Super booster: Advent School prepares for its annual fundraiser with Beacon Hill business woman

by Sandra Miller
Beacon Hill Times
It seems there’s always someone going up and down Beacon Hill commercial districts looking for a donation for some worthwhile charity. But the Advent School’s annual fundraiser has a professional working the beat - a Charles Street business owner who understands how to convince local businesses to donate to a good cause even during an economic downturn.
“Raising money for the school is really different this year, with the economic climate,” said Cassandra McIntyre, owner of Rugg Road, who is in her third year of raising money for the school where her daughter, second-grader Lillian, has been going since pre-school. “A lot of businesses get asked over and over again, and I’m one of those businesses.”
McIntyre is co-chair of the March 28 fundraiser with fellow mom Diane Woolf. From McIntyre’s experience, most area businesses in the past would be happy to donate to almost any cause that walked in the door. “We used to have a policy to never say no,” she said. “It just generates some really good will. As a business owner of a small business, I don’t make a huge amount of money, but my business can certainly give gift certificates and products. Usually, it generates repeat business.”
And so McIntyre as a merchant has been using her business relationships to convince others to keep donating gift certificates, auction items, and other items that would help ease the cost of the annual event. This week she just scored Harpoon, which is donating the event’s beer.
“Cassandra is the most organized benefit chair I’ve ever worked with,” said Director of Development and Communications Suzanna Schell. “It’s also great to have someone in retail because she knows what the other side is like when you go to solicit.”
It’s also harder to get parents to volunteer to solicit, because of their empathy with businesses impacted by the economy, but Advent parents are still hoping their enthusiasm for the unique private school’s curriculum is infectious, in time for the Advent’s March 28 upcoming fundraiser at the Hotel Marlowe.
The Advent’s annual spring benefit supports the school's mission and programs, including financial aid, faculty travel, special curricular projects and field trips, and other program enhancements. Organizers are aiming for $125,000 this year, up from last year’s $120,000 gross.
The program will include both silent and live auctions, and features local comedian and Advent parent Tony V as guest host and auctioneer. “He’s absolutely hilarious as an auctioneer,” said McIntyre. “He gets people to bid even higher.”
“I really love the Advent’s curriculum,” said McIntyre, of the school’s Reggio Emilia approach to childhood education. “They sort of trick the kids into learning in an organic way, like when the arts teacher would take them to the Public Garden to study fronds. They didn’t get that they weren’t there to just have fun. I recall asking my daughter, ‘Lily, what did you learn today?’ Lily said, ‘We really don’t learn, we play.’ I like that engaging way of learning through playing.”
The school educates 173 students, 26 percent who are on financial aid. Like in all independent schools, tuition doesn’t cover all the costs for a school, Schell said. “If we have a healthy fundraising program, it keeps tuition from rising too much.”
“The Spring Benefit is a key component of our fund-raising program, and we are deeply grateful for the generosity of the many businesses and individuals who have donated goods and services in support of our school,” said Schell. “We are a small school but we have a small international flavor. It’s an important part of our mission the reason why we do this benefit is to support the school. Parents love this school, and we really want it to thrive.”
Last summer, kindergarten teacher Yvonne Liu-Constant and art teacher George Anastos traveled to Nanjing, China, for the First International Conference on Children's Art Education. Their trip was supported in part by the Spring Benefit. The trip also inspired the China theme for the event, which will feature Chinese food made by the Marlowe chef, who formerly worked for Pho Republique. The event also includes a cocktail hour and live and silent auctions that, in the past, donated auction items have included vacations in Vermont, Disney World, and Colorado, Red Sox tickets, and local gift certificates. One of the more popular auction items are the art projects created by students, said Schell.
The nearly 50-year-old school invites current families and alumni, faculty and staff, and Advent partners, but really, it’s one of the few adult events that parents can enjoy with the school.
McIntyre has loved working the event because, at first, it helped her to get to know other parents pretty quickly, and she enjoys being involved with her child’s school. “It’s a great learning experience to pull off a big event,” she said. “It’s also a lot of work.”
Which is why this is her third and last year as co-chair. “I don’t want to take this experience away from other parents,” she said.