Annual Giving

The Annual Giving Campaign is the school’s most important fundraising initiative. As with all independent schools, the actual cost of educating each student exceeds the cost of tuition. Tuition and fees cover approximately 80% of the cost of educating a student at Princeton Junior School. This means that the cost of a PJS education exceeds tuition by approximately $5,000 per student.  We rely on support from our families and friends to close that gap through Annual Giving.

Donations to the Annual Giving Campaign are applied to the current-year operating budget to fund faculty and staff salaries and benefits, academic program enhancements, research and development. Annual Giving donations are voluntary, tax-deductible donations from parents, trustees, alumni, faculty, staff, grandparents, friends, foundations and corporations.

If we were to charge tuition at what it truly costs to educate our students, it would make our school unavailable to many otherwise qualified families.  Augmenting tuition through charitable gifts helps keep tuition at a competitive rate, provides many important programs and improvements that are essential to fulfilling our mission, while maintaining the small, close-knit community that makes Princeton Junior School such a special place. Our school is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which provides an opportunity for you to receive an income tax donation on any gift to our school to the extent allowed by law.

As a donor to the Annual Giving Campaign, you will have a direct and immediate impact on a student’s education this year. Annual Giving contributions are spent as part of the school’s annual operating budget in the year they are provided. Every gift makes a difference to the substance and quality of the education this academic year. 

Our school’s many successes would not have been possible without the generosity of those who have given in the past.  Charitable giving is a private family decision and is never compulsory.  We hope and trust that you will contribute according to your family’s means and make Princeton Junior School a philanthropic priority — we are all partners in our kids’ education.  We also strive for 100% participation in the annual giving campaign and would consider ourselves very fortunate to achieve this goal.

We value the time and talent our families devote to PJS.  But we need and value every family’s support in every way — with volunteerism, time, effort and monetary contributions, all of which ensure that the vision and mission of the school is supported and made possible. We ask you to reflect on whether you have both time and money to contribute; if so, we ask you to share them generously.  If not, please do whatever you can.

If that is the situation, we hope that you would consider making a smaller “participatory” gift to help us in our goal of 100% community participation.  Also, remember you can make a pledge now which is fulfilled later.

We ask the Princeton Junior School community to make the school its highest philanthropic priority, we hope and trust that you will contribute according to your family’s means — we are all partners in our kids’ education.  All gifts are significant and appreciated. 

Please visit our online giving link at www.princetonjuniorschool.org/support-pjs/annual-giving. We welcome gifts of cash, checks, credit card, matching gifts, and gifts of securities.  Please keep in mind that you can make your gift now in the form of a pledge and fulfill your pledge in installments at your convenience by the end of the school year.

Participation in any school fundraiser is deeply appreciated.  But, like all other independent schools, the Annual Giving Campaign is a separate budget component in the school’s financial planning which serves as a tax-deductible mechanism to bridge the gap between tuition and operating costs.

Many companies offer matching gift programs to encourage employees to contribute to charitable organizations. Some provide matching funds to support employee volunteer hours. Most of these programs match contributions dollar for dollar, and some will even double or triple the amount of your gift! Before you make a gift, check with your company's human resources office.