Capital Campaigns and Endowment

Beyond the limits of the yearly operating budget, Independent Schools must plan and provide for the school’s future. That’s where Capital Campaigns and Endowments come in: raising funds for significant one-time expenses, such as facility expansions and renovations, and working to secure the long-term financial health of the school.

In March 2009, Emerson completed its first-ever major Capital Campaign, Building Bright Futures.  Publicly launched in 2003, families and friends contributed over $2.7 million. This outpouring of generosity enabled the school to build its beautiful K-2 classroom wing, completed in 2006, and to transform Emerson’s library into a Library Media Center, which opened its doors in the fall of 2009.  Emerson is not currently in an active campaign for capital funds.

Endowments are funds (typically made from gifts and bequests) that, by policy, provide an organization a perpetual source of income (“for good, for ever”).  Emerson’s Endowment is an unrestricted fund that is managed through the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation (www.aaacf.org). Families interested in learning more about opportunities for growing our endowment should contact Sue Johnson in the Development Office.