatest uncertainties was fundraising. I wondered whether I would be able to inspire others to give, year after year, with the same conviction and hope that the work deserves.

The responsibility felt immense and deeply personal. A mentor once told me that raising money for a worthy cause is never difficult when you believe wholeheartedly in the organization's mission. Those words have proven true again and again. At Fayerweather, our mission of knowing every child, nurturing joy in learning, and teaching students to engage thoughtfully with the world has never been more important.

When Fayerweather was founded in 1967, I imagine that the founders believed this kind of education could be the antidote to the traditional, in-the-box kind of learning that was the practice of many public schools at the time. Fayerweather founders imagined and brought to life a school where children could learn with purpose, passion, and curiosity amid social upheaval. Today, we find ourselves once again in a world marked by division and uncertainty, and the need for such a community feels even more urgent. The promise of Fayerweather endures: that through thoughtful, progressive education, we can cultivate the empathy, critical thinking, and courage our children will need to shape a better future not just for themselves, but for our greater community.

Giving at Fayerweather takes many beautiful forms. It’s the parent who volunteers to read with children in the classroom, the alum who returns to share how their Fayerweather experience shaped their life, the teacher who leads an after-school project out of pure passion, and the donor whose generosity turns our aspirations into reality. Each of these acts, each gift of time, talent, and treasure, helps create the vibrant, nurturing environment where children see themselves not just as learners, but as active participants in their world.

While tuition provides the foundation for our program, it is philanthropy that gives us wings. It allows us to dream bigger, reach further, and transform learning from something students do into something they live. Through the support of our community, we’ve been able to fund tutoring, assessments, therapy, and countless other resources that ensure every child is known and supported as a whole person.

Your generosity also made it possible for four of our teachers to travel to New York City for an intensive study of project and place-based learning, one of our most important strategic initiatives. This experience deepened their understanding of how to design learning that is meaningful, connected, and alive with curiosity. Because of you, that vision is taking root in our classrooms.

And because of philanthropy, our dream of taking students to Puerto Rico, to immerse them in its culture, history, language, and environment, became a reality. This journey will enable students to see how learning transcends subject boundaries and connects us to the wider world through knowledge.

Every contribution, no matter its size, strengthens the promise we make to families: that each child will be known, challenged, and inspired. Your giving is not just an investment in a school, it’s an investment in the kind of world we want our children to build. Thank you for helping us sustain this mission. Your giving allows us to live our values every day, to know every child, to find joy in learning, and to nurture in our students the awareness that they, too, have the power to make a difference.

Back