Move Your Mindset From Fundraising to Development to Advancement
The Need For SchoolAdvancement
At this time in history, fatih-based schools have closed or merged due to rising costs and changing demographics. Schools simply cannot rely on traditional fiscal approaches to fund their ministries.
Conversely, some areas of the country have experienced growing populations, producing a desire for additional faith-based schools. Some of those populations do not have the financial means to pay for large construction projects, and growing communities are put in the same financial conundrum as those that are shrinking.
While school leaders grapple with the changes they're facing, a paradigm has begun to take shape. Isolated successes have been experienced in some areas of the country, while other dioceses, deaneries, parishes and their respective schools, as well as Christian and other faith-based schools, strategize to plan for the future.
Rather than continuing to “reinvent the wheel,” this site's goal is to provide guidance gleaned from schools which have experienced successes, accepting responsibility for achieving not just excellence, but sustainability. In a spirit of community, SchoolAdvancement shares "next" practices, proven strategies, failed experiments and suggestions regarding what to avoid along the path, and, interestingly, how some small "shifts" can have a significant positive impact on the future of a school. Though the curriculum of various faith-based schools may be different, the five elements of Advancement - Asset Management, Retention, Marketing, Enrollment and Development (The ARMED Framework) represent the “business" side of the mission and are essential for every school’s success.
While some school leaders and boards are beholden to the belief that “It’s all about the money,” others have said “It’s all about enrollment.” Actually, “It’s all about all of it!" Your school's customers will evaluate "the experience" of your school based on their expectations of excellence.
Publications
Download your FREE copy of "Understanding Advancement: A Systems Thinking Framework for Today's Faith-Based School!"
Membership in SchoolAdvancement is on the Horizon!
Visitor (no membership)
Free Membership
Premium Membership
Recent Articles
The Dip: Part 1 – The Biggest Mistake They Made In School
You may have attended one of my seminars on marketing. In the past 17 years, I’ve made presentations on marketing […]
DOUBLE Your School’s Enrollment
This week’s article spotlighting enrollment rounds out another quintet of the five aspects of advancement. Even though many schools have […]
The 5 Elements of The Wizard of Oz
About eight years ago, my daughter went to see The Wizard of Oz on stage in Pittsburgh. She’s been a […]
March: Build Cohorts
After reading the title of this article, you may be thinking, “What’s a cohort?” According to Wikipedia, “In statistics and […]
Think Outside…and Inside…the Box, Then Do.
At this point in history, the phrase, “Think Outside the Box,” probably sounds trite, since people have been saying it […]
The 5 M’s of Development Success
Development is a long-term approach to sustainable revenues brought about by the effective engagement of individuals in the mission of […]
Podcasts: Coming to Soon to SchoolAdvancement
Move Your Mindset From Fundraising to Development to Advancement
Linear Thinking is Process-Oriented; Systems Thinking is Systems-Oriented. Your school may have excellent results, but all its systems must be working toward excellence to be sustainable.
Join the SchoolAdvancement Facebook Group
Share this:
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
- Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
- Click to print (Opens in new window)