Dear Riverstone Community,

Less than two months ago, we kicked off Navigating Forward, a two-year campaign to build an endowment at Riverstone International School. In these early phases, our primary goal is to educate - to help parents and community members understand the importance of an endowment and how your support will impact our school and students.

We held our first parent mixer in February. The group was small, but the sentiments were powerful as we got to know each other better, admired the sunset from the Toeldte's deck, and shared personal stories about our families and our time at Riverstone. Thank you to everyone who attended this special evening. You helped us to better understand questions that families may have and also reinforced for all of us in attendance that Riverstone matters.

Alexander and Nicole Toeldte are hosting the next parent mixer on Wednesday, March 11 at 6:30 PM. We have specifically invited parents in grades 1, 5, and 9 for this mixer, but if your children are in a different grade and this is the best date for you to join us, please do so! As promised, we will do our best to limit the time to an hour and - most importantly - we will not be asking you for contributions.

We are also happy to meet for lunch if you'd prefer. Please email Treacy if this option is better suited to your schedule.

Because meeting our $5 million goal is going to require broad support, we have also been meeting with foundations and granting organizations to talk about our campaign and the importance of having a school like Riverstone in the Boise area.

We are thrilled to share the news that the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation has given a $250,000 gift to our endowment campaign that will be used to establish the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Scholarship Fund. The scholarship will expand school choice for Idaho's youth by enabling more students with financial need to attend Riverstone International School. Their gift and commitment to education in Idaho is much appreciated.

We are grateful for your interest and support thus far. Please contact either of us via email to learn more.

We hope to see you at the upcoming mixers!

Warm regards,

Kurt and Treacy Liebich

Navigating Forward Campaign Co-Chairs  

Each month in our newsletter, we will include questions that we've been asked. Please feel free to forward your questions to Bob Carignan. 

What is an endowment? How does it differ from annual giving?

This definition of an endowment from "Power Shift" sums it up nicely:

"An endowment is a fund that holds its principal in perpetuity and only pays out a small portion, about 4 to 5 percent per year that goes to campus operations and programs. Endowment investments have dual goals: to grow the principal and to generate income."

At Riverstone, our endowment will provide an annual stream of revenue in perpetuity that will allow us to expand into areas identified by our strategic plan (STEM, differentiation, capital expenditures, etc.). This revenue may also be used for unexpected situations and exciting opportunities.  

Foundations who may be interested in contributing to Riverstone will view our endowment as a sign of financial sustainability and strength, as they strive to ensure that their gifts will be impactful long into the future.

In comparison, your contributions to our Annual Fund and Auction each year are allocated and spent in the immediate future for needs that we've identified.  

Great schools need both an endowment and annual giving because in combination, they ensure that we can seize both short and long-term opportunities, making our students' experience better every day.