Lions Fund

The Lions Fund (an annual fund) gives the entire CDS community an opportunity to be part of our mission as we seek to transform hearts and minds for the glory of Jesus Christ. Gifts to the Lions Fund support every student at CDS by fostering:

• Excellence (Philippians 4:8) Empowering innovation and excellence in all our school’s programs.
• Mentorship (Proverbs 22:6) Accelerating students' intellectual, spiritual, physical, and emotional development through Christ-centered teachers, coaches, and staff.
• Partnership (Ephesians 2:11-22) Cultivating a warm and welcoming community through our people and the programs we are passionate about, including academics, athletics, fine arts, and so much more.
• Discipleship (Romans 12:2) Helping students grow in their knowledge, understanding, and application of Scripture at every age and stage so that they can proclaim Christ in a fallen world.
• Service (Galatians 5:13) Creating intentional opportunities at every age level that inspires and teaches students to serve others as we strive to transform hearts and minds for the glory of Jesus Christ.

We are grateful that CDS has always had an enthusiastically supportive community full of passionate people who have given significant time and treasure to help our school be what it is today. Giving has always been a part of our culture at CDS. However, over time, requests to our school community grew in number, variety, and frequency, and the Board of Trustees and school leadership became concerned about the sustainability of this practice. We sought counsel and discovered that our infrastructure still operates as a small, less complex school. While we have made some adaptations over the years out of necessity, we found that other systems and procedures still need to be updated to continue supporting our families and students effectively in the highly personalized ways we all value. These changes will better serve our community by streamlining, strengthening, and accelerating the effectiveness of our fundraising procedures while maintaining the culture we all treasure. Removing silos and centralizing the school's fundraising activity into one effort, the Lions Fund, was perhaps the most significant recommendation we received and one that will have a tremendous impact on annual giving to CDS and the success of a future capital campaign.

The Lions Fund supports every student! Part of helping our students embody Christ through servant leadership to the church and community is rightly stewarding their spiritual gifts. It creates unity when we understand the need for each other – the body of Christ. The funds raised directly support our students, faculty, and staff by uniting our needs through a strategic framework born out of a community-wide effort outlined by the Board of Trustees and school administration. For this reason, the Lions Fund is a top philanthropic priority of the school.

Gifts to the Lions Fund are unrestricted and go to the greatest need at Covenant Day. The school's needs are identified through the budgeting process when the leadership of different departments communicate their needs, wants, and future aspirations. The head of school will prioritize the needs based on mission alignment to fulfill as many requests as possible.

You may designate your gift specifically. However, we strongly encourage gifts to be given to the Lions Fund so they are without restriction and give us the flexibility to use the money where it is needed most based on our strategic vision.

Tuition covers the operational expenses to run our school. Additional dollars raised go to enhancements across our campus. CDS leaders continue to seek increasingly more excellent and innovative ways of providing an outstanding CDS education to all our students. The Lions Fund helps fund that margin of excellence. It’s the fuel to accelerate our vision for excellence in every way.

Parent volunteer groups are an integral part of our school community! Here’s how the Lions Fund will enhance the efforts of each group:

• Booster Club: The Booster Club will continue to raise funds through Booster Club memberships and the Booster Club Golf Tournament to support the strategic vision implemented by the athletic director. In addition, the Lions Fund will also support athletics initiatives.
• Parents Association: The Lions Fund will continue to fund the Parents Association in their efforts to build community at our school.
• Covenant Arts: The Covenant Arts Association will continue to raise funds through Covenant Arts Association memberships to support the strategic vision implemented by the fine arts director. In addition, the Lions Fund will also support arts initiatives.

Yes! The Lions Fund supports all the lower, middle, and high school needs as they arise throughout the year.