Impact Report 2023-24

Of the $4.53 million raised, almost $2 million in cash and pledges was received this year. The Academy has worked with donors on multi-year irrevocable pledges that allow the school to plan future cash flow. Additionally, the school received several generous legacy gifts through estate plans.

Cash donations and pledges have grown significantly over the past decade, surpassing our five-year fundraising average by 56.8%.

All gifts support our mission in important ways. The flexibility and immediacy of unrestricted funds make them a particularly powerful resource for the school. Not only do they meet the most foundational needs of the school, such as faculty salaries, tuition assistance, and campus maintenance, but they also provide agility to address challenges and opportunities.

Compared to the previous two years, giving at every giving level has increased. We had more donors and generated more revenue from gifts of all sizes. This increase in giving across levels demonstrates community-wide support for our mission and students. The school had a 330% increase in donors at our highest giving level.

Giving Tuesday: November 28, 2023

Giving Tuesday 2023 was a phenomenal success. Donor participation and enthusiasm helped us exceed our goals, raising over $274,000 with 603 gifts. Community members shared messages about what motivates them to financially support the school, serving as inspirational reminders about the meaning behind the incredible work taking place on campus each day.

Spring Day of Giving: April 10, 2024

Spring Day of Giving was another remarkable day showcasing the dedication of our stakeholders, raising over $260,000 with a record-breaking 669 unique gifts. We were honored to share the personal statements of current families who commit to making annual philanthropic gifts to the school in addition to paying tuition. We are grateful for their willingness to share their stories. Their spirit of unity in service to our mission demonstrates the culture of philanthropy required to sustain our school into the future.

Great Success, Greater Goals Ahead

Even with our increase in gifts and total dollars raised during our giving days and our year-end appeals, we remained significantly shy of our total fundraising goal for the Academy Fund. While we had tremendous success with both of our big-effort giving days, they brought in less than 30% of our annual total fundraising.

Blueink Founders and Academy Grads Give Back as Corporate Partners

In the frantic world of entrepreneurship, sometimes the most impactful ideas come from unexpected places, sparked by personal experiences and shared memories. For Faizaan Sharif ’97 and Zachary Lovelady ’97, their journey from school friends to business partners led to the creation of Blueink, a pioneering eSignature solution that helped revolutionize the way businesses handle documents.

The genesis of Blueink can be traced back to a napkin in a Seattle hotel in 2014, where Faze and Zach outlined their vision for a new kind of digital signature platform. Yet the true impetus behind their endeavor came from a deeply personal experience – Faze’s frustrating hospital encounter on behalf of his father, which underscored the need for more clarity and transparency in eSignature transactions.

Faze and Zach fondly recall their formative years at Albuquerque Academy, when their friendship took root in the sixth grade. “One of my fondest memories from our time at Albuquerque Academy was the sense of community we fostered,” reflected Faze. “Whether it was working together on class projects or cheering on our ice hockey team, there was always a strong sense of camaraderie.” And the sense of community was solidified by their legendary prank. Faze, Zach, and other friends managed to convince students, teachers, and coaches that the school had a top-ranked ice hockey team – a ruse that only fell apart when a new student from the East Coast transferred to the Academy and wanted to join the team. The hockey team recently got a shout-out on this year’s Spring Day of Giving, when Faze and Zach sponsored a matching gift for the Class of 1997.

Their experiences at the Academy laid the foundation for their future endeavors, instilling a sense of curiosity, resilience, and a commitment to excellence. After the Academy, they pursued different career paths, but both discovered passions that would later drive their entrepreneurial pursuits.

“Albuquerque Academy provided us with a nurturing environment where we could explore our interests and push the boundaries of our potential,” Faze shared. “It was here that we discovered our passion for technology and innovation.”

As they embarked on their entrepreneurial journey, the duo navigated the challenges of building a business, with Faze assuming the role of CEO and Zach as CTO of Blueink. Despite the demands, their friendship endured, fueled by mutual respect and a shared vision for innovation. “It’s fun to go to work every day with your best friend,” said Faze.

“We’ve always complemented each other,” Zach reflected. “It was a solid partnership right from the beginning. Faze brings unmatched drive and experience scaling businesses, and I contribute my experience of 20+ years of building software. At the end of the day, our shared vision and our tenacity have been the driving forces behind Blueink.”

Faze and Zach often echo their mantra, “Why not us?” – a philosophy that they credit to their days at the Academy and that has propelled them to pursue ambitious goals and challenge the status quo in both their academic and entrepreneurial endeavors. When they were first starting out, they were taking on behemoths like DocuSign and Adobe. “These are billion-dollar companies, and we don’t have a board of directors. Zach and I funded the whole project, the whole thing. And we can make decisions and move quickly.” That approach, Faze said, results in “half the cost, twice the product, and twice the customer success. We respond to our customers in three minutes or less. That customer experience is essential to us.”

Today, Blueink is a testament to its dedication to offering sustainable and eco-friendly digital solutions to businesses worldwide. With robust eSignature and document-management features and enhanced security, Blueink has emerged as a trusted partner for organizations seeking efficiency, compliance, and professionalism in their document management processes.

“Blueink isn’t just a business venture for us – it reflects our commitment to creating positive change in the world,” Zach emphasized. “By offering sustainable and user-friendly eSignature solutions, we’re empowering businesses to streamline their operations while minimizing their environmental footprint.”

Their ties to Albuquerque Academy remain strong, prompting them to explore avenues for collaboration with the school. From hosting senior projects to providing summer jobs for Academy students and signing on as one of the school’s corporate partners, they are eager to give back to the institution that played a pivotal role in shaping their lives.

“Our time at Albuquerque Academy laid the foundation for our success, and we’re incredibly grateful for the opportunities it afforded us,” Faze affirmed “As alumni and corporate partners, we’re committed to supporting the next generation of students and fostering a culture of innovation and excellence.”

As if their work with Blueink’s eSignature product wasn’t enough, Faze and Zach have again set their sights on their latest venture, Blueink Vault. Building on their expertise in eSignatures, Blueink Vault aims to revolutionize how businesses store, manage, and share sensitive documents in the cloud. With state-of-the-art, zero-trust encryption technology and AI-powered document management features, Blueink Vault will provide organizations with the benefits of cloud storage with industry-leading security and data access controls.

As they continue to chart new territories in digital innovation, Faze and Zach offer a poignant reminder that sometimes the most meaningful ventures are rooted in cherished memories and enduring friendships. With Blueink, they are not just revolutionizing how businesses operate – they are redefining what it means to leave a legacy.

$2 Million Donation Based on Commitment to the Future

When Brad Scott ’70 learned Julianne Puente had been named the head of school for Albuquerque Academy in 2019, he was pleased that his top choice would be taking the reins.

Brad had accepted the school's invitation to get involved in the head-of-school selection process and felt strongly that it was time for the Academy to be led by a woman. After attending each candidate’s presentation, “I came home and I said, ‘You know, they’re all fantastic,’ but I said Julianne was a standout. She really was.” At the bottom of the evaluation he completed, Brad wrote that it was time for Chargers to have a female head of school. Otherwise, he says, “it’s not the real world. I think [the search committee] made the right choice, and I hope she stays a long time.”

He has not been disappointed by the changes he’s seen on campus since and the energy those changes have brought. In fact, Brad and his wife Diane recently set up a $2 million estate gift to the Academy after spending time with Julianne this past school year to learn more about the future she has in mind for his alma mater.

“I was just very impressed with her and the vision that she had for the school, in her past experiences,” Brad says. Conversations with Julianne and Director of Advancement Joe Weiss, ranging from how to increase philanthropic support from alumni to stories about Brad’s time at the Academy, helped them decide it was time to move beyond making standard donations a few times a year. “Diane and I had talked many times about doing something to make it possible for a student to go to school here who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity.”

Diane, who did not attend a private school, said she’s been very impressed by the passion she’s seen during these interactions. “That’s what really got me interested in finding a way to support the Academy.”

To be honest, Brad initially wasn’t enthusiastic about attending the Academy himself. Coming in as a ninth grader in 1966, he’d already established a friend group elsewhere and was happy enough to be heading to Highland High School. But his father, who had been involved in planning the Academy’s move from Edith Street to the current Wyoming campus, wanted to see Brad push himself a little harder academically and made him take the entrance exam.

His reservations didn’t last long, he says. “It took one week, and I loved it.” Brad attributes the abrupt turnaround to the dedication of teachers who really challenged him, including Doc Harrington, Eduardo Cabiedes, Ken Brown, James Batchelor, Harry Herder, William Suchland, and Jesus Castaneda. “The teaching staff was small, and there was a lot of one-on-one attention.”

Albuquerque Academy was still a boys school when he attended, Brad says, so some of his favorite memories were of antics that probably wouldn’t fly today. “I’ll never forget building the sign out in front of campus,” he says. “That was our gift to the school. I can’t remember how long it took, but I remember it was hotter than hell out there. To celebrate finishing it, we took [fellow classmate] Armando Garcia’s Volkswagen and put it into the fountain in front of the administration building.”

Through his classes and activities like cross country, astronomy club, and yearbook, Brad says, the biggest lesson he took from his time at the Academy is that hard work produces results. “That’s why I was here. That’s why my dad sent me.” He also appreciates that he learned to think independently and make decisions.

He continued his education at UNM, where he studied marketing and Spanish, and then he and Diane, married for 40 years, had lifelong careers at Coca-Cola and PNM, respectively. They both retired close to two decades ago and have since enjoyed traveling, golf, concerts, and their golden retrievers.

“We have no children, so we had been looking around, trying to decide what we wanted to do with our assets when we’re gone,” Brad says. Galvanized by Julianne’s leadership and with guidance about gift-giving options from Joe, he and Diane hope their $2 million estate gift will inspire other alumni to join them in ensuring that an Academy education continues to be among the very best and is accessible to young people from all socioeconomic backgrounds. “Hopefully people will see that we donated and come to the table, too.

“I’ve noticed over the years that my class, in particular, was not as involved as it could be,” Brad says. He encourages alumni from his era to learn more about today’s Academy to find out what’s changed (besides the introduction of girls, many more female teachers than in his day, and the first female head of school), what’s in store for the future, and how they can be part of supporting it. “I felt there was a real open-door policy,” Brad says about meeting with Julianne. “We talked a lot. That makes a big difference for an alum who’s not been active and wants to be.”

Making an Estate Gift to Albuquerque Academy

You can designate the Academy as a beneficiary in your will or estate plan. This is a meaningful way to ensure that future generations of Chargers can benefit from the same benefits of an Academy education that you or your family member received.

The many options include:

• Naming the Academy as a beneficiary of your will or trust
• Adding the Academy as a beneficiary on your life insurance policy, brokerage accounts, or retirement accounts
• Setting up a charitable annuity that could provide you with a steady stream of income for life
• Gifting items of value, such as property, jewelry, or art
• And gifting appreciated stock, which helps avoid capital gain taxes.

In addition, people age 70½ or older may move money from their IRA account directly to the Academy, tax-free, through a qualified charitable distribution.

Most charitable estate gifts are non-binding, meaning that you can make changes in the future.

Please email the advancement team at Albuquerque Academy if you are interested in learning more about these options.

The Year Begins with Tradition and Flare

The traditional activities for the first day of school were enhanced in 2023. In addition to the annual Convocation ceremony, the school joined efforts with the Albuquerque Academy Parents’ Association to host a football game "under the lights," attended by over 1,500 people. This event allowed new and old friends to mingle and enjoy Charger football.

Alumni Weekend Sparks Enthusiasm and Record Turnout

Alumni Weekend 2023 served as a vivid reminder of our alumni’s invaluable contributions and enduring connections. With over 600 alumni and guests taking part in at least one activity, it was perhaps the most robust participation yet of any alumni event. Throughout the weekend, both alumni and current families enjoyed a diverse array of events. We look forward to continuing to grow Alumni Weekend as our annual hallmark alumni engagement event.

Community Day Fosters Relationships and Expands Horizons

Community Day allowed alumni, faculty, students, and other community members to showcase unique career opportunities and passions to our students, covering a range of topics such as pueblo breadmaking, the basics of DJing, the wonders of glass, leadership and entrepreneurship, careers in the performing arts, veterinary medicine, quantum computing, board game fun, and more.

GrandDays Continue to Create Precious Memories

Grandparents and grandfriends filled the campus for two memorable days of exploration, connection, and fun in early April. Brisk temperatures and blustery winds did not dampen the spirit on campus. The Academy welcomed over 800 grands who were able to experience such activities as classroom visits, lunch in the dining halls, student performances, a photo booth, and a solar eclipse during 6-7 GrandDays.

Volunteers: The Heartbeat of Academy’s Community

It truly takes a village to create the magic of Albuquerque Academy. In the spring, we thanked our fantastic volunteers who gave their time and energy to support our school, its students, and the faculty and staff.

Regional Visits Bring Connection and Inspiration

For Chargers spanning the classes of 1972-2023, alumni receptions in the Bay Area and New York City provided a platform to network, fostering connections between fellow grads and friends of the Academy while showcasing the school’s ongoing commitment to excellence and innovation.

Academy representatives also met with alumni and friends in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Connecticut, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Diego, and their stories never cease to amaze and serve as motivation for the important work of the Academy. Decreasing food waste, protecting Indigenous land rights in Malaysia, supporting the future of independent schools, and advocating for asylum seekers – our alumni are making an impact on local and global communities!

Celebrating Educational Access: 50 Years of Women at the Academy

Fifty years ago, a landmark decision by the Board of Trustees transformed our institution from Albuquerque Boys Academy to Albuquerque Academy. In the fall of 1973, 22 courageous girls entered the sophomore class.

Throughout the 2023-24 school year, Alumni Council Member and award-winning journalist Ted Alcorn ’01 wrote amazing stories for The Path that highlighted some of the trailblazing women who made an impact on the Academy over the last five decades, underscoring the importance of expanding access to an Academy education. Ted’s articles included:

• Deborah Cantrell ’78: Blazing Trails
• Jocelyn Swigger ’89: Love for Piano Guides Her Life
• Phoebe Suina ’94: Steward of Landscape and Language
• Lena Moffitt ’01: Turning Climate Vision into Legislation

As part of Spring Day of Giving 2024, we celebrated the inclusion of girls at our school and invited community members to highlight the women and girls who impacted them at the Academy. We also hosted a virtual event that gave alumni from around the world the opportunity to discuss our institution's history.

Philanthropy Powers Affordability and Excellence

Philanthropic support of endowment funds and annual giving provide the essential core of our annual operating budget, allowing tuition to remain far below the total cost of an Academy education. This difference is why the school fundraises year after year. Without philanthropic support, tuition would rise faster, negatively impacting affordability. The largest and most important expense at Albuquerque Academy is ensuring that we can recruit and retain outstanding faculty and staff to serve our mission.

Auxiliary programs continue to play an important role in supplementing the school’s income while also providing valuable community access to quality summer programming, adult education, and club programs like Charger Aquatics.

Giving to the Academy Fund allows community support to flow where funding is most needed to balance the operating budget. Gifts to the “area of greatest need” – also known as unrestricted gifts – support and sustain a culture of trust-based philanthropy that ensures the continuous delivery of our mission.

Preserving the endowment secures the Academy’s future. Albuquerque Academy’s endowment value has grown steadily, and its annual distribution has been very consistent over the past nine years.

Seeded with a transformative gift from the Simms family, the Albuquerque Academy endowment plays an important role in the overall financial health of our school. Each year, a draw from the endowment is used to support the annual operating budget and other needs and initiatives, which allows tuition to remain far below the true cost of educating each student. The school has relied on the endowment heavily over the years, including sometimes drawing more than the industry average of 5% annually. We are proud to let the community know that, for 2024-25, the school has a balanced budget while drawing a responsible 5% from the five-year rolling average to ensure a smooth and sustainable draw that is not impacted by temporary market fluctuations. The key takeaway: Growing our Academy Fund today preserves the endowment to grow for our future.

Tuition is the Academy's largest income stream and the foundation of our operating budget. Tuition assistance is vital to our mission by opening doors for deserving students and ensuring our student body reflects the makeup of our city. Tuition remission helps us attract and retain top faculty and staff. Their children enrich our community, adding to the richness and diversity inherent in our mission. This tuition model is a hallmark of the Academy, embodying our commitment to generosity and inclusivity.

Every student (even those who pay “full tuition”) receives a subsidy that comes from the endowment and annual fundraising.

The real cost of education at Albuquerque Academy far exceeds tuition. The annual cost to provide an Academy education for a single student in the 2023-24 school year was roughly $35,000, far more than the $27,150 full tuition. Thanks to the Academy’s strong financial model, every student receives an educational subsidy of at least $8,000 from the endowment and other philanthropic efforts. Furthermore, about 25% of our students receive need-based tuition assistance, increasing access to a life-changing education for motivated New Mexico students with demonstrated talent and character.

Lifetime Giving Society Circle

The Academy honors individuals and organizations whose cumulative giving totals $35,000 or more as members of our Lifetime Giving Circle. These individuals, couples, and organizations play an influential role in enriching the future of the school with their philanthropy. View members of the Lifetime Giving Circle.

Laura Lee Moore Society

The Laura Lee Moore Society recognizes, honors, and seeks to perpetuate the tradition of planned giving at Albuquerque Academy. Those who designate Albuquerque Academy as a beneficiary in their planned giving program – bequests, life income arrangements, or other deferred gifts – become members of the Laura Lee Moore Society. View members of the Laura Lee Moore Society.

Board of Trustees

The Academy is fortunate to have a dedicated body of volunteers with diverse and expert backgrounds to oversee the administration of the school and the stewardship of its financial and physical resources. Our trustees share a passion for the Academy’s mission and a vision for the school’s ongoing excellence and leadership in education. View members of the 2023-24 Board of Trustees.

Alumni Council

The Alumni Council engages with alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents, volunteer boards, and friends of the Academy to support the mission of the Academy and to strengthen the Academy and its community. They recognize that, as graduates of Albuquerque Academy, they have a responsibility to the Academy to preserve its resources and serve generations of children to come. View members of the 2023-24 Alumni Council.

Albuquerque Academy Parents’ Association

The Albuquerque Academy Parents’ Association (AAPA) serves a vital role in the Albuquerque Academy community. It works to increase parent and family involvement in Albuquerque Academy life; assist in welcoming new families to the Academy community; foster relationships among parents, students, faculty, and staff; support and assist the student governance structure; and serve as an advocate for the Academy mission. View members of the 2023-24 AAPA Executive Committee.

Multicultural and Diversity Parent Council Leadership

As part of its commitment to creating a caring, inclusive, and just community, Albuquerque Academy is home to five Multicultural Parent Councils. The African American; Allies, Friends, and Parents of LGBTQIA+ Academy; Asian American; Hispanic; and Native American Councils are affinity spaces for members with similar backgrounds, identities, and/or objectives to connect, encourage, mentor, advocate for, and support students of color and families. View leadership members of the 2023-24 Multicultural and Diversity Parent Councils.