Catholic elementary schools have taken new steps to manage enrollment, bolster donor support and market schools in the six counties of South Jersey.
Drawing on best practices that have been effective in higher education, paid advancement directors are now in place in more than two dozen elementary schools in the diocese.
The institutional advancement initiative is being funded in large part through grant monies from the Catholic School Development Program (CSDP), an extension of the International Education Foundation (IEF), a non-profit corporation headed by benefactor Robert T. Healey, a 1947 alumnus of Camden Catholic High School. More than one million dollars in grant monies and pro-bono consulting services from the foundation have been directed to the advancement initiative, a program to reconstitute school boards, and the creation of a partnership for the five schools serving students in and around the city of Camden.
“We are grateful for the vision, commitment and support of Mr. Healey and his foundation. This has made it possible to implement innovative measures that already are producing results in strengthening Catholic schools in the Diocese of Camden,” said Nicholas Regina, executive director of Catholic Schools for the diocese.
The advancement directors are focusing on five key areas: enrollment (which includes marketing, recruitment and retention of students), development (which includes annual appeals, major gifts, special events and planned giving), communications (websites, public relations and publications), constituent relations (outreach to parents, alumni and school boards) and strategic planning.
“With the advancement initiative, schools have worked first on enrolment management and local communications,” said Christine Healey deVaull, executive director of the IEF. “Now advancement directors also will assess the effectiveness of fundraising initiatives and evaluate the return on investment of those efforts, with a laser focus on implementing bigger-impact, annual fund raising that will bring long-term stability to the schools.”
Editor’s note: For more about the advancement initiative, see http://www.FaithintheFutureSchools.org