Fayerweather doesn’t just welcome parental engagement - we depend on it. Fayerweather parents bring their talents, energies, and passions to the school daily. There are dozens of ways to engage: from the Board of Directors to the Parent Association, from annual community events like Big Night Out to treasured school-day traditions like All School Meeting, from classroom field trips to parent education nights. In a small school, everyone’s help and support are needed and valued!

More than 90% of Fayerweather families also support the school’s Annual Fund - a clear measure of their belief in the value of a Fayerweather education. With additional support from our extended community of grandparents, alums, students, and other friends, we also completed recent capital campaigns to expand and renovate our building in 2005, build a brand-new playground in 2014, and help the school not only survive but thrive during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Donations to Fayerweather support our students, teachers, and programs today and ensure that the benefits of a Fayerweather education will be available for generations to come.

List of 4 items.

  • Annual Fund

    At Fayerweather, we proudly celebrate a unique mission inspired by progressive education and crystallized by our cooperative community spirit. We work together to shape students' learning with our hands-on experiential curriculum. This would be impossible without the support of our donors, who recognize that their contributions support the environment in which teaching and learning flourish. Tuition alone does not cover the entire cost of educating a child. Like most independent schools, we count on voluntary support from our parents, grandparents, alumni, and other school community members to bridge the gap between tuition revenue and operating expenses.

    Consistently, 100% of our board members, faculty, and staff have played a role and contributed to the Annual Fund. Last year, 91% of families gave gifts ranging from $16 to $80,000. With recurring monthly gifts and one-time donations, we surpassed our fundraising goal. This year's goal is $250,000.
  • Horizon Fund

    The Horizon Fund was created in 2007 to support a range of professional enrichment opportunities for FSS faculty and staff. The program serves two main functions: it supplements FSS’s current professional development program by funding projects that exceed the scope (in terms of money and/or time) of that program and it offers a sense of reward for service and dedication to our faculty and staff.

    The Horizon Fund has supported:
    • intensive creative writing seminar
    • early childhood book-making and story-telling workshops
    • Organic World Language (OWL) workshop
    • writing conferences 
    • yoga certification and training
    • travel and study of Apartheid history in South Africa
    • travel and study to deepen the Unit humanities curriculum related to WWII, the Holocaust, resistance & rescue, and monuments, in addition to the cold war and connecting with social justice movements today.
    By giving to this fund, you give back to the people who directly interact with our children. Your gift helps the recipients of this award to pursue interests that foster growth, learning, and renewal.
  • Education Foundation

    The Fayerweather Educational Foundation (FEF) is a 501c3 “supporting organization” that exists solely to support Fayerweather Street School. The main focus of FEF, as currently comprised, is to manage the school’s endowment.

    The endowment is small by the measure of most independent schools at just over $1 million, but it is a growing part of the school’s balance sheet. As the endowment continues to grow, we hope it will play an important role in ensuring the school's financial security for the here-and-now and future generations.

    A gift of cash or stock to the endowment allows us to permanently invest in the school, creating a lasting legacy for priorities you deem important. Please click here if you would like to make a gift to the general endowment. Please click here if you would like to give to a fund in honor of Connie Biewald to be endowed to support tuition assistance when it is fully funded at $250,000.
  • Birthday Book

    Our Birthday Book Program at Fayerweather is a great way to celebrate children’s birthdays while building our library collection. You can donate to the library and have the librarians purchase a book on a specific subject, chosen with your child’s interests and literary tastes in mind. All Birthday Books have a commemorative bookplate with the child’s name and birthday and your name as the donor. All donations will be acknowledged in our Annual Report. Any amount you donate beyond the price of the book will be used to enhance our wonderful library.
Fayerweather Street School | 765 Concord Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 | 617-876-4746
Fayerweather is a private PreK, kindergarten, elementary and middle school. We engage each child’s intellect.