The Case for Endowment

In September 2010, the Board of Trustees of St. Matthew's Parish School announced the launch of The Les Frost Cornerstone Campaign for the St. Matthew's Parish School Endowment. The goal of the campaign is to build the school's endowment fund, in honor of Dr. Les Frost who will retire from St. Matthew's in June 2011 after leading the school for 27 years. This campaign provides an opportunity for parents, grandparents, and the alumni community to make an important contribution to the school while paying tribute to Les Frost and his legacy at St. Matthew's.

While tuition and contributions to Annual Giving and Parents’ Council fund day-to-day operations at St. Matthew’s, the school has always relied on additional generous financial support from generations of St. Matthew’s parents, friends and families. From the school’s inception, philanthropy and a tradition of volunteerism have supported St. Matthew’s growth and underwritten its most important developments.

Under Les Frost's guidance, St. Matthew's has become one of the nation's most respected elementary schools. The students of St. Matthew's flourish in academics, athletics, and the arts, with an innovative approach to learning. And while taking the most modern approach to academic rigor, the school has retained its emphasis on moral growth and development in the context of a strong ethical and spiritual community. In these past three decades, our 30-acre campus has been transformed with the addition of the new gym and performing arts stage, our expanded preschool, the cutting-edge science, technology, and art centers, several new modern classrooms, and our architecturally-significant library. Through these updates and additions the campus has been dramatically improved, yet it has retained its character as a rural oasis for children to learn, to grow, and to thrive.

Now, as we look to the future of St. Matthew’s Parish School, our next important challenge is to establish a strong endowment fund. A substantial endowment is critical to a school’s future, ensuring financial stability and long-term sustainability. It is also important to current families at St. Matthew's, enabling affordability and accessibility. The Board of Trustees has launched an endowment campaign in Les Frost's honor to recognize his decades of service and leadership that have enabled St. Matthew's to flourish. The Les Frost Cornerstone Campaign for the St. Matthew's Parish School Endowment seeks to raise at least $6 million to add to the school's endowment fund.

The endowment is the school’s permanent investment fund, intended to provide perpetual support to our educational mission. By a resolution of the Board of Trustees, income from the endowment fund is to be directed toward important school priorities:

The fund is board-designated and professionally managed, under the oversight of the school’s investment committee.

While St. Matthew’s is broadly considered a leader among K-8 schools, there is one striking area in which the school seriously lags its peers. With an endowment fund of $2.1 million (June 2010), St. Matthew’s has less than half the NAIS average elementary school‘s endowment ($5 million) and is even smaller in comparison to peer schools in the Los Angeles area. NAIS recommends a school of St. Matthew's size have an endowment of at least $8 million.