Giving to DWS
The Denver Waldorf School is beyond grateful for our generous community of families, friends, alumni, grandparents, and more – We thrive with your support! Since our founding in 1974 we have continually worked together to ensure we provide a distinctly unique urban Waldorf education.
The DWS Annual Fund
The Annual Fund is essential to our work each year, providing for our teachers, scholarships, beloved campus, and more. At DWS, our goal of 100% family participation is just as important as reaching this year’s need of $250,000. Read on to hear from current and alumni parents Dan Opyd and Petra Schroeder in support of the Annual Fund this year!
Dear DWS families,
We wish you well and hope you have fallen into a healthy rhythm in class and in life! As gracious volunteers over the years who walk the path of both alumni and current parents, our family knows the importance of family involvement at The Denver Waldorf School (DWS). Can you imagine our festivals, events, classrooms, and committees without all our families do? Part of being in our community and having an independent school we treasure is commitment to supporting DWS’s financial health. Thus, we are delighted to continually uplift our school and its students through championing this year’s Annual Fund, and inviting you to join us in giving a gift that is meaningful to you and your family.
Supporting the DWS Annual Fund
This year’s DWS Annual Fund theme is The Infinite Game. Around the world we are familiar with games that have a beginning and an end – a “finite” game such as tennis, football, and the Tour de France. On the other hand, an infinite game’s challenge is to keep the game on for as long as possible. For example, volleyball can be played both ways, with teams and scores or infinitely: keeping the ball in the air with a partner or a group of friends. In this infinite game, we are all working toward the same goal: endless back and forth in the joy, challenge, meaning, and connection of the game.
While our school does have a beginning – Fall 1974 – We invite you to play alongside us, to imagine with us, what an infinite game opens for The Denver Waldorf School and our students. Gifts to our beloved and needed Annual Fund ensure many things for DWS each year, but most importantly that we are here to hold, coach, and play an infinite game. Momentum is the impulse we need to keep doing and learning each year, and each gift to DWS sparks more generosity.
Contributing to our school means our teachers are supported with appropriate salaries and what their classrooms need; that scholarships bring students into how we learn; and that we have far beyond a gym to ring hoops in. Gifts to the Annual Fund are the core fuel for our stamina – Will you be a player in The Infinite Game of The Denver Waldorf School?
This Year’s Needs
Our Annual Fund goals this year are $250,000 and full community participation. We ask for this support every year -infinitely – because we want to keep tuition costs equitable, to provide scholarships to students new and seasoned, and to live our values through the unique benefits of community-funded Waldorf education. When considering your gift this year, please give generously from your heart and think of what our school and community has meant to your family every year you have been with us. This year’s gap per student is $1,300 – If you are able to contribute more, we ask that you consider a generous investment in our school’s future. At DWS, all gifts matter and are essential in helping us meet our goals year after year!
You may hear from us or another volunteer this Fall, asking about what you’d like to contribute and what has motivated your support. We wish you well and hope to be on the court, the field, or in the water with you in The Infinite Game of The Denver Waldorf School!
With much gratitude,
Dan Opyd and Petra Schroeder
Parents to Colton (Alumni), Auden (Senior), and Arwen (Sophomore)

Tax Deductions for Your Gift
- All gifts to DWS are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
- Gifts to the Annual Fund may be eligible for the Colorado Child Care Contribution Tax Credit, allowing up to 50% of your gift returned to you as a tax credit.
- Click here for more information on the Colorado Child Care Contribution Credit and how your Annual Fund gift impacts our school and students.
Read the 2022 DWS Annual Report
Open up our most recent Annual Report to hear from school leadership, learn about what and where our recent graduates are off to, view our 2022 donors, and see our tribute to legacy faculty.
Other Ways to Give
- We accept cash and check gifts by mail sent to our school address.
- Contact your HR representative to learn about matching gifts to DWS.
- Give to DWS at no cost to you by selecting us as your preferred charity on Amazon Smile or by downloading the Box Tops for Education app.
- If you would like to donate an in-kind gift, please fill out our In-Kind Gift Receipt and contact our Development Office.
- DWS graciously accepts gifts of appreciated stock. To make a stock contribution, contact our Development Office.
- Legacy contributions ensure you make a difference for our school beyond the “now”. Contact our Development Office for more information.
- Become a DWS Sponsor for any of our school events and get noticed in our community! Reach out to our Development Office for details.