As the new school year opens, elementary schools of the diocese are implementing a program of institutional advancement office modeled on programs that have worked well for colleges and universities.
Full-time, paid institutional advancement professionals will focus 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.
Last year, St. Peter, Merchantville was the first school to put the advancement program into place. A year later, seven more institutional advancement directors have been hired, with plans to hire advancement directors for each of the schools in the diocese. The institutional advancement initiative is being funded in 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.