Harker is applying for a $5 million grant from the Valley Foundation to boost its capital campaign to raise money for a new performing arts and gymnasium complex. 

“One of the criteria that grant-making foundations examine in deciding whether to award a grant to a school is parent participation in annual giving,” said Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement at Harker. “Foundations want to be sure that they are adding to stakeholder responsibility, not replacing it. Parent participation in annual giving is a widely accepted measure of parent support of the school’s mission and philosophy.”

To increase parent participation, and thus increase the chances of getting the grant, Harker has started a 5-for-5 campaign, asking parents who have not contributed to annual giving to give $5 to help Harker get $5 million.

“We have 100 percent board participation and 100 percent faculty participation,” Rosenthal noted. “We’re aiming to increase our parent participation to a similar level.”

The campaign only runs through May 31. “We’re asking those families who haven’t yet participated in annual giving to give $5, $50, $500 or $5,000 to help our children receive the $5 million grant,” Rosenthal said.

Families may make their gifts online at www.harker.org/onlinegiving or can drop off their donations at any campus’ front office, but gifts must be made by May 31 to help with the 5-for-5 compaign.

“At the upper school, my ‘soccer daughter’ loved playing on Davis Field,” said Karen Coates (Amy ’10, Shelby ’13), co-chair of the Parent Development Committee, “and my ‘swimming daughter’ felt enormous pride in swimming in the Singh Aquatic Center and competing against other private schools in the area. Nichols Hall not only provides the outstanding science facilities, it also serves as the manifestation of Harker’s direction for architectural excellence that we will see in the facilities planned for the future.”