Picture This: A Campaign for Learning in Community
A Bold Path Forward. A Singular Moment.
Picture This: A Campaign for Learning in Community will bring GFS’ strategic vision to life by creating a home for cross-disciplinary learning in the arts and engineering while supporting the wellbeing of our community; increasing need-based scholarships; expanding the teacher pipeline and offering meaningful academic enrichment opportunities for students in the greater Philadelphia community; and furthering the extraordinary teaching and learning that GFS is known for.
GFS Launches Picture This: A Campaign for Learning in Community
Campaign Priorities
- All-School Commons and Center for the Arts
- Scholarship Endowment
- Community Education Programs
- GFS Annual Fund
In the News
Read Germantown Friends School launches $40M capital campaign in the Philadelphia Business Journal.
PICTURE THIS: Campaign Priorities
All-School Commons and Center for the Arts
A Space for Learning in Community
This new complex will transform the experience for all on campus by enhancing collaboration across the arts, engineering, film, and theatre, while also fostering community and wellbeing within a new state-of-the-art dining center. Projected for completion in Fall 2024, the new approximately 40,000 square foot, three-level building will connect to our primary theatre, the Loeb Center for the Performing Arts, and our new dining center (a renovation of Smith Gym).
Centering creativity, greatly enhancing the making and sharing of art, is a centerpiece of the GFS education. Intentionally designed to complement the outdoor Common and the Meetinghouse, the new facility will fortify the heart of campus, integrate art with engineering and design, and provide a welcoming community space where entire divisions can gather.
GFS Annual Fund
Strengthening our Foundation
In growing its Annual Fund, the first giving priority and a vital source of operational support, GFS will ensure the continued quality of student experiences and support continuous innovation and enrichment.
Funds raised through the Annual Fund are a direct investment in the teaching and learning excellence for which GFS is known. Whether for a class research project or a new student club or professional growth for faculty, this support fuels continuous innovation and enrichment of the academic experience.
Financial Accessibility Endowment
Exceptional Academics for All
GFS will grow its endowment to expand educational access and strengthen the socioeconomic diversity of its student body. In continuing to foster a diverse learning community, the school will continue to better reflect its neighborhood and city and enrich the academic experience.
The campaign aims to increase its endowment by 18% percent to fund scholarships to welcome more low- and middle-income students across the lower, middle, and upper schools. This new investment will support an already significant commitment to tuition assistance. In 2022-23, 33% of GFS students received financial aid; of the new families who joined the community, 40% of students were awarded scholarships.
Community Education Programs
A Pathway to Educational Opportunity
As GFS expands educational opportunities through financial aid, it will also do so through its many community education partnerships and programs. The most established of those are Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia and Community Basketball and Enrichment Camp.
These programs prepare students throughout the city for GFS and other selective high schools.
The campaign focus will be to grow the endowment to sustain community education partnerships over the long-term at GFS. In the case of Breakthrough, this will support long-term financial health as it pursues its dual mission of offering academic enrichment to area middle students attending public and charter schools, and nurturing diverse new generations of educators.
GET INVOLVEDAt GFS, we rely on you. Every gift matters.
Your generosity will help bring our bold vision to life -- to lead our campus into a new era, and to ensure that GFS continues to attract and challenge top students and faculty with cutting-edge spaces, resources, and opportunities.
The GFS Annual Fund remains the School’s first fundraising priority during this important comprehensive fundraising campaign. In growing our Annual Fund, we will fortify the foundation of our entire campaign and ensure high quality experiences for our students and faculty now. A springboard for innovation, the Annual Fund allows us to say, "Yes" to new opportunities for exceptional teaching and learning - from field trips, to teacher development, to new student clubs.
Contact Louisa Garrido, 267-323-3552, Director of the Annual Fund Director for more information.
If you would like to make a gift in addition to the Annual Fund to a specific campaign priority -- The All-School Commons for the Arts, the Financial Accessibility Endowment, or Community Education Programs, we would welcome the opportunity to talk with you.
Please contact Hannah Henderson '91, Chief Advancement Officer, or a member of the Advancement Department (215-951-2340) for more information about how you can join this important effort.
