Our priorities derive from the School’s 2020-25 Strategic Plan, which engaged more than 700 members of the WIS community in a year-long study to inform the school’s strategic direction.

Destination WIS is a five-year comprehensive Campaign that is raising funds to upgrade our facilities, grow the financial aid endowment, and maintain a strong Annual Fund. The Campaign seeks to raise $30 million.
 

The five-year Campaign runs from 2021 through 2026. We exited the Campaign’s quiet phase in the spring of 2023, having hit 70% ($21 million out of $30 million total) of our fundraising goal. WIS aims to complete fundraising by the spring of 2026.

Destination WIS will greatly enhance the space and resources available to our most valuable resource: our passionate and dedicated teachers. Destination WIS will support the day-to-day work of our current teacher community while also helping to attract and retain top-tier talent from across the globe. Like our students, our teachers will also benefit in other ways—faculty meals will be provided as part of our new dining program.

Cost projections for Le Centre Brown and related campus improvements total $74 million.

There are four funding sources for this project:

• Thanks to nearly 40 generous donors, WIS raised $10 million between 2014 and 2021 as part of a first-phase effort preceding Destination WIS. This early-stage fundraising proved critical to bringing our vision to fruition.
• WIS is raising $22 million in new capital funding from donors between 2021 and 2026 as part of the five-year, $30 million comprehensive campaign.
• As a result of prudential stewardship by current and previous Boards of Trustees, WIS has cash reserves commensurate with best practice recommendations, and as such the Board has approved a $24 million allocation for capital investment.
• WIS secured an additional $18 million in debt financing to close the remaining gap. The Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees determined this to be a responsible amount for the School to assume.

Enrollment at the Tregaron Campus is capped at 450 students, and WIS cannot increase enrollment in the Middle and Upper Schools. Tuition will not increase beyond the year-to-year adjustments that families typically expect. As a result, we are relying on the generosity of our community to fund a substantial part of this project.

Donors can choose where to allocate their Campaign support. If a donor chooses to make an unrestricted gift to the Campaign, WIS will allocate the funding to the Campaign’s area of greatest need.

The Campaign will generally accept gifts of cash, grants, marketable securities, and planned gifts. Certain other types of gifts may be accepted on a case-by-case basis.

Campaign gifts may be made in lump sum or pledged over multiple years.

Yes, there are naming opportunities associated with the new building and other facility upgrades. A list of naming opportunities is available upon request. Naming opportunities are also available for other facilities on both campuses.

Please contact Marisa Alford, Director of Advancement, via phone or email.