The newly constituted SFS Annual Fund is the primary annual giving program for the School’s alumni, parents and friends. Through the SFS Annual Fund, donors are invited to provide current and immediate expendable support for the School’s core needs in six key areas:
Financial Aid and Tuition Assistance – SFS awarded more than $1.6 million in scholarships and financial aid to deserving students last year. Currently, 45% of enrolled students receive true financial aid and 60% receive financial aid, a scholarship, a brother’s reduction or some combination thereof. Your support of the SFS Annual Fund in respect of financial aid and tuition assistance makes an SFS education available to many worthy young men whose families could not otherwise afford to send their sons to St. Francis and provides financial assistance to faculty and staff members who would like to send their children to Catholic schools.
Academic Programs and Instruction – St. Francis de Sales High School offers the finest academic program in Northwest Ohio and attracts many of the best and brightest students in the greater Toledo area. With a college acceptance rate of 100% and one of the country’s strongest Advance Placement (AP) programs, SFS continues to produce graduates that are well-prepared to make a positive impact on the world. At the same time, the School’s dedicated faculty and staff further the mission of educating young men in the spirit of St. Francis de Sales, the Gentleman Saint, by working at the school for far less than they could earn elsewhere. Gifts to the SFS Annual Fund in support of academic programs and instruction allow the School to continue to offer a stellar academic experience and to do its best to reward its caring and exceptional faculty and staff with adequate wages and health care benefits in an environment of ever-increasing costs.
Student Life – Whether it’s by, among other things, fostering opportunities for spiritual expression, formation and development through the School’s Campus Ministry Department; giving students the opportunity to exercise the values exemplified by St. Francis de Sales through community service; or assisting in students’ social development through a strong selection of extracurricular activities, gifts to the SFS Annual Fund in respect of student life make an enormous difference in the lives of students.
Athletics – St. Francis de Sales High School has a proud tradition of success with respect to its athletics programs. In the past fifty years, the Knights have captured 25 state titles in six sports. Gifts to the SFS Annual Fund in support of athletics help give students access to a wide variety of athletic opportunities and promote students’ physical and social development.
Facilities and Maintenance – The School takes tremendous pride in the appearance and utility of its 25-acre campus, yet the need for basic maintenance and improvement to facilities is never-ending. Donations to the SFS Annual Fund in this regard help defray facilities and maintenance costs.
Unrestricted Current Use – Unrestricted current use gifts support SFS’s mission in the most flexible and general way by enabling the School to direct funds to where they are needed most.
Increasing Participation
SFS is very grateful to its donors for their kind, generous and much-needed financial support of the School’s mission of promoting the academic, spiritual, social and physical development of students in the spirit of St. Francis de Sales.
Increasing alumni participation in the School’s giving programs is a strategic imperative of the School. In 2007/2008, only 13% of the more than 8,000-strong SFS alumni base made a free-will gift of any kind to the School – to the Annual Appeal, the Endowment Fund or the 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign. By way of comparison, giving rates at top independent schools often approach or exceed 50%. There is no reason that SFS should not seek to achieve results over time that better approximate those of top independent schools, especially when alumni surveys indicate that most graduates feel that SFS has had a significant impact on their success and happiness.
Beginning with the 2008/2009 fiscal year (which runs from July 1st until June 30th), alumni, along with parents and friends of the School, will be invited to participate throughout the year in the SFS Annual Fund. No gift to the SFS Annual Fund is too small -- and every dollar donated makes a tremendous difference in the lives of students. Simply put, support of the SFS Annual Fund helps ensure the excellence of a St. Francis de Sales High School education.
Support the SFS Annual Fund
The SFS Annual Fund’s fiscal year begins on July 1st and ends on June 30th. You may make a secure on-line credit card gift by clicking here or you may make a gift by contacting Mark Weimer in the Office of Development at (419) 531-1618.
Thank you for your support of the SFS Annual Fund!
The newly constituted SFS Annual Fund is the primary annual giving program for the School’s alumni, parents and friends. Through the SFS Annual Fund, donors are invited to provide current and immediate expendable support for the School’s core needs in six key areas: