Anonymous School Donations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At most private schools, it’s great that parents donate—it really helps support the school and promote diversity through financial aid. But one thing that’s always struck me as odd is that donations usually aren’t anonymous. In fact, it seems like some parents want the school to know when they’re giving a lot of money.

That’s led to a common impression that some people donate in hopes of getting special treatment for their kids. Even if that’s not really happening, just the idea of it can create a sense of unfairness.

If the main goal of donating is just to help the school, wouldn’t it make more sense for donations to be anonymous? That way, there’s less room for suspicion or favoritism.

Do some families like having their donations recognized because it gives them status, visibility, or influence within the school community? Is there a downside to anonymous donations I’m not seeing?

The school knows who gives the anonymous donations. The “anonymous” label is just for the community - what gets printed in annual reports, etc. But the development staff and leadership are well aware of who the big donors are, even if those donors choose to remain anonymous to the public.

100% this. We had a some anon donors at my aforementioned school board, and as a chair, I knew exactly who they were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you donate to charities there is the option to provide a fully anonymous donation. That’s not an option in private schools.

The point of visible donations to elicit more donations from everyone else is strange.

I think top Donors do get something in exchange for their donations, like a seat at the board or some perks not available to the rest. That’s why I think the system its a bit corrupt. A fully anonymous donation would be simpler and better.

This is stupid logic. I’d love to donate $250K to my school but I can’t. If another parent can afford to make that donation, and the school makes her a board member or gives her special plaque, that’s fine with me. It’s not corruption because the alternative is we get nothing.

Why? People cannot donate anonymously?

You can. Just send in a check or do it from an anonymous fund. Happens all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you donate to charities there is the option to provide a fully anonymous donation. That’s not an option in private schools.

The point of visible donations to elicit more donations from everyone else is strange.

I think top Donors do get something in exchange for their donations, like a seat at the board or some perks not available to the rest. That’s why I think the system its a bit corrupt. A fully anonymous donation would be simpler and better.

This is stupid logic. I’d love to donate $250K to my school but I can’t. If another parent can afford to make that donation, and the school makes her a board member or gives her special plaque, that’s fine with me. It’s not corruption because the alternative is we get nothing.

Why? People cannot donate anonymously?

You can. Just send in a check or do it from an anonymous fund. Happens all the time.

It would be good that all Donations are done that way. Not necessarily the priorities of the school coincide with the priorities of the donors, and that opens the door for corruption.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you donate to charities there is the option to provide a fully anonymous donation. That’s not an option in private schools.

The point of visible donations to elicit more donations from everyone else is strange.

I think top Donors do get something in exchange for their donations, like a seat at the board or some perks not available to the rest. That’s why I think the system its a bit corrupt. A fully anonymous donation would be simpler and better.

This is stupid logic. I’d love to donate $250K to my school but I can’t. If another parent can afford to make that donation, and the school makes her a board member or gives her special plaque, that’s fine with me. It’s not corruption because the alternative is we get nothing.

Why? People cannot donate anonymously?

You can. Just send in a check or do it from an anonymous fund. Happens all the time.

It would be good that all Donations are done that way. Not necessarily the priorities of the school coincide with the priorities of the donors, and that opens the door for corruption.

So you’d rather schools lose significant donations rather than accommodate some donors.

The next complain we get will be how expensive tuitions are and there aren’t enough FA for lower income families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you donate to charities there is the option to provide a fully anonymous donation. That’s not an option in private schools.

The point of visible donations to elicit more donations from everyone else is strange.

I think top Donors do get something in exchange for their donations, like a seat at the board or some perks not available to the rest. That’s why I think the system its a bit corrupt. A fully anonymous donation would be simpler and better.

This is stupid logic. I’d love to donate $250K to my school but I can’t. If another parent can afford to make that donation, and the school makes her a board member or gives her special plaque, that’s fine with me. It’s not corruption because the alternative is we get nothing.

Why? People cannot donate anonymously?

You can. Just send in a check or do it from an anonymous fund. Happens all the time.

It would be good that all Donations are done that way. Not necessarily the priorities of the school coincide with the priorities of the donors, and that opens the door for corruption.

So you’d rather schools lose significant donations rather than accommodate some donors.

The next complain we get will be how expensive tuitions are and there aren’t enough FA for lower income families.

Yes, and that low income families do not belong to private schools and that people are not allowed to complain in private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At most private schools, it’s great that parents donate—it really helps support the school and promote diversity through financial aid. But one thing that’s always struck me as odd is that donations usually aren’t anonymous. In fact, it seems like some parents want the school to know when they’re giving a lot of money.

That’s led to a common impression that some people donate in hopes of getting special treatment for their kids. Even if that’s not really happening, just the idea of it can create a sense of unfairness.

If the main goal of donating is just to help the school, wouldn’t it make more sense for donations to be anonymous? That way, there’s less room for suspicion or favoritism.

Do some families like having their donations recognized because it gives them status, visibility, or influence within the school community? Is there a downside to anonymous donations I’m not seeing?

It’s disgusting how school administrators play favoritism towards loud donors. The system is corrupted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At most private schools, it’s great that parents donate—it really helps support the school and promote diversity through financial aid. But one thing that’s always struck me as odd is that donations usually aren’t anonymous. In fact, it seems like some parents want the school to know when they’re giving a lot of money.

That’s led to a common impression that some people donate in hopes of getting special treatment for their kids. Even if that’s not really happening, just the idea of it can create a sense of unfairness.

If the main goal of donating is just to help the school, wouldn’t it make more sense for donations to be anonymous? That way, there’s less room for suspicion or favoritism.

Do some families like having their donations recognized because it gives them status, visibility, or influence within the school community? Is there a downside to anonymous donations I’m not seeing?

It’s disgusting how school administrators play favoritism towards loud donors. The system is corrupted.

The squeaky wheels always get the grease. This is no different from the highly involved PTA parents in public complaining to gain advantages from the administrators and teachers. Welcome the real world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At most private schools, it’s great that parents donate—it really helps support the school and promote diversity through financial aid. But one thing that’s always struck me as odd is that donations usually aren’t anonymous. In fact, it seems like some parents want the school to know when they’re giving a lot of money.

That’s led to a common impression that some people donate in hopes of getting special treatment for their kids. Even if that’s not really happening, just the idea of it can create a sense of unfairness.

If the main goal of donating is just to help the school, wouldn’t it make more sense for donations to be anonymous? That way, there’s less room for suspicion or favoritism.

Do some families like having their donations recognized because it gives them status, visibility, or influence within the school community? Is there a downside to anonymous donations I’m not seeing?

It’s disgusting how school administrators play favoritism towards loud donors. The system is corrupted.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At most private schools, it’s great that parents donate—it really helps support the school and promote diversity through financial aid. But one thing that’s always struck me as odd is that donations usually aren’t anonymous. In fact, it seems like some parents want the school to know when they’re giving a lot of money.

That’s led to a common impression that some people donate in hopes of getting special treatment for their kids. Even if that’s not really happening, just the idea of it can create a sense of unfairness.

If the main goal of donating is just to help the school, wouldn’t it make more sense for donations to be anonymous? That way, there’s less room for suspicion or favoritism.

Do some families like having their donations recognized because it gives them status, visibility, or influence within the school community? Is there a downside to anonymous donations I’m not seeing?

It’s disgusting how school administrators play favoritism towards loud donors. The system is corrupted.

The squeaky wheels always get the grease. This is no different from the highly involved PTA parents in public complaining to gain advantages from the administrators and teachers. Welcome the real world.

You could have an excellent school with high tuition and anonymous donations and everything will work fine. Without privileges without favoritisms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you donate to charities there is the option to provide a fully anonymous donation. That’s not an option in private schools.

The point of visible donations to elicit more donations from everyone else is strange.

I think top Donors do get something in exchange for their donations, like a seat at the board or some perks not available to the rest. That’s why I think the system its a bit corrupt. A fully anonymous donation would be simpler and better.

This is not true if you are donating online. You may click the anonymous button, but your information will still appear in their system. As someone else mentioned the only way to be truly anonymous would be to send a money order or cash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you donate to charities there is the option to provide a fully anonymous donation. That’s not an option in private schools.

The point of visible donations to elicit more donations from everyone else is strange.

I think top Donors do get something in exchange for their donations, like a seat at the board or some perks not available to the rest. That’s why I think the system its a bit corrupt. A fully anonymous donation would be simpler and better.

This is not true if you are donating online. You may click the anonymous button, but your information will still appear in their system. As someone else mentioned the only way to be truly anonymous would be to send a money order or cash.

Wanted to add that sometimes you can donate through a DAF or other charitable group where you can choose to keep the donor anonymous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The named donations actually has more psychological effect on driving more donations.

This. Schools do not prefer anonymous donations. They like to show how many parents from the class of XX donated, how many alumni from the class of YY, etc. It encourages others to donate.

[Anonymous]

I think some famous people want to be anonymous because they would prefer that it isn't super simple to figure out where their kids attend school. They don't want their kids to be targeted. Yes, it usually leaks because the other parents will now that Larla X is the daughter of Senator X or movie star X---in the latter case, the kid may have a different last name. However, that's different than anyone who googles being able to get that info in 30 seconds.

[Anonymous]

I send a box of cash to the school each year. No return address. You people sound like attention whores!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you donate to charities there is the option to provide a fully anonymous donation. That’s not an option in private schools.

The point of visible donations to elicit more donations from everyone else is strange.

I think top Donors do get something in exchange for their donations, like a seat at the board or some perks not available to the rest. That’s why I think the system its a bit corrupt. A fully anonymous donation would be simpler and better.

This is stupid logic. I’d love to donate $250K to my school but I can’t. If another parent can afford to make that donation, and the school makes her a board member or gives her special plaque, that’s fine with me. It’s not corruption because the alternative is we get nothing.

the best is when private prep schools sell naming rights on a classroom or science lab