The Advent Fund

The Advent Advantage

Advent Episcopal School offers an accelerated education for students in grades Pre-K through 8 in downtown Birmingham. Awarded as the Top Performing Independent K-8 School in the state, our students are richly immersed in academics, music and the visual arts, and participate in a great variety of recreational and team sports.

The Academic Advantage

The vibrant, accelerated Advent Advantage curriculum is designed to truly educate by actively challenging our students , always supporting them along their way, and showing them that integrity and respect raises them higher. Our students graduate with a strong foundation in academic excellence.

Life At Advent

Even though the focus of education is the classroom, much of what defines an outstanding educational experience occurs outside the confines of the classroom. This section explores the many different ways our students continue to interact (and learn) with teachers, clergy, and each other while not sitting at a desk.

Panther Athletics

Go Panthers! Participating in team and individual sports helps students develop discipline, teamwork, respect for themselves and others, and so important at this age - self confidence. Our student-athletes gain an appreciation for the balance of academic success, creative expression, and physical fitness.

The Advent Fund FAQs

List of 6 frequently asked questions.

Q. Where do the funds go that are raised through The Adent Fund?

Advent truly believes that our students can go anywhere they desire. To help reach this point, the school relies on an annual giving campaign. The gifts from parents, grandparents, faculty and staff, students, alumni and friends are a vital source of revenue. Annual gifts, which are received and spent in the same year, have an immediate impact on the things that make Advent special - scholarships, great teaching and faculty excellence, facility upgrades and technology, to name a few. Click here to see our Advent Gives video.
Q. I do not think I can make a large gift to Advent. What do you recommend?

EVERY gift matters - large or small. Participation is critical. It takes our entire school community to help make the biggest impact. We would also encourage you to consider a monthly donation! Giving a smaller amount over the course of the year can really add up!
Q. Where do the funds go when I donate?

The primary purpose of The Advent Fund annual campagin is to help raise the additional funds needed to help cover the actual cost of an Advent education. Tuition revenue alone does not cover the expense associated with offering the very best education possible.
Q. Why does Advent not charge what it takes to educate a child at Advent Episcopal School?

Simply put, if we charged the full amount of tuition needed to educate each child, there is likelihood that many students would not be able to attend Advent. This in turn would increase overall tuition for everyone as the economies of scale would be affected. The average cost of educating an Advent student is significantly more than revenue from tuition and fees. This gap must be made up through fundraising efforts. We ask everyone in our school community - parents, grandparents, alumni, past parents, faculty, trustees, and friends of the school - to help! Participation from every member of our broad community is critical.
Q. Could you please list the various methods/events that the school uses for fundraising?

Annual Giving: Our most important annual fundraiser. It supports operations of the school and other prioritized enhancements. 52% of our parents gave last year. Our goal this year is 100% parent participation. Every gift is needed and appreciated - large and small!

Book Fair: This is an opportunity for parents, grandparents, and friends of the school not only to help the school’s library by buying needed books, but also to add to your (or your child’s) personal book collection. Historically, the annual book fair brings in 200-300 new books per year while also granting several teachers wishes from the teacher wish list.

Wrapping Paper: Our wrapping paper provides our families with quality holiday wrapping paper. Proceeds generally supplement the cost of sending faculty and staff to the AAIS (Alabama Association of Independent Schools) Conference in October, as well as to provide other professional development opportunities.

Christmas Wreaths: The income from these fragrant, fresh cut wreaths from Maine has traditionally helped fund financial assistance. The deadline to order is November 15, 2017.

Lessons and Carols: Collection during the service offsets costs of the Service, with 10% of the collection going to the Rick Phillips Community Service Fund.

Supply Kits: The supply kits contain school supplies needed for students at the beginning of the school year. While this is not a requirement, participation is encouraged as volume buying often makes all items needed more reasonably priced, and it is certainly easier than shopping in early August. In addition, a percentage of funds that are raised go to the school.The opportunity to purchase these kits begins in early June.

Other Gifts over the course of the last year that may not be annual events but provided critical support for Advent’s current and future needs include

Craig and Una Battles Fund: This fund was established in 2013 honoring Craig and Una Battles’ dedication to Advent. The fund originated from the 2013 Auction with gifts totaling $100,000. The school has spent $50,000 on various technology projects.

Rick Phillips Community Service Fund: This fund was established to help our students appreciate the importance of servant leadership. Ten percent of the Lessons and Carols’ collection, roughly $600.00, provided the initial gift establishing this fund. An additional gift of $3000.00 was made in honor of a former student.

Endowment: In addition to growth due to an effective strategy, the school received a $50,000 gift during the 2013-2014 year honoring Mrs. Battles' dedication to the school. Continued growth in the endowment from solid leadership and additional gifts will be critical for our school’s future.
Q. Can you explain the difference between tuition assistance and scholarships? What is the process?

In many institutions, a scholarship implies that a grant was awarded for some type of merit. Tuition assistance is based only on demonstrated financial need. There is an application process that all recipients go through prior to being awarded an annual tuition assistance grant. This application process can be found on our website on the Admissions page. At Advent, we do not issue any merit based grants. The term scholarship is really referring to tuition assistance. Some believe that tuition assistance costs the school money. This is simply not true. If aid is distributed appropriately, implying that only those who would not otherwise attend Advent receive it, our aid process generates revenue for the school. In turn, this helps keep tuition dollars lower for all families than if no aid were offered at all. Wreath sales, designated endowment funds, and a portion of budget dollars are also used to fund tuition assistance.