Oscar Tang ’56, President of the Phillips Academy Board of Trustees, has pledged $25 million to Andover’s ongoing capital campaign. Tang’s gift is the largest that Phillips Academy has ever received in its 230-year history. “The intention of this gift is really to stimulate and inspire others to do the same,” said Tang. Head of School Barbara Chase announced Tang’s gift to the Board of Trustees the evening of last Thursday, January 31, at a dinner session with Head of School Barbara Landis Chase. On Friday evening, Chase publicly announced Tang’s gift at a dinner with Trustees and faculty members in Abbot Campus. She also said that Tang would serve as the chair of the capital campaign. At the dinner, Tang said, “I have gotten as much out of it, if not more, than I have put in.” Tang’s donation of $25 million toward the still unnamed capital campaign has pushed the total amount raised to more than $100 million. Approximately $6 million of Tang’s donation has been committed to the restoration and expansion of the Addison Gallery of American Art. Another million will be used to challenge others to donate to the Andover Fund. The remaining $18 million has not yet been allocated to a specific project. “I don’t have a single pet project that I’m going to devote this [gift] to, but it is rather to encourage others to stretch, if you will, in terms of what they might be willing to give towards whatever particular project or program of the Strategic Plan that they feel close to,” said Tang. Secretary of the Academy Peter Ramsey said, “His decision is truly based upon his admiration and engagement with the Strategic Plan and its priorities, and he wants to help advance those priorities with his generosity, and hopefully by inspiring other people.” “I think it would be fair to say that the generosity of Mr. Tang parallels or complements that of Thomas Cochran, Class of 1890, who was the first great benefactor of Phillips Academy as we know it today,” Ramsey said. Cochran’s gifts to Andover included the Addison Gallery of American Art, Cochran Chapel and the Sanctuary. Tang and Ramsey will work together in the upcoming months to find a way that Phillips Academy can create more opportunities for parents and alumni to support the school’s Strategic Plan. “I see that we as a community have this opportunity which doesn’t come very often, so that’s why I convinced myself that I should do as much as I could to help accomplish this,” said Tang. Ramsey said that the specific details of the campaign, including its name and goal, would not be finalized until the Board of Trustees meets in the fall of 2008. However, he said that he predicts the campaign’s fundraising target to be around $300 million. The money raised from the campaign will fund projects such as the expansion of the Addison, the renovations of Commons and support for financial aid. Tang said, “What is important is that [the Addison] continues to function as an educational resource, not only for Andover but for the community as a whole and also for the nation. It is a very fine museum, modest in size, but its collection is superb and it should be used extensively as a teaching resource.” The campaign has also raised half of the expected cost of $30 million for the Commons renovations. Around $15 million has also been raised for financial aid, which Ramsey believes has a goal of approximately $60 million. Other projects do not have specific fundraising goals or allotted funds yet due to the still tentative nature of the campaign. “There is an entire component of the campaign that will be devoted to support for faculty and for academic programs, but those objectives are still being discussed and developed,” said Ramsey. “As of yet, we haven’t done a great deal of fundraising for some of that, but we look forward to it.” The Board of Trustees also formed the Financial Aid Task Force, to be chaired by two alumni. Dean of Admission Jane Fried, Director of Financial Aid James Ventre, Campaign Director Christine Atwood and Principal Gift Officer Bill Leahy will staff the Task Force. According to Atwood, the task force is still in the process of inviting others to join. Ramsey said, “[The Financial Aid Task Force] is first to help us to find our institutional message —in other words, how we want talk about financial aid with the Andover family; second, to understand how financial aid works and to help educate others; third, to help us with the fundraising [for financial aid].” The Board of Trustees also received mid-year reports about the Andover Fund, the annual giving program for alumni, parents and grandparents. As of December 31, the Andover Fund had garnered $4.5 million of its $8.3 million goal. Ramsey said, “This is a little bit ahead of last year’s pace, which we’re pleased with.” Tang said, “We are obviously a school with tremendous resources, but I think the overriding factor about Andover is that it feels that it needs to use these resources, like the financial resources, but more importantly the human resources that we have: the gifted faculty, the gifted kids that come to us, these students. It is important that we use these resources not only for self-improvement but also for a sense of doing good.”
