NMH Kicks Off $80 Million Campaign

MOUNT HERMON, MA—Northfield Mount Hermon School Board of Trustees, Head of School Thomas K. Sturtevant, and donors gathered on May 7 to celebrate the public launch of an $80 million comprehensive campaign. The event took place in New York City, with guests attending the Broadway production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, starring Academy-award nominated actress Laura Linney. A 1982 NMH graduate and honorary chair of the NMH Arts Advisory Council, Linney joined the group for a post-performance reception.

The NMH 130th Anniversary Campaign, the largest and most ambitious campaign in the school’s history, will help raise funds for initiatives including the NMH Annual Fund, the endowment, and facilities. The school expects to complete the campaign by June 2009, to coincide with the 130th anniversary of the school’s founding.

“We are here tonight to celebrate the tradition of excellence at NMH, particularly in the arts,” Sturtevant said. “We are here to connect with our school and with each other, and to understand fully why NMH is worthy of our investment. We are here to cheer the milestones we have achieved and to look forward to the challenges and successes ahead of us.”

To date, NMH has raised $65 million in gifts and pledges during the quiet phase of the campaign. In the last four years, the formerly two-campus school consolidated to one campus; completed two new student residences, new soccer fields, and many facilities and infrastructure renovations; approved construction of a new arts center and new admission building; and received the two largest gifts—$10 million and $5 million—in its history. and set fundraising records. In 2006–07, the school raised more than ever in total gifts and gifts to the Annual Fund: it topped $3.3 million, while total gifts soared to more than $10.5 million.

The final stretch of the campaign will focus on establishing endowed funds for scholarships, faculty support, and academic programs; completing the Rhodes Center for the Arts (scheduled to open in September) and Bolger House (admission building); and further strengthening the Annual Fund.
Trustee and Campaign Cochair Janet Turnbull Irving, parent of an NMH sophomore, applauded the school’s fundraising progress and announced the kick off of the public phase of the campaign: “NMH has had seven fundraising campaigns since 1928. Today, we have raised almost more in this campaign than in all seven campaigns combined. This is a remarkable accomplishment. We intend to meet our $80 million goal to support the school’s mission and its most vitals assets—the students and faculty.”

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