Annual Fund

Our tuition gap ranges annually from 8-10%, and donor contributions are crucial to meeting the school’s budgetary goals. Our goal is to get 100% participation in the Annual Fund from our board members, parent community, faculty, and staff every year, with additional support from alumni families, grandparents, and friends.  Donations can range from $1 to $20,000.

At Cambridge-Ellis School, we encourage each member of the community to contribute to our annual fund goals. The Annual Fund supports general operations in the following ways:

• Offsets the budgetary gap between tuition and school expenses

• Provides financial aid scholarships

• Maintains building & grounds and funds capital improvements

• Supports professional development for our educators

We strive for 100% community participation, which demonstrates the strength of community in our constituents and provides a solid base for furthering our fundraising opportunities. Our annual giving is made up of a collective group that includes:

• Current families

• Alumni families

• Faculty & Staff

• Grandparents

• Friends

Maintaining the annual fund is fundamentally important to Cambridge-Ellis and the high community participation rate illustrates the wonderful community support for the school.

Your Support of the Cambridge-Ellis Annual Fund:

Invests in Excellence: Professional Development and Enrichment

CES fuses a warm and caring environment with a child-focused curriculum. Teacher quality is a key driver of student success. The school provides time away from the classroom and funding for our educators to attend and present at national conferences on early childhood education.

Promotes Diversity: Financial Aid Scholarships

Our efforts to increase access and inclusion across the CES community means ensuring financial aid support for socioeconomically diverse families. Our financial aid offerings increased by 22% over the last five years thanks to CES Annual Fund supporters and donations. 

Protects Our Future: Capital Improvements and Future Fiscal Health

CES is a non-profit school with a legacy of over forty years of providing exceptional education and care to our children. Through the years, active Board and parent involvement has included fundraising initiatives that enabled our school to persevere through challenging times. Our children enjoy the benefits of past philanthropic efforts every day: Donations from past families have allowed us to make substantial building updates, from installing modern HVAC equipment  to adding new energy efficient windows on the second floor.  In the summer of 2024, we built a completely new design for our toddler playground area and made repairs to our large playground space which is a rarity for a school in urban Cambridge.