Cathedral High School raises $60 million

Ensures tuition of current and future students for next century

South End’s very own Cathedral High School has recently raised $60 million to ensure the school’s future and cement its legacy. It started as an anonymous person asking how much the school needed to ensure its future. The answer was $60 million. The school’s anonymous donor then pledged to match every dollar the school raised in fundraising up to $30 million, and the school launched the “Cathedral Now, Cathedral Forever” campaign.

“What started our campaign was our anonymous donor, and he essentially said, ‘hey, how much money does Cathedral need to endow our future,’ and that number was 60 million,” said Dan Carmody, president of Cathedral High School. “And he said, okay, I will match dollar for dollar up to $30 million, and to have a $30 million matching gift to really fuel this campaign was just historic generosity not just for Cathedral, but I think for Catholic education across the country.”

From there, the campaign grew, with several individual donations coming in at well over $1 million, affirming the positive impact the school has been able to have and the legacy that each donation ensures to protect.

“From there, I think that match really inspired and motivated so many people, knowing that their generosity could be doubled for the future of our students,” said Carmody, “and so in total, our campaign had seven donations of $1,000,000 or more, and some of those donations were significantly more than $1,000,000 so I think what stands out for me most in this campaign was just the sheer generosity of people at the belief in our mission and belief in our students.”

The Adopt-A-Student Foundation held its annual gala in support of Cathedral High School at Seaport Hotel Boston. PHOTO: DAVID MASSILLON/ CATHEDRAL HS

The $60 million will allow the Cathedral to ensure the tuition of current and future students for the next century. With only 7% of the Cathedral’s yearly income coming from tuition, the Catholic school prides itself on prioritizing its students over their ability to pay.

“Every student starts off with an opportunity grant that covers half of our stated tuition, and then from there, 99% of our students get additional financial aid based on their need, and so we essentially take a $21,000 education and lower to under $2000.00 for most of our families.”

President Carmody also feels as though the ensured future and longevity of the school have ushered in a new sense of “Panther pride” (the school mascot) for Cathedral’s students as they now know they are part of a legacy that will be there for a long time after graduation. 

“Our students are feeling prideful to be part of a really exciting movement and to know that a school that means so much to them could impact their younger siblings, and so many of them are saying ‘I know that my kids are gonna get to go to Cathedral,’ so I think there’s a lot of pride to be part of something really special and to be part of a movement that really is all about them.”

It is not lost on President Carmody or anyone who is part of the Cathedral community how integral the anonymously donated $30 million was in not only the inception of the “Cathedral Now, Cathedral Forever” campaign but how encouraging it was to others to see an alumnus so sure of the school’s mission and vision that they are willing to donate such a significant amount in support of it.

With the ability to ensure the tuition for all students for the next 100 years, Cathedral can now focus on strengthening from the inside out rather than on tuition for the next class.

“Right now, we’re really focused on our student experience and obviously continuing to work on and strengthen what’s happening inside the building and really pushing for high levels of academic rigor and really tapping into the full potential of all of our students,” said Carmody.

“We also want to focus on the opportunities because we have so many generous people out there that root for Cathedral,” he added. “It creates opportunities in and about the city, whether it’s internships or mentorship programs or retreats for our students, and we think you know, one of our goals is to we say we are preparing students for leadership for college and for life and we want to continue to build the programs and make the connections for our students that put them in a position to succeed.”