Steve Virgadamo, the Associate Superintendent for Leadership at Archdiocese of New York shares his knowledge on the best ways to grow a Catholic education institution. Enjoy the presentation and be sure to share. Thank you!
2. Sometimes the question of scalability comes up when discussing
Catholic school and their ability to grow beyond their humble
beginnings
How can the schools continue to build new additions to existing
buildings/erect new buildings, provide athletics and activities for all
students, and give back to the community as a whole, all while
remaining in business?
Most Catholic schools have bookkeepers or business managers
that look after all finances coming in and going out of the school,
and it is their job to allocate costs accordingly
Below you will find a few key ways to grow your Catholic school
3. Increased Fundraising
Whats better than feeling good by doing good?
Not much at all!
Giving back to the local community as well as select areas of the
world that require help outside of their normal means is a very
important part of Catholic education and the personal growth of
young men and women
Increasing fundraising allows schools to not only grow their
institution but also help out countless people
For this step to be successful a school needs to look at their
donor base and the current procedures in place
Is there an annual giving program for donors, alumni, and current
students?
The best Catholic schools are tracking their donors
contributions as well as setting and resetting both short-term and
long-term goals
4. Strong Cash Flow
Don’t collect a vast majority of tuition at the end of
the school year, even though this is the norm and a
major benchmark for the books
A strong cash flow includes all your tuition, account
receivables, and other fees billed to parents or
guardians
This method is something that needs to be made
public knowledge for all families within the Catholic
school community
Offering parents or guardians a flexibility option
and remaining engaged with them can help the flow
of cash into the school throughout the year
5. Going Mobile
In this technologically savvy age of smartphones, tablets,
drones, and more it is extremely important to stay up to
date with it all
Although there may not be any need for drones flying
around campus, a mobile friendly website is a must
Mobile capabilities have grown exponentially in the past
few years and have become massively more important
since #Mobilegeddon , which essentially ramped up the
importance of mobile-friendly websites
Without being mobile-friendly your website and its
Google search result ranking may be affected in a
negative manner
6. Going Mobile Pt. II
Make sure your school’s website is clean, crisp, fast loading, and has
new and relevant information
Include all types of media and links that positively publicize the school
like videos of students, parents, and faculty about why they love the
school
Include the statistics from basketball game from last night
Some sites can massively help you by utilizing their software to
determine if your site is mobile-friendly, but none are better than
Google
7. Wrapped Up
In the end a strong cash flow, increased fundraising
activities, and having a strong website for mobile
users are at the top of the priority list when it comes
to growing your Catholic school
By accomplishing these necessary tasks you can
effectively and efficiently grow your school and
increase your school’s recruitment