Annual Giving Campaign

Celebrating our Origin Story & Heroes

What you now know as the heart of Eastside Community School came to be after Three Cedars Waldorf School was closed following its merger with Seattle Waldorf School. It was due to the sheer passion, resourcefulness, and commitment of a group of parents that our school and the form of education that you have come to value was resurrected.

It took a massive effort to keep the school going, including incorporating as a new nonprofit 501(c)3 entity; finding a new location; raising over $1.7 million; procuring an additional $7.7 million in community and foundation loans in less than 3 months to purchase the school building in Issaquah; and countless other hurdles. We now work to align the new campus to outwardly reflect the deeper anthroposophical foundations that the faculty so lovingly imparts to your children every day.

As a community, we have not only endured the ups and downs of birthing a new school in a changing milieu, we have thrived through it.

Those here at the time would recall the resilience with which parents pivoted to send your children to another location in Carnation while occupancy permits to the new Issaquah location were still in process. For the faculty, this involved the sweat equity of adapting the curriculum and the logistical challenge of setting up and cleaning up every week.

You might also remember how the faculty and administration tirelessly reimagined the school virtually during the pandemic.

Many of you shaped the new campus with your generous donations and hands-on attitude whether it was rolling up your sleeves to build playhouses, painting the classrooms in a cheerful spirit, or outdoor cleanup and gardening.

Every moment that you imparted your trust, gave a hand or money, you put your weight behind stewarding our success so far.

Our Community is Growing

We are celebrating all these accomplishments and hope you’ve experienced that spirit in the fabric of the school year.

At the same time, we acknowledge that we’re standing on the threshold of ensuring financial sustainability, and preparing for new growth and infrastructure to support it!

It’s an enviable position to be in and one that requires us to raise ourselves to new levels of stewardship for the education in which we take pride.

Financial Sustainability

ECS’s goal is to reach a financially sustainable point where tuition fees substantially cover the operating budget for the school, thus freeing up the annual giving campaigns to be exclusively used to invest in staffing, facilities improvements, and educational programming,

A critical intermediate step in that direction is to be confident of our capacity to pay interest and principal on the loans that supported the purchase of the Issaquah facility, and to prepare for the debt refinancing in 2026.

Enrollment Growth to Support Tuition Revenue

95% of schools rely on annual community donations to cover operating costs, grow programs, and maintain campuses.

ECS is no exception. Currently, tuition and fees cover 91% of the $3.4 million annual operating costs.

Even though enrollment has more than doubled from 88 to 175, we have a net enrollment deficit for the 23-24 school year relative to projections, and this has created challenges in cash flow management.

We need to invest in infrastructure that directly translates into a better experience for your children, increased enrollments and ultimately tuition revenue. These are part of the strategic plan initiatives and critical to successfully refinancing the school’s debt in 2026.

We invite you to participate in the Annual Giving Campaign at a personally significant and meaningful level.

Three families have kickstarted the campaign by contributing at the level of Leadership Circle, two of them to the Fall Campaign, and one that has started the ECS Endowment Fund.

Thank You for moving forward the vision of ECS and the magic that brought you to our community in the first place! We value your support highly.

Our Educational Philosophy

At Eastside Community School, we believe that every child comes into the world with a unique and very personal journey. With a broad, rich, and diverse curriculum and specially trained teachers, we support the development of our students—ethically, intellectually, socially, physically, spiritually, and artistically. By understanding, respecting, and nurturing each distinct phase of childhood, we inspire a genuine, lifelong love of learning. Because our students cultivate a wide range of capacities while developing their academic skills, they emerge with the freedom to think and act—confident in themselves, their path, and their place in the world.

Our Core Values

At the most basic level, we believe that the world is good and beautiful. The qualities we cultivate in our students and community reflect a positive, hope-filled approach to education. Working as a team is embraced, while we honor our differences and individuality.

A Human Connection

Students, parents, faculty—as human beings we are social beings. As a learning community, we invest in long-term relationships between your family and ours. Just as our students learn to thrive and interact in complex social settings, so do we share a commitment to resolving differences. We affirm the human values of mutual respect, courtesy, cooperation, and service.

Hard Work and Joy

Everyone has areas in which they excel and in which they struggle. We encourage students to work diligently and persevere, even in those areas of study that do not come easily; thus our students are able to experience both the joy of ease and the joy of accomplishment.

Learning Imbued with the Arts

When students feel deeply about a subject, they internalize learning rather than simply memorizing information for the short term. This is why we believe it is important for students to use the fine and practical arts throughout their studies, which enables them to explore the breadth of human feelings and express them through writing, drama, music, drawing, and painting.

Fall Campaign 2023

Eastside Community School