The Harbor Fund

Annual Giving at Harbor Country Day School

What it's all About

It's all about the children -- the bright, creative, enthusiastic young members of the Harbor community.  The children are why the teachers come to work in the morning with smiles on their faces, why our parents become so engaged in the life of the school, and why Harbor's founders took the bold step of starting a new school in 1958.

In keeping with our mission, "Academic rigor, responsibility, individual attention in a caring community," Harbor aims to provide its students an education not available elsewhere. The purpose of The Harbor Fund is to help Harbor Country Day School to better serve our students.

Why the Harbor Fund exists

The cost to educate your child at Harbor Country Day School is far greater than the tuition Harbor charges. The same is true at every independent school.  Many schools, however, can turn to income produced by their endowments to supplement tuition.  Harbor's endowment, though growing, is still small.

Thus Harbor, like every independent school, relies on annual gifts intended for general purposes to help complete the funding of its programs. (Other sources include income from our Summer Camp and Workshops and from our budding endowment.) 

The Harbor Fund, which is raised and completely expended each year, is made up exclusively of these annual gifts from you and other members of the Harbor family. 

What the Harbor Fund pays for

Contributions to the Harbor Fund support the core budget of the school.  The Harbor Fund allows us to do a little more than we otherwise could.  It enhances the program in every area, supporting teachers' salaries and helping provide school supplies, software for classrooms, basketballs, library books, power and light, fuel oil, and upkeep on our historic school home. The list goes on and on. 

Because Harbor is non-profit, every dollar goes to improve the school and our program.  The bigger the Harbor Fund, the more we can do.

The Harbor Family

Ask people what makes Harbor special, and you hear replies like these: "The school is challenging yet nurturing." "Nothing else challenged me - not high school or college - the way Harbor did."  "I was as close to my eighth grade classmates as I am to my brother and sister."  "It's safe."  "It's a home away from home." 

We are all part of the Harbor family - students, parents, grandparents, teachers, staff, alumni, parents of alumni. Many Harbor students start in Nursery and continue right through to graduation from Eighth Grade. That's 11 years of the Harbor experience - longer than students will spend in any other educational setting. This rich, well-rounded experience shapes young lives, not only in our students' academic knowledge and habits, but also in their character, their confidence, and their skills at living and working with others.

The Harbor Fund — Participate!

We invite every member of the Harbor community - the parents of children currently enrolled, our graduates from each of the last 48 years, the parents of our graduates, the grandparents of our current and past students - to join in support of the Harbor Fund.

There is room for gifts of every size.  Every gift makes a difference; they all add up.  Whether you choose to become a member of the Green and White Club, the Founders' Circle, or some level in between, we value your generosity and your support.

Participation is important!  Your participation in The Harbor Fund shows not only your support for the Harbor Country Day of the present, but also your expectation that an even stronger Harbor will begin to grow in the coming year.

For more information about giving to the Harbor Fund, please contact Steve Howard, Director of Advancement, at (631) 584-5555 or showard@hcdsny.org.