In less than a year, we will cross the finish line of the Together We Shine campaign—a historic and joyous effort that demonstrates our community’s commitment to the future of Sidwell Friends School.
From the start, Quaker values have shaped our vision and the campaign’s three goals:
1) Reunify our campus to bring the entire PK-12 community together on the Washington, DC campus.
2) Strengthen our endowment to fuel every aspect of a Sidwell Friends education now and long into the future.
3) Provide essential funds for financial aid, faculty professional development, and student experiences through The Sidwell Friends Fund.
Thanks to the remarkable generosity from our community, we have raised more than $209 million—95.4 percent—of the cumulative campaign goal as of June 30, 2026. Here, we highlight major milestones and the profound impact the campaign is already having for our students, faculty, staff, families, and alumni. We hope this serves as inspiration for a triumphant final stretch.
The New Upper School Opens Its Doors
With applause and cheers, students cut a ceremonial red ribbon to kick off the school year and open the new Upper School.
“After so much planning and preparation, it feels incredible to finally be in the new building with the full Upper School. We’ve pored over plans, led countless tours, and this summer had campers and students here taking classes,” says Upper School Principal Robbie Gross. “But it was not until we had this first day that it felt real—felt like a school. I can’t wait to see how students and faculty interact with these spaces and, more importantly, how we build a uniquely Sidwell Friends community within them.”
More than 500 students in grades 9-12 and their teachers are now experiencing the benefits of a school designed for modern learning that embodies Sidwell Friends’ dedication to sustainability, environmental stewardship, wellness, and Quaker values. The School’s key features include a state-of-the-art science center with a unique Science Grove including the outdoor Adler Family Science Courtyard and Lab, the latest classroom technology, spaces for students to collaborate and share ideas, a light-filled library, an expanded dining hall with the Bralove Family Teaching Kitchen, and so much more. Explore the new Upper School here.
Through financial and in-kind gifts, the Sidwell Friends community made many of the Upper School’s unique features possible.
For example, an extraordinary design element throughout the new Upper School is artisanal tile in various Sidwell Friends colors including a large-scale nature mosaic for the new Fox Den. Over eight thousand square feet of tile in all, donated by Eric Edelson ’97, the CEO of FireClay Tile, a domestic tile manufacturer and certified B-Corp committed to social responsibility.
Edelson says, “I had an incredible education and experience at Sidwell Friends. Community, collaboration, consensus building, and giving back were all values instilled in me and influence the way FireClay is run. So this project was important in terms of the impact Sidwell Friends had on me, and I’m grateful to be able to give back.”
Programs such as robotics now have room to grow, evolve, and reach even more students. Darby Thompson, who directs the Upper School Technology and Computer Science Program, says, “We’re incredibly fortunate to have such a wonderful new space. Students on the Robotics Team have already been taking advantage of this, coming by to make progress on their robots during their free periods. It has been wonderful to witness students who would not have otherwise encountered robotics visiting the lab to see their friends working on projects.”
Belinda Nixon P ’17,’23, current Clerk of the Board of Trustees and Co-Clerk of the campaign’s final phase, says, “Supporting the Robotics Suite was a natural fit for our family. My husband Greg and I have always emphasized the value of a strong foundation in STEM, and our sons embraced it at every turn at Sidwell Friends from Wednesday Morning Math, MathCounts, to robotics. The Robotics Suite gives that work a home, a place where students can build on what they learn in the classroom and see where it leads. Add the secret sauce that Sidwell Friends students and faculty bring to any space they occupy, and, wow, who knows what wonderful surprises await our community.”
Two new All-School centers launched during the campaign—the Center for Ethical Leadership and the Center for Teaching and Learning—now have physical homes in the new Upper School. “We already see the benefit of being centrally located and intentional about a flexible space so that students can shape this work to help them develop the skills and mindsets to ‘let their lives speak,’” says Alex McCoy ’04, Center for Ethical Leadership coordinator. “Our partnerships with community organizations also have the opportunity to develop and grow as we have dedicated space to host events and speakers to engage directly with their community work on a consistent basis.”
One-School Campus Transformation Has Begun
A cohesive, integrated home for all three divisions can already be felt. The building and grounds that Sidwell Friends purchased in 2015 have been redesigned into a superlative and environmentally sustainable educational space and experience. In addition to the new Upper School, generous donors have helped reshape the campus in various ways, including a planned gift from an anonymous donor who wanted their legacy to support the beautiful landscaping of the reunified campus.
Joni Miller ’06 and her husband Thomas Schneider, owners of Native Conservation Landscaping, designed and planted a new Memorial Garden in remembrance of Joni’s sister, Michaela Miller ’02. Miller says, “Sidwell Friends has shaped our family for generations, and creating a native garden let us give back in a way that feels true to who we are: supporting pollinators, nurturing the land, and leaving something lasting for the community that has given us so much. To all those lost too soon, let their Light shine on in this garden.”
A gift from the Fleischman family helped create The Woodlands, a wooded landscape of mature trees surrounding the campus for intentional outdoor study and restorative walks. Philip Fleischman ’10 says he and his sister Joan Fleischman ’13 are proud this space can honor their family, specifically their late parents, Lisa and Chuck Fleischman.
“Lisa contributed mightily to the Sidwell Friends community through her active involvement in the Lower, Middle, and Upper School parent associations and School capital campaigns,” he says. “Chuck could always be seen cheering on Sidwell Friends sports teams from the sidelines, rain or shine. Sidwell Friends was the most impactful institution in our lives growing up. Our parents loved its community as much as we did and were honored to be a part of its continued growth after we graduated.”
With the first step in the one-campus vision completed, work has started to renovate the former Upper School — the Earl G. Harrison, Jr. Building — into a new and light-filled Lower School for our youngest students. The project will be completed by Fall 2028 in time to open for the 2028-29 academic year.
Record Endowment Growth
Sidwell Friends’ endowment market value now stands at more than $100 million—more than twice it was at the inception of Together We Shine. That matters because the endowment helps fund everything we do, from compensating teachers at the highest level to meeting ambitious financial aid goals to continuing to provide an exceptional student experience.
Donors have established more than 35 named endowed funds during the campaign and given to unrestricted endowment. Donors like Zhensen Huang and Julia Chen
P ’26, ’28 helped to fully endow a new faculty chair in Asian American Studies. “Sidwell Friends’ broad vision for promoting cultural awareness and education inspired us,” says Huang. “Since the chair was established, it has continued to build momentum, deepen engagement among students and families, and strengthen efforts to incorporate Asian American history and experiences into both the curriculum and the life of the School.”
Along with the Asian American Studies chair, donors have endowed new faculty and program positions including the Melanie Fields Faculty Chair in Environmental & Life Sciences; the Directorship of Equity, Justice, and Community; the Señora Guillermina Medrano de Supervía Endowed Chair; and the Mamadou Guèye Chair in African & African American Studies. The chairs were made possible by passionate groups of Sidwell Friends donors who rallied around each effort beginning in 2019. An advisory council co-led by DeDe and Dallas Lea P ’22, ’25 and Simone and Wayne Frederick P ’24 spearheaded the philanthropic charge for the African and African American Studies Chair. Alan Bernstein ’59—one of Supervía’s former students and longtime friends—helped lead the effort to endow a chair in her honor.
“Honoring Señora is honoring the best in secondary school teaching,” said Bernstein. “My brothers [Daniel ’55 and George ’64] and I simply wish to create a permanent honor for the very best in high school teaching in a way that benefits Sidwell Friends School students for years to come.”
Endowed gifts have provided long-term support for the new Center for Ethical Leadership and the Center for Teaching and Learning. And through endowment giving, donors have helped to make the financial aid program at Sidwell Friends a leader in the city.
Effective investment management also plays a role in the School’s record endowment growth. Theodore Shin ’98, P ’38, ’40, Finance Committee Clerk of the Board of Trustees, says the School focuses on investing to maximize risk-adjusted returns while embracing Quaker principles. “Our meetings as well as the process for selecting investments and investment managers emphasize integrity, community, equality, and stewardship. We also avoid certain investment categories that we view as not aligned with Quaker values,” he says.
While Sidwell Friends’ endowment growth is a major accomplishment, the endowment itself remains modest relative to many peer independent schools. Since 2015 the School has doubled the endowment’s market value, through both prudent management and generous gifts, and joined the top 25 percent of peer schools in terms of endowment market value per student. Moving forward, the goal is to reach the top decile for this important metric of financial strength.
As Head of School Bryan Garman says, “Growing the endowment remains the single most important long-term financial goal for Sidwell Friends. Meeting our mission requires tremendous resources. To offer the best program, to provide the best compensation for faculty and staff, to support financial aid at the highest possible level, we need to shift away from our dependence on tuition and increase our reliance on philanthropy and endowment income.”
The Sidwell Friends Fund
Fuels Immediate Impact
As part of a comprehensive campaign, annual gifts to The Sidwell Friends Fund support the School’s highest priorities including financial aid, faculty professional development, and engaging student experiences. The Sidwell Friends Fund allows the School to extend and enrich learning beyond what tuition alone can provide and ensure the continued excellence in our educational programs.
Efforts like Founder’s Day for Scholars, Alumni Giving Day, and Parent Day of Giving inspire the entire community to give and volunteer in ways that are meaningful to them. The result has been record-breaking financial aid support and significant growth in The Sidwell Friends Fund overall.
Amanda Borden P ’31, ’33 says, “Through The Sidwell Friends Fund, we hope to play a small part in helping to expand opportunity to many more students and families now and in the future. We want students to have chances to dig deeper in the classroom, develop as student leaders, travel on mini-mester, and shine in the spring musical. And we want to provide resources for faculty to continue to develop as educators through summer learning and resources like the Center for Teaching and Learning.”
Rabia Zafar and Mohammed Anjarwala P ’30 were proud to be among the 75 Champions who helped make Founder’s Day for Scholars so successful this year. Of their involvement she says, “Early in our academic careers, we both received scholarships and financial aid. We have experienced first-hand the difference it can make to an individual’s life trajectory. It also fosters a stronger, more intellectually vibrant community by enabling a diversity of lived experiences and realities.”
She adds that although her family is relatively new to the Sidwell Friends community, “it is clear to us that Sidwell Friends is a special place. It takes care, effort, and support to build such a community and as parents, it is important for us to be a part of this work.”
Shining Together Like Never Before
Ambitious campaigns such as Together We Shine are famously marathons, rather than sprints. Yet great marathoners break into a final kick or surge to reach the finish line. Now is the time for that final push. The campaign will conclude in June 2027 and Sidwell Friends will be on its way to a one-campus school for the first time in more than 60 years.
As Belinda Nixon says, “This final phase matters so much because all of our investments in financial aid, new faculty positions, and facilities only reach their full impact when our whole community can work together as one.”
Now is the time to lean into the vision that has driven us from the start. Let’s make this a year to celebrate and shine together like never before.
Board of Trustees members Josh Miller P ’27, ’30 and Belinda Nixon P ’17, ’23 are serving as campaign co-clerks for the culminating phase. Honorary Leaders of the campaign include Jason Carroll ’96, Helen Austern Colson ’53, P ’82, ’84, ’87, Arlene Kogod and Robert Kogod P ’76, ’79, ’80, Charis Menschel P ’25, ’27, ’29, David Milner ’86, and David P. Pearson ’52.