SchoolAdvancement

So many faith-based schools continue to lament the fact that there’s so much work to be done, personnel are being stretched to their limits, and it seems that more and more efforts only result in precariously stable or continuously declining enrollment.

If that sounds familiar to you, it’s because it’s a law of physics

Just like the laws of gravity and inertia, the law of diminishing returns means that as time progresses, more and more energy will need to be put into a system simply to maintain it.  If growth is expected, then a change or shift in the process is necessary.

Also, a change is coming in the philanthropic space that your school needs to prepare for.

First, to change the paradigm, here are five reasons why faith-based elementary schools need a full-time advancement director today that will focus on development, retention, enrollment and marketing:

1) The principal, as the leader of the school, needs someone to be out in the community as the ambassador of the school;

2) The advancement director is the “salesperson” of the school – and guess what happens to companies that don’t have salespeople;

3) Schools need someone on the “business” side of the school to balance out the activities of the “school” side of the school;

4) Your school needs to deepen engagement with various constituencies. Deepening engagement leads to a willingness to provide monetary support. Therefore, just as good marketing doesn’t mean enrollment will increase, hiring an advancement director won’t guarantee dollars will come rolling in overnight; and

5) You need to overcome objections, such as:

  • “But we haven’t any money to pay an advancement director!” – Then budget for it.
  • “But that will increase our tuition?” – Yes, and while you’re at it, budget for an additional teacher and a part-time teacher for substitute situations.  Then you’ll have a position to cut if necessary.  Adding more than what you need allows you to be able to trim wisely.
  • “But parents can’t pay us anything more!”  First, how do you know that?  Does EVERY FAMILY in the school complete a financial aid application?  Not necessarily to award financial aid, but to see how much parents can ACTUALLY afford to pay for tuition?  That’s what colleges do, and when Community College tuition is LESS that what your elementary school tuition is, you can’t keep doing things “they way you’ve always done them.” Besides, they’ll certainly find a way to pay for experiences, the latest piece of technology, or their daily $5 cup of coffee.  I know of a school that has been struggling for years, and has an “internal” financial aid application, and they get scholarships from outside organizations based on a family’s income and the amount of people that qualify for them.  What’s their calculated financial need for the school?  They don’t know, because there’s not a third-party financial aid provider used to provide these calculations.
  • And if parents can’t pay anything more, that is PRECISELY why you need someone in this position, so that additional monies can be generated to provide scholarships and need-based financial aid.  There is a difference, and vouchers are not the answer.
  • “But our board won’t let us raise tuition!” – The board is for governance.  They approve the budget and the tuition.  If they don’t let you do this, then that means one of two things:
    • A) You haven’t done an effective sales pitch at stating the reasons your school is in jeopardy if tuition isn’t increased, or
    • B) Your board isn’t acting like a board – a singular entity – and not a bunch of individuals with individual agendas – that has the best interest of the school at heart.  Remember, if the board recommends school closure, they’re not going to lose their jobs, but all of the teachers and employees of the school will lose theirs.  Further, if your board members are applying for financial aid for their students at your school, AND they receive it as “compensation” for the work they’re doing as a board, you’ve got significant conflict of interest problems, and that “financial aid” is actually a payment for services which can be taxable.  Board members who are parents at your school should be the ones paying the announced tuition to set the example for the rest of the school community.

The emergent principle of this system is to prepare for the change in the philanthropic audience.

You’ve seen the change in your parent community already.  For elementary schools, Generation X parents started to move along your grade levels about 10 years ago.  Today, your school’s entire parent community is made up of Millennials.

Those are the parents who won’t take kindly to being charged “late” fees when they’ve made their payment a day or two before the due date.  If you’d like to have a conversation about that, send an email to schooladvancement@gmail.com with the words “Punitive late fees” in the subject line.  I’ve developed ways to eliminate late fees with a radical new approach to tuition payments that incentivize parents to pay on time or be able to have adjustments made to their payment plans should unforeseen hardships occur.

Similarly, as Generation X has moved from elementary schools through high school and now, they’re parents of college graduates, they’re now seeing their children get hit with student loan obligations.  Note the timing of the furor over the student loan crisis.  It  began to make news headlines when parents became concerned to outraged over the responsibilities their children now have, since those Generation X parents may have cosigned their child’s student loans…and now it’s personally affecting them!

What does this mean for the future of development and advancement?

Most of the people involved in planned giving, making major gifts and philanthropic endeavors are members of the Great and Silent Generations, as well as Baby Boomers, who are now looking at leaving a legacy.  As more and more members of Generation X move into this space, the act of engaging them in philanthropic practices will become extremely difficult since Generation X is also known as the “Me” Generation, and won’t feel compelled to become engaged with your school if you’re not engaging with them.  If you want a contribution from them, their mindset is going to be, “What have you done for ME lately?  Not my kids, and not their educational experience, but ME?”

Add to that those Millennials who are saddled with student loan debt, commenting, “I’ve given enough money to school because of the tuition I paid them,” and the mindset of engagement becomes significantly more difficult to be transformed into one that is focused on giving rather than getting.

It’s good to recall the words of the proverb, attributed to both the Chinese and African cultures: “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago; the second best time is now.