How We Support BK
Since 1976, the Bishop Kelly Foundation has been dedicated to providing funding, support and scholarships to Bishop Kelly High School. The Foundation generates additional non-tuition revenue that helps address both the short- and long-term needs of the school through:
- Scholarship grants for students in need
- Operational grants to help minimize tuition increases
Specifically, the BK Foundation provides financial assistance to the school via a yearly operational grant composed of proceeds from the annual Winner’s Choice Dinner and Auction as well as revenue from the general endowment. In addition, the Foundation provides a substantial scholarship grant, composed of private scholarship donations, revenue from scholarship endowments, and the scholarship proceeds from the paddle up at the auction. As a result of this support, every single student benefits on behalf of the work of the Bishop Kelly Foundation.
In addition, the Bishop Kelly Foundation partners with the school in capital campaigns. In 2006-2010, the Campaign for Bishop Kelly raised close to $9 million. This increased the value of the endowment, and also allowed the school to undergo a massive renovation: The remodeling of 20 classrooms, two laboratories, an art studio and all adjoining areas including floors, ceilings, bathrooms, lockers, electrical upgrades, air conditioning, new bleachers, and a new parking lot/entry area with an alumni plaza for the students’ use. The E.L. Wiegand Student Commons area was completed in 2012, which renovated the front of the school, providing more enclosed space, a multimedia/multiuse room, and a new adminstrative area to better serve our student population. In 2014, a Performance Training Center was completed, the Father Fraser Library was expanded and renovated, a new classroom wing was completed, and beautiful new eight-court tennis courts were added to the campus.
The most recently completed capital campaign, BK2020 Vision, initially added a classroom wing dedicated to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education skills, critical in today’s workplace, and a new Performance and Training Center and Lacrosse wall was built. In 2019, major renovations were done to the 55-year-old kitchen, the “Reg” (the old gymnasium) was completely renovated to provide space for performing arts, and a spiritual garden was completed to provide an outdoor teaching and reflective space. A key component of the campaign was increasing the size of the BK Foundation endowment so that its support grows as the student enrollment increases. Therefore, a portion of the proceeds from the BK2020 Vision Campaign was dedicated to the Foundation’s endowment, helping to ensure that the Foundation is able to financially support BK and its students in the future at the same rate that it does today.
BK2020 Vision Phase 1, 2, and 3 Goals
