Thank you for taking the time to read this Annual Report
on giving to the American College of Sofia, and I hope
you find it helpful in understanding the institution and its
financial needs. Charitable contributions to ACS are a
critical source of funding. We aspire to provide the finest
secondary school education in Bulgaria while keeping
tuition affordable and providing need-based financial
aid in the form of scholarships for students who could
not otherwise afford to attend ACS. We could not do this
without the generous financial support from donors, and
that need is growing every year.
There are a variety of ways to support ACS. Unrestricted
donations, as a crucial part of Annual Giving, are
critical to meeting the costs of operating the school,
as faculty salaries are naturally the largest category of
operating costs. We of course encourage capital gifts
to pay for specific assets, from construction to lab and
sports equipment. Large donations can also serve as an
endowment, invested to provide long-term funding for
the school. Finally, donors can include ACS in their estate
plans and let us know they have done so.
I would be remiss not to mention by name a few of the
largest contributors. Dr. Carl Djerassi’s bequest when he
passed away a few years ago, recognized with the naming of Djerassi Hall, will continue to benefit the school for
years to come. ACS’s broad scholarship program is just one part of the very generous financial support provided
every year by Bob and Nellie Gipson (Nellie is a long-serving trustee). Needless to say, the ACS campus has been
dramatically altered by the America For Bulgaria Campus Center, which opened last year. ACS would not exist
without the funding it has received over the years from American School and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA), part of
USAID. The American government agency responsible for foreign aid has provided critical funding for a variety of
projects including renovation of the beautiful buildings dating from the initial construction of the campus before
World War II.
I would not ask of you what I and other trustees do not do ourselves. ACS trustees do not receive any compensation
for the time they invest in serving the school, and every one of them also contributed to ACS during the 2018-19
school year, and they and their families are many of the largest contributors to the school. ACS has benefitted from
the generosity of trustees and other major donors over the years, but the school must broaden its fundraising base
substantially to meet its future needs.
We look for help from a variety of groups that traditionally support schools. These include:
• Alumni who value their experience and want to give back
• Parents and grandparents who have the means to donate beyond the tuition they pay and improve the experience
for their own children, schoolmates, and future students
• Faculty who see first-hand, every day, the needs that contributions help address
• Local businesses who recognize the value the school creates and build a relationship with the school community
While support from all of these constituencies is needed, I would like to emphasize the importance of donations from
parents. ACS models itself in many ways after American independent schools like the one my daughters attended.
I know from experience what it feels like to pay tuition and get asked to donate in addition. Yet parents value these
schools so much that they do donate and in fact their gifts make up most of the school’s fundraising. I hope that
ACS generates the same feeling of pride in its parents and that those parents who can afford to donate, generously
do so.
What fills me with optimism is the growing leadership of the Parent-Teacher Association. Not only in their most
natural role as mentors and experts, but parents have also contributed financially, directly supporting student
projects, as well as the arts and sports programs. After all, it is their own children who benefit.
And in this spirit of generosity and promise, I am looking forward to the academic year ahead.
Jonathan B. Clayton
Chair of the ACS Board of Trustees
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