Annual Giving donations for the past year have exceeded $7.2 million, making Harvard-Westlake the first independent day school to receive more than $7 million in donations during one year.

The Annual Giving campaign, fueled by the work of hundreds of parent volunteers, focused on encouraging as many families as possible to donate, no matter the size of the donation.

“This year we paid particular focus to parents who had never given to Annual Giving,” Annual Giving parent chairs Paul and Donna Nadel said in an email. “Often, parents just forget to donate on time, or they believe that if they can’t give a lot, they shouldn’t give at all. We tried to be encouraging that every gift counts, and we value the participation of each family.”

The faculty and staff achieved 100 percent participation in the annual giving campaign for the sixth consecutive year, and 92 percent of students’ families donated as well, with the seventh grade class achieving 97.8 percent participation, a new school record for participation by grade. The average parent gift also increased 6.8 percent.

“This is a spectacular milestone in the school’s history,” Director of Annual Giving Eli Goldsmith said. “Every single call, email, and thank you note made a difference.”