Data from the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) points to continuing financial pressures on Catholic elementary schools. Those increasing costs cannot merely be passed off to parents and guardians in the form of increased tuition. This makes development and fundraising activities increasingly important to offset the full cost to educate. Based on data provided by three dioceses—Philadelphia, Atlanta and Jefferson City, MO—and interviews of school and parish leaders in those dioceses, keys to fundraising success for Catholic schools are identified and an alternative funding model that requires no tuition payments—the Stewardship model—is explained.
The elementary school systems of the three dioceses are different in many ways as shown in The Educational Systems table. For example, Philadelphia’s average tuition rate of $4,200 is relatively low compared to Atlanta ($8,727) while Jefferson City, using a Stewardship model, charges no tuition. Despite these differences, each diocese faces a common challenge—how to fund the full cost to educate a child. As the table shows, tuition covers 68 percent of the cost to educate in Philadelphia, 83 percent in Atlanta, and in Jefferson City, since schools are tuitionfree, the funding gap is 100 percent.
To make up the funding gap, the schools in Philadelphia and Atlanta rely primarily on parish and/or diocesan subsidies, “outside” scholarships or grants (from organizations and foundations that help to fund private and/or Catholic schools), and schoolbased fundraising programs. These school-based fundraising programs fill, on average, 6.5 percent of the funding gap in Philadelphia, and 8.7 percent of the gap in Atlanta.
Jefferson City’s approach to funding schools is completely different than Philadelphia or Atlanta and based on the Stewardship model whereby parishioners are expected to fully fund the school through the parish offertory collection. Fundraising programs are minimal in the diocese in deference to the Stewardship model. The diocese provides a “Time and Talent” form that parishioners complete each year, indicating their interest in volunteering on various parish ministries, and an annual “Pledge” form to commit to their financial contribution to the parish.
In Philadelphia, school fundraising is typically led by a committee of laypeople within the parish, often reporting to the pastor. The most common names of the group include the Development Committee, Advancement Committee, Home & School Board (normally a subcommittee of this board) and the Board of Limited Jurisdiction (normally a subcommittee of this board). The number of committee members typically ranges from six to 15, comprised of active members of the parish, including school parents, big donors, a representative of the school faculty, often the principal, and other parish leaders. Sometimes the head of the committee is a volunteer; sometimes they are a paid employee but with other duties within the parish, such as school admissions director or marketing director.
There are variations on these fundraising structures and processes. One of the most successful fundraising programs in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is led by a team of two retired religious sisters, Sisters Constance Touey and Jeannette Lucey, who built a $4 million endowment and an enrollment of over 500 students for St. Francis de Sales, a school that was struggling to survive in a disadvantaged neighborhood in Philadelphia. The sisters have conducted workshops on fundraising in over 30 states.
Atlanta’s model is similar to Philadelphia’s in that fundraising is typically led by parishioners who may be part of the Home and School Board or an Advancement Committee. The types of fundraisers are also similar—annual funds or appeals are the most common and often most lucrative—and galas, auctions and walk-a-thons are common.
A unique aspect of the funding model in Atlanta is the emphasis on building endowments. In 2012 the Archdiocese of Atlanta received a multi-million-dollar bequest from the estate of Joseph Mitchell, nephew of Gone with the Wind author Margaret Mitchell. Part of the gift was used to create an endowment fund of $10,000 for each parish and Catholic school in the archdiocese. Four of the 15 Atlanta schools reported endowment income in the range of $18,000 to $48,000 per year.
In Jefferson City, the pastor of each parish forms a Stewardship Committee made up of parish leaders. The role of the Stewardship Committee is primarily spiritual, to engage parishioners in the life of the parish, to attend Church services and to share their talents with the parish. Said one pastor, “when people feel engaged and part of the parish community, they want to contribute (financially).”
While the funding models and the players engaged in fundraising vary across the three dioceses, the themes that emerged from the interviews of the parish leaders about keys to success are remarkably similar. These themes, along with direct quotes from the interviews, are explained below.
Engagement and community — If we get people to find their home in community, they will give; we need to change the mentality from a supermarket where we pay for services to discipleship; money takes care of itself after the engagement.
Relationship-building — We need personal contact, building relationships, visit the sick and elderly; friend-raising before fundraising; we write each donor a hand-written personal thank you note and include a completed tax form; we make homemade thank you notes with pictures of the school kids; we get the school kids involved.
Trust and Transparency — The parish needs to trust the pastor; awareness of results and success; what you do with funds needs to be visible to people; we publish annual financial reports and post them on the website; complete financial transparency; parishioners need to know that the money is well spent and carefully managed.
Make the ask — People are willing to give if they know what you need; make a wish list—things we need in various categories—sixth graders get bibles; sports, music, arts, stickers for teachers.
Technology/online giving — (opinions are mixed); we raise awareness through the webpage, Twitter, Instagram; a teacher maintains social media; technology doesn’t play a major role for us since most donations come from seniors.
Spanish language and cultural differences — Translate all paperwork and messaging into Spanish; our Hispanic parishioners have a different mindset about giving—we need to understand that and adapt; 75 percent of our Hispanic parishioners are recent immigrants who are low-income families—they like to host events but they are not inclined to make a weekly offering; we have hundreds of Hispanic families in our parish who attend Mass but many are reluctant to register in the parish—we need to support and engage them in the life of the parish.
Fundraising has become increasingly important to finance the full cost to educate whether the diocese uses the Stewardship approach or the traditional tuition-based approach. In either case, these keys to success have helped school and parish leaders achieve fundraising goals.
Stephen J. Porth is a professor of management at Saint Joseph’s University Center for Church Management, Villanova University School of Business. For more information on the fundraising models, email the author.
Stephen J. Porthsporth@sju.edu