WSP Fund

Like most independent schools, at WSP, tuition alone does not cover the cost of educating every student. We rely on charitable gifts to balance our budget each year. The WSP Fund (also called our Annual Fund) makes up the majority of those charitable contributions.

The WSP Fund is a gift to the school from the entire WSP community. It raises unrestricted funds to bridge the gap between tuition income and total operating expenses. All adults in our community contribute to the fund—parents, faculty, staff, and Board members, as well as grandparents, alumni and their parents, and former teachers.

Donate to the Annual Fund

The 2025-26 Guide to Giving

Learn how your generosity directly supports a dynamic and rich student experience every day.

WSP Fund FAQs

  • Approximately 75% of the school’s budget funds the salaries and benefits of faculty and staff. The remainder supports lease payments, utilities, classroom supplies, insurance, and site-maintenance costs.

  • No, tuition income does not cover the full cost of running the school. The gap needs to be made up each year from other sources of income, such as the WSP Fund, Spring Gala, Holiday Faire, and the Heart’s Delight school store.

  • Independent schools typically do not charge the full cost of educating its students to avoid pricing itself out of the market. Furthermore, Waldorf School of the Peninsula strives to keep tuition increases as low as possible to make Waldorf education available to as many students as possible.

  • We are self-governed and operate without public financial support. Independent schools rely solely on tuition revenues and philanthropic gifts to meet their operating expenses. We also have a modest endowment from which we can withdraw interest income to support our programs.

  • Last year hundreds of people contributed, including alums, friends of the school, grandparents, parents, students, past parents, and trustees.

  • Many corporations in Silicon Valley match their employees’ philanthropic gifts to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, like The Waldorf School of the Peninsula. You may be able to double or even triple your gift by submitting the appropriate matching-gift request. Since 2021, we’ve raised an average of $100,000 each year through matching gifts.

  • A suggested guideline for many independent schools is 10% of annual tuition, and there is no donation that is too small. We encourage you to be as generous as you can be.

  • Email Christine McQuade-Hsu
    (650) 209-9405

Meet Our Advancement Team