SJND Future Fund
Giving Back to Pay It Forward
This year, members of the SJND community have been reimagining ways to give back to the school. From finding new avenues for volunteerism to inviting alumni to take on mentorship roles to developing long-term relationships with donors, the intention is to encourage all stakeholders to recognize the impact they can have on future students.
SJND Future Fund
Giving Back to Pay It Forward
It was this goal that Sherry and Tim Scott had clearly in mind when they re-energized an element of SJND's strategic plan to garner greater investment involvement from large donors
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The plan’s core objective is to provide consistent and predictable cash flows to invest in the school for the benefit of the broad SJND community. It grew out of substantial input from key SJND influencers and existing large donors with the intent to provide the best-in-class learning environment to serve the SJND community well into the current century—a learning environment that is dynamic and agile enough to stay ahead of the multiple disrupting forces present in the educational systems today.
Having taught theology at SJND for six years, Sherry Scott has long appreciated the kindness, commitment, and diversity of its student body. When her husband Tim joined the school in 2024, he was equally impressed. Importantly, in his role as Director of Finance, he also had an in-depth understanding of the financial needs of the school, the largest of which remains the same every year: tuition assistance and capital improvements.
At the heart of the school’s mission, tuition assistance doesn’t just benefit the students who receive it. It ensures a diverse community that allows for all students to experience perspectives different from their own, an education that can be transformative on multiple levels across our community.
Approximately two-thirds of the Class of 2025 received financial aid at various levels. This number represents students across all walks of life at SJND: scholar-athletes, budding performers and musicians, STEAM inventors, artists, debaters, and leaders on CLT, ASB, ALT, and CMEB. Of the six students considered for the roles of class valedictorian and salutatorian, five received some form of tuition assistance while attending SJND. At the heart of the school’s mission, tuition assistance doesn’t just benefit the students who receive it. It ensures a diverse community that allows for all students to experience perspectives different from their own, an education that can be transformative on multiple levels across our community.
The SJND Future Fund emerged from a strong desire of involved donors and influencers to give back while also inspiring others to pay it forward. The name of the fund says it all. Rather than fundraise for a prescribed amount, the SJND Future Fund is meant to encourage multi-year commitments from large donors to secure SJND’s position in the community for an indefinite future. In the decades to come, it’s hoped that this current legacy-building period will be viewed as a historical moment just as impactful—if not more—as the consolidation of St. Joseph and Notre Dame high schools, profoundly changing the lives of SJND students and the community at large.
The Future Fund is an important part of a broader initiative to create a stronger sense of purpose and community among current students, alumni, and other stakeholders through opportunities to “pay it forward” that include volunteering and mentorship.
In particular, the school hopes to inspire a younger generation to consider how their SJND experience shaped them and how they, in turn, might impact the students who will come after them.
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