RAISE THE PADDLE

BELLEVUE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
TEACHER ENDOWMENT FUND

This year's Raise the Paddle will again benefit our newly created Teacher Endowment Fund – a long-term investment fund to recruit and retain excellent teachers. The endowment will strengthen and sustain our commitment to bolster teacher compensation and support.

We hope you join us in community to raise your paddle high!

Raise Your Paddle

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BELLEVUE CHRISTIAN TEACHER ENDOWMENT
Bellevue Christian believes that the ultimate gift of Christian education is Discipleship. In order for transformational discipleship to occur, students must be surrounded by adults who model the mission and vision of BCS, caring deeply for students and inspiring them to discover the unique gifts that God has given them. This connection between teachers (and coaches, bus drivers, support staff and many others) has always been at the foundation of a BCS education.

Bellevue Christian is excited to launch our new Teacher Endowment, a permanent and protected investment fund designed to grow in value and allow us to accelerate our increases to teacher compensation. We will officially launch the Teacher Endowment at this year’s Auction by making it our “Raise the Paddle” initiative.

WHAT IS AN ENDOWMENT?

Endowed funds are invested carefully in a portfolio that is managed per Board policy by the school’s Trust and Investment Committee. Typical earnings on this portfolio are around 5%. The income earned from the investment is available for its intended use, while the corpus – the investment itself – is never spent and continues to grow based on additional contributions and income that may exceed 5% growth. An endowment with a $1M corpus provides $50,000 of available funds per year; a $10M endowment provides $500,000 of available funds per year.

"This is a permanent and effective investment in the school’s future,
in our ability to invest in our current and future faculty ...
as they continue to invest in our current and future students."

WHY START AN ENDOWMENT FUND?

Bellevue Christian will continue our aggressive approach to increasing compensation for all employees. We recognize that the recruitment and retention of great employees is essential to stability and a healthy culture. Employee compensation has a direct relationship to tuition and, therefore, increasing employee compensation puts upward pressure on tuition. We know that many families make a great financial sacrifice to send their children to BCS, and we want to protect access and affordability for all families.

The creation of an additional revenue stream, via the Teacher Endowment to supplement teacher compensation, will decrease our reliance on tuition as the sole channel of addressing this critical area.

WHEN WILL WE SEE THE BENEFITS FROM AN ENDOWMENT?

This marks an important, strategic shift in Bellevue Christian’s approach to philanthropy. An endowment takes long-range vision and commitment. It is the ultimate “transformational” gift, rather than a transactional gift. Contributions made early in the life of an endowment plant the seed of a tree that will increasingly bear fruit in the future. While a $1M corpus will begin to pay small dividends, it is the $5-10M endowment – which we hope to achieve within 10 years – that starts to provide a substantial supplement to compensation. This is a permanent and effective investment in the school’s future, in our ability to invest in our current and future faculty who can commit to Bellevue Christian long term as they continue to invest in our current and future students.

"An endowment takes long-range vision and commitment.
It is the ultimate transformational gift, rather than a transactional gift."HOW CAN I CONTRIBUTE?

Please prayerfully consider a contribution to the Teacher Endowment at this year’s Auction. If you have any follow-up questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Chief Advancement Officer Blake DeYoung. Whether you are able to attend the Auction in-person or not, you will have an opportunity to give. The Teacher Endowment strengthens the school’s ability to recruit, support and retain teachers who fully embrace the unique mission of BCS. Your contribution says that you are not only grateful for the work occurring today in the life of your child, but you also want to lay a foundation that allows this work to continue for future generations.