Many schools’ annual fundraising efforts resemble running on a hamster wheel, with a lot of time and energy spent on fundraising activities, but not a lot of forward progress. They involve going from one event and “ask” to another all year long - creating donor, staff and volunteer fatigue. There is a better way!
As the classical Christian education movement continues to flourish, many growing schools are ready to go to the next level by acquiring property, expanding their facilities or funding key strategic initiatives.
This workshop emphasizes first-hand practical experience aimed to teach skills, tips and tricks to help individuals successfully apply for grants.
Classical, Christian schools are fueled by two things: prayer and money. This session will leave the prayer part to you (keep doing it). This session might help you with the money part.
Fundraising efforts are vital for the health and success of nonprofits to raise money, but you must strategically position each campaign you undertake to accomplish your financial and organizational goals.
Scott Rodin shares some approaches to ensure your strategic plan stays relevant and can adapt to whatever comes in the year ahead.
Brad Layland is the CEO of The FOCUS Group. He lives in St. Augustine, Florida, where he is a founding parent and serves on the board of trustees for Veritas Classical School. In addition, he serves on the boards of directors for Young Life St. Augustine, Christian Surfers US, the Reid Saunders Association, and Young Life of Greater New York, and is an elder at Good News Church. Brad received his BA in Communications from the University of Florida and his MA in Theology from Fuller Seminary. For over 35 years, The FOCUS Group has helped nonprofits raise money more effectively through capital campaign counsel, major donor strategies, planned and estate gifts, and training. It currently serves twelve classical Christian schools across the United States.
Enrollment and Re-Recruitment: Why do students come to your school? More importantly, why do they stay? Do you know? Are you sure? If not, you are quite possibly jeopardizing your ability to deliver on your mission. Building on the data of the preceding session, we will explore management and teacher strategies that will make a difference in a family’s decision for classical Christian education.
Brad Layland is the CEO of The FOCUS Group. He lives in St. Augustine, Florida, where he serves on the board of trustees for Veritas Classical School. In addition, he serves on the boards of Young Life St. Augustine, Christian Surfers US, the Reid Saunders Association and Young Life of Greater New York. Brad is an elder at Good News Church. He received his bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida and his master’s degee in theology from Fuller Seminary. For over 35 years, The FOCUS Group has helped nonpro ts raise money more effectively through capital campaign counsel, major donor strategies, planned and estate gifts and training. It currently serves seven classical Christian schools across the United States.
Are you consistently meeting your annual fund goal, or do you find yourself falling short or just getting by? In this session, participants will learn the fundamentals of fundraising: articulating the case for giving, developing leadership, clarifying and growing a prospect list, developing strategies, and building a plan.
Steve Godfrey and his co-presenter Brad Layland are experienced professionals who understand the dynamics of small classical Christian schools; Brad Layland serves on the board of St. Johns Academy in St. Augustine, FL and Steve Godfrey is a board member at Veritas School in Richmond.
Schools with fewer than 500 students often have a dif cult time identifying and cultivating donors who can make transformative gifts. Conventional approaches to high capacity fundraising often assume large development budgets and layers of fundraising activities
that smaller schools simply can’t sustain. In this workshop, participants will discover how community alignment, hiring decisions, shared leadership and measuring performance can dramatically increase the effectiveness of your school’s small development shop. Participants will leave provoked yet encouraged with a fresh perspective of how to design and implement their development office.
Jason currently assists BetterSchools partner schools with increasing their fundraising capacity. Before joining the BetterSchools consulting team, Jason’s fundraising career included launching a nation-wide major gift initiative; leading previously stalled and mid-recession capital campaigns; and organizing high-profile, record-breaking special events. In 2008, Jason received his initial certification as a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) and in 2011 was recognized as a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Master Trainers.
