The GAC Endowment

Dedicated exclusively to the support of key works to build spiritual growth and a spirit of servanthood in students, family and faculty. Areas of support will include Spiritual Retreat funding, Celebration Week, expansion of Christian art, scripture and symbols throughout campus, Christian Speaker’s fund, Community Service support, Chaplaincy support, and Missions exploration funding.

Annually sustain and improve GAC buildings and grounds by funding major and minor campus improvements and repairs beyond what the school’s general operations can provide. This mission will free up more GAC operation funds for learning, spiritual, and extracurricular programs that further the school’s total mission.

Annually improve the quality of teacher professionalism and life supplementing GAC teacher salaries, benefits and/or professional improvement beyond which the schools general operations can provide.

Support the total program of GAC.

Support deserving children and families attending GAC who could not otherwise attend for financial reasons. Further, the endowment shall serve as the collective investment fund for specific scholarships created for GAC. The fund will honor the original purposes of donor-created scholarships and fortify them through the size and strength of the endowment.

Dedicated to funding specific needs related to supporting GAC’s commitment to learning differences including High School Academic Support, Middle School Academic Support, Lower School Academic Support, and the Learning Advocate. This endowment also provides funding for salary and benefits of the Learning Advocate position.

Greater Atlanta Christian School Foundation – a nonprofit, wholly owned subsidiary of GAC - has managed GAC’s endowment portfolio for decades now. The GAC Foundation has a singular mission of producing strong investment results to support the educational and missional goals of GAC, Governed by the GAC Foundation Board of Directors.  The GAC Foundation works to manage the endowment in a sustainable way so that it can provide capital to support the long-term goals of Greater Atlanta Christian School. 

Each year, a portion of the endowment is paid out as an annual distribution to support GAC’s budget, while any appreciation in excess of this annual distribution is retained in the endowment so it can grow and support future generations. As a result, the endowment can continue to bless students in perpetuity in specific areas designated by you, the donor, or if the gift is undesignated, the Board of Trustees will determine the most needed project. These endowments are managed by the GAC Foundation whose current policy allows for the annual distribution of 4% of the fund.

GAC’s spending practice has to balance two competing goals: the need to fund the operating budget with a stable and predictable distribution, and the obligation to maintain the long-term value of endowment assets after accounting for inflation.

GAC determines the annual endowment distribution after considering a variety of factors, including guidance from a payout formula that provides a steady stream of income to support current needs while preserving the endowment’s future purchasing power. This process is similar to those of many other independents schools and universities.

As a general rule, GAC targets a maximum annual endowment payout rate of 4.0 percent of market value based on a three-year rolling average.

The utilization of a payout formula means that the annual payout rate is generally lower following years of relatively high investment returns and higher following years of lower investment returns. Adjustments can be made in succeeding years, keeping in mind the long-term payout goals of balancing budgetary stability with the preservation of the endowment’s purchasing power. Each year the GAC Foundation approves the final distribution amount. 

Returns from the endowment foster Financial Aid, Christian Life enrichment programs, Teachers and Student Excellence projects, Academic Support, as well as provide for campus Facility Care and sustainability.

However, there is a common misconception that endowments, including GAC’s, can be accessed like bank accounts, used for anything at any time as long as funds are available. In reality, GAC’s flexibility in spending from the endowment is limited by the fact that it must be maintained in perpetuity and that it is largely restricted (some permanently, some temporarily).

Endowment gifts are intended by their donors to benefit both current and future generations of students.  As a result, GAC is obligated to preserve the purchasing power of these gifts by spending only a small fraction of their value each year. Spending significantly more than that over time, for whatever reason, would privilege the present over the future in a manner inconsistent with an endowment’s fundamental purpose of maintaining intergenerational equity.

In addition, many faithful donors designate a specific purpose for which their fund can be spent. GAC is also blessed by endowment gifts that are undesignated, leaving the opportunity for GAC to use those funds where they are most needed. 

There are three main sources for supporting and growing our endowments: periodical capital campaigns, planned giving, and an individual or family gift.  Any amount of a gift can support your preference of the already established funds, or you may make an unrestricted gift.  As of 2011, GAC requires a minimum principal amount of $100,000 to establish a permanent, named endowment fund.

If you are interested in establishing a named endowment for your family in one of these areas, or another area of Christian life, or Leadership and Planned Giving please contact Katherine White, Vice President of Advancement.