Lakeside Gets Big Gift From Gates, Allen, Mccaws

Lakeside School's most prominent - and wealthiest - alumni returned to school bearing far more than an apple for the teacher.

Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen and brothers Bruce, Craig, Keith and John McCaw of the McCaw cellular-telephone family, said yesterday they are donating up to $30 million to their alma mater.

The high-powered group announced the creation of a matching-gift fund in which they will match donations from other alumni on a $2-for-$1 basis, to a $30 million maximum.

The goal is to raise about $45 million in gifts and matching donations within 24 months, said Head of School Terry Macaluso. Of that total, $20 million would go to the school's endowment fund, which now stands at about $12 million, she said.

Much of that revenue funds grants that average about $8,000 for the education of students who need financial aid, Macaluso said.

Gates, a 1973 Lakeside graduate, and Allen, class of '71, were at the school last night with three of the McCaw brothers to announce their gift program.

Alumni were told last night that the Lakeside Now campaign has $9.5 million of the $15 million needed to collect the $30 million in matching gifts.

"We need another $5 million and we are going to get it because this campaign is going to get noisy now," said Matt Griffin, chairman of the fund-raising campaign.

The increased revenue from the endowment fund would also pay for improvements in technology, maintenance of facilities, and higher faculty and staff salaries.

Plans call for replacing the school's Middle School Building and the modernization of the Upper School dining hall, which also would be converted to what Macaluso called a community center.

A 15,000-square-foot arts center also would be built.

Founded in 1919, Lakeside has 702 students in grades five through 12 at its northeast Seattle campus. The school has a student-teacher ratio of 9-to-1 and 99 percent of its graduates go on to college.