Promoting Philanthropy in Catholic Schools

In development parlance, “fund-raising” is when we sell something to someone for the purpose of raising money—bake sales, car-washes, raffles and tickets for the annual dinner Gala, for example—and is therefore not tax deductible.  “Philanthropy” refers to straight up giving, either for unrestricted or restricted purposes, and is tax-deductible.

We in Catholic schools are excellent fund-raisers, but we are less adept in encouraging philanthropy. No doubt there are many reasons for this: the fact that we are parish schools wedded to a tithing model, such  that philanthropic appeals come primarily through the Church and not the school, the fact that we haven’t invested in development professionals, and the more generalized fact that we are short on administrative infrastructure across the board, meaning that principals don’t have time to "cultivate donors."  I think, too, there’s a general feeling that we already ask families to stretch to pay our tuitions, so we worry that asking for “more” seems to under-appreciate their commitment and make those unable to give feel inadequate. 

Even to the extent these are legitimate, I think it’s foolish of us to not focus more on improving philanthropic giving.  Let me address each of the concerns:

Yes, we ask for our parishioners to tithe, but some are more inclined to give generously to the school their children or grandchildren attend than to the parish they belong to or the priest that they are grumpy with. It doesn’t “take away” anything from the parish collections if philanthropists give to the parish school, since ultimately, the parish school’s money and the parish’s money are the same.  And in the case that the child’s family is from a different parish, even if a school appeal causes some discernible decrease in that other parish’s tithe, I’d argue the parish with the school is probably spending a lot more to support that school than whatever subsidy the second parish pays (once insurance, yard work, janitorial help, professional staffing and other “hidden” costs are factored in).

Yes, our Catholic schools are understaffed (especially our elementary schools—I have suggested ways to address this here), which limits how much philanthropic work our principals can do. But even with that, there are simple appeals that end up taking much less time (and raising more money) than the fund-raisers we do through-out the year. 

• At minimum, we should send out an “annual fund appeal” letter from a principal or deeply respected teacher in our school, with an envelope attached, during the November-December time frame.
• We should allow families to “check a box” to sponsor a second child’s tuition (or 50%, or 25%) whenever they register for next year, to “make the gift of Catholic education available for someone else.”
• At the annual gala, the principal of the school should make a brief public appeal on behalf of a few current (unnamed) families who are behind on tuition payments because of a job loss, or a divorce, or some unexpected event.  All of us have families that entered into tuition contracts with us in good faith, but because of an unforeseen event, are no longer able to meet their obligations. Most of us write these off, but we have families more than willing to help if they know their donations are going directly to these families and not to the “black hole” of administration.  I try to give just enough specifics about these families to inspire generosity without violating their confidentiality. We typically raise $15-25K in the couple of minutes it takes for me to make these appeals. Once I receive their gift, I call the family with the good news that an anonymous "angel" has given us money to support them, and ask them to send me a thank you letter, which I then pass on to the donor. 
• On-line giving is more prominent now than it was even three years ago, and is particularly used by our younger alumni. Putting a link on the web page is easy, and providing for this link in an email campaign in conjunction with the annual fund letter is a very efficient appeal.
• Ask your parish to include a “special collection” for the purpose of supporting the parish school during Catholic schools week or at some other appropriate time each year. Monies raised could either relieve the Church of that month’s allocation to the school, or could be used directly by the school itself.
• I believe that once a year during Sunday Masses, similar to what we do with the annual diocesan appeal, the pastor should appeal to his parishioners to make provisions for the Church or the school (again, it’s the same entity) in their will. Most families are incapable of making a transformative gift during their lifetime. But with a simple codicil in their will, they can leave their house, for example, (or 50%, or 33%, or 25% of it) to the school. Often parents create their wills when their children are very young, so they are concerned about providing for them and thus make them sole beneficiaries, but 20-30 years later, their children may be quite successful, so re-allocating a portion of their will to the Church is not unthinkable. There are likely lawyers and financial planners who would assist families in making a planned gift, gratis, as a means of contributing their services to Catholic schools.

Finally, as to the concern that asking parents for philanthropic gifts some how under-values the commitment they’re making with their tuitions, I think we simply need to get beyond that concern. For one, independent schools charge twice, three times or four times as much tuition as we do and ask their families (some, rather aggressively) to give to annual funds every year. Second, strapped families are not obligated to give if asked, and in fact, have other avenues to give, if inclined, through volunteer service. Third, we have to stop basing our decisions on the impact it might have on our least wealthy families! That formula simply won’t work for us over the long term because it subsidizes the wealthier families who can afford to give more, thus undercutting our ability to help those who can't more directly. It's the same with setting tuitions: we stress over whether our poorer families can absorb tuition increases of 3%, 4%, 5% or 6%,  but the truth is, our tuitions are already too high for these families, and whether we raise tuitions an extra 50, 100 or 150 dollars for the year doesn't matter nearly as much as whether we can give them $2,000 or $3,00o in direct financial aid. But we can't give that kind of aid unless we are maximizing revenue from those who can pay more. 

The mission of our schools is an extraordinary one. We should have no issues in asking people to support this mission in an extraordinary way.