The Endowment Fund

Major gifts for capital and endowment provide for Purnell's long-term future and fulfill its mission. The endowment fund ensures the physical plant's sustainability, provides financial aid, and builds our faculty through compensation support and professional development opportunities.

One of the most thrilling components of the Our Promise Campaign was an exciting challenge offered in 2007. Mr. James S. McDonnell, III, a past parent, offered a $3 million challenge to the Purnell community as a stimulus for other families to make transformational gifts to Purnell's endowment. He challenged the Board of Trustees to join him and in 2008, a Board nucleus matched his $3 million. In order to reach the goal of $12 million in endowment funds, this $6 million Challenge Phase is to be matched by the Purnell Community by the year 2014.

Through the Our Promise Major Gifts Campaign, Purnell has raised restricted and unrestricted funds over the past five years to:

            Renovate the dormitory bathroom facilities

            Pave campus roads

            Establish permanent programming and financial aid funds

            Develop a digital library

            Add improved Science Center laboratories and classrooms

            Construct a new ropes course with high and low elements

To date, the endowment stands at $8.9 million. In addition, gifts to the Legacy Fund, in honor of Purnell's Founders, have provided $57,918 in unrestricted endowment from alumnae, parents, family, and friends, and serve to celebrate the life work and vision of Lytt and Sis Gould. 

For additional information on future projects and naming opportunities, contact Dawn Frost, Director of Institutional Advancement at 908-439-4008.