endowment

the chicago waldorf school

was created to support the goal of making Waldorf education accessible to as many Chicago families as possible.  There exists a financial gap between the revenue and tuition the school receives and the cost of delivering a Waldorf education in our beautiful Andersonville home.  The endowment is designed to be a perpetual income stream to support the operations of the school and fill that gap.  The endowment allows for annual distributions up to 5% and will be invested in a balanced and diversified portfolio for both current income and long-term appreciation.  A strong endowment enables more generous financial aid offerings, helping attract a diverse student body and making the school accessible to a broader range of families.  

the

story

What began as a number of individual endowments created for different initiatives (the Victor and Dinah T. Lazar Endowment Fund; the Joe Ruscitti Athletic Endowment Fund; the Elizabeth Lauder Early Endowment Fund; and the Boyce Endowment Fund) were combined in 2025 to create the Chicago Waldorf School Endowment - one unified endowment that will serve as an ongoing revenue stream for the entire school.

Below are major contributors to the Chicago Waldorf School Endowment and the stories that inspired them to donate to the future of our school.

  • Founded in 1917 by Paul and Mary Lazar, Lazar’s Juvenile Furniture was a beloved Chicagoland institution that helped new parents furnish their homes for generations. After Paul and Mary passed, their son Victor Lazar continued running the store, eventually working alongside his son Mark. Mark stepped into the role after Victor’s passing in 2001 and ran Lazar’s until they closed it in 2018. For over a century, the Lazar family supported young couples during a joyful and transformative time in their lives.

    The Lazar Endowment, established over a decade ago by Mark Lazar and Mary Spalding, and was named in honor of Victor and Dinah Lazar—the grandparents of six CWS alumni: Jules, Simone, Sebastian, Fiona, Lucien, and Delphine. The endowment was created to help bolster diversity and equity within the CWS community. Over the years, many students and families were able to receive a Waldorf education because of the Lazar endowment.

    Since the school adopted the Family Individualized Tuition program in 2021, Mark and Mary have decided to help found the Chicago Waldorf School endowment, which now addresses an array of needs throughout the community.

Why support the Endowment?

strengthen annual giving

Growing the school’s endowment is the one of the most important investments we can make in the future of the Chicago Waldorf School. While robust annual giving is vital to our pedagogical and operational needs, a stronger endowment will give us more freedom to expand our educational offerings and enrich our programming.

make a difference

Your gift, no matter its size, is preserved in perpetuity. It is then pooled with other funds, increasing our maximum investment and helping us to achieve long-term financial growth. That means every gift is important. The larger our investment, the larger our return, ensuring that future families will be able to depend on our financial health for years to come.