Sidwell Friends’ annual Founder’s Day for Scholars once again brought the community together to celebrate and support one of the School’s deepest commitments: ensuring that family income is never a barrier to a Sidwell education.
This year’s event was a resounding success, surpassing the day’s $650,000 goal with more than $750,000 raised to support financial aid. Making a Sidwell Friends education accessible to as many talented students as possible is one of the ways we live our Quaker values of community and equality.
Frankie Brown, assistant head of school for enrollment and financial aid, reflects on why these funds matter so deeply: “We want to create an environment at Sidwell Friends steeped in honest intellectual exchange and caring. It strengthens us if all our students are able to talk about where they’re from with pride and know that they’re here because they belong here. We don’t want finances to get in the way of what every student brings to this community.”
Nearly one-quarter of Sidwell’s student body receives financial aid, with an average grant of $37,700 per family. Through the Together We Shine campaign, Sidwell’s endowment is now at a record high thanks to the generosity of our community and effective investment management. That matters because the endowment helps so many initiatives, including meeting our ambitious financial aid goals.
A devoted champion of financial aid, Camilo Acosta ’02 says he appreciates how Sidwell’s diverse community shaped his experience, noting that having classmates from many different backgrounds encouraged open-mindedness and deeper critical thinking. As a beneficiary of financial aid himself, Acosta says he is forever grateful to the School for its generous financial aid policies. “I feel an immense debt of gratitude that I now repay by contributing to financial aid.”
Minal and Monish Kundra P ’27 point out that support for financial aid at Sidwell grew out of a motivation to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others.
“We always looked for scale in the equation,” they say. “But over time, we learned it was less about the macro and more about the micro and the individual stories. When we heard about the lives being changed, even if it was just a handful, that was what truly inspired us.”
There’s no question that financial aid makes it possible to bring the most talented students together in this community. And there’s no question that the diversity of experience every student brings to Sidwell Friends School gives extraordinary life to the community and makes it a place where students from all backgrounds can learn from each other, encourage each other, and form deep and lasting friendships.
Save the date for the Founder’s Day for Scholars event on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, and Founder’s Day for Scholars Giving Day on Thursday, April 16, 2026! Contact Dana Saab, director of annual giving, at saabd@sidwell.edu to learn more about supporting this fundraiser for financial aid and/or to volunteer.
