Cate School Announces Success of its Centennial Campaign

Jan. 17, 2012 - PRLog -- With final accounting recently completed, Cate School has announced the successful conclusion of its $65 million Centennial Campaign.

The campaign, launched publicly in October 2007 in anticipation the School's celebration of its 100th year, exceeded its goal, raising a total of $65,343,065 in support of new facilities, operations, and endowment. The campaign, the most successful in the School's history, officially ended on December 31st, 2011.

"Our ambitions were high, yet we surpassed them," said Headmaster Benjamin D. Williams IV. "This achievement speaks volumes about the generosity of our donors, the leadership of our chairmen, and the support of our community.  Our success ensures that Cate can be the transcendent institution in its second century that it has been throughout its first."

The campaign raised  $17,000,000 in new endowment funds, strengthening investment in faculty salaries, Cate's educational program, and providing additional financial assistance for students.

The campaign also transformed the School's venerable and expansive campus. With the monies donated over the course of the fundraising effort, Cate has constructed new buildings and facilities, and renewed historic buildings. These include:

  -Five new Faculty Homes, certified as LEED Platinum
  -The Emmett Nieman Early Learning Center, an on campus childcare care facility,  
     certified as LEED Gold              
  -The renovation and relocation of the Nelson D. Jones '48 Stables
  -A renovated and relocated Roger Firestone Family Ceramics Studio
  -The Emmett/Horowitz Aquatic Center and Brittingham Family Training Center, LEED Gold certified      
  -The Man Softball Field
  -The Jackson Baseball Field
  -A completed Tennis Center
  -A new wastewater treatment plant that reclaims water and helps to
     eliminate local pollution
  -The Kirby Quadrangle and the Class of 1981 Amphitheatre

The new construction was designed and executed with the highest environmental standards. Cate's new faculty homes received LEED Platinum designation, and the childcare center earned LEED Gold certification. The Cate campus now has seven LEED-certified buildings and the Emmett/Horowitz Aquatic Center, completed in August 2010, is one of the nation's first sustainably constructed and operated aquatic centers.

"This campaign has moved Cate forward in ways we didn't even imagine when we started," said George James, who chaired the campaign. "The determination of our community to raise these funds, even amidst a global economic downturn, is a testament to the continuing strength of our School and those who support it."  

Achievements of the campaign include:

  -Raising a total of $65,343,065, surpassing the original $65 million goal
  -Two gifts totaling $6.9 million
  -11 gifts of $1 million or more
  -First-ever leadership gifts of $50,000 from Cate's female graduates, honoring
     the 25th year of co-education and spearheaded by Trustee Monique Parsons '84,
     resulting in the construction of Alumnae House, a faculty home

In the campaign's final year, 45% of alumni and 90% of current parents made donations to the School.

"Just over a year ago we celebrated our Centennial, and honored the vision of our founder Curtis Cate. Today we express our deepest gratitude to those who have helped us extend that vision into our new century," said Williams.

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Founded in 1910, Cate School is a grade 9-12, coeducational, college preparatory boarding school in Carpinteria, California.