Catholic School Enrollment Talk

ISPD is your Catholic School Enrollment Solution for maintaining and/or increasing the quantity, quality, or diversity of your elementary or secondary Catholic school enrollment.

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Need More Students in the Fall?
Try These Tips Over the Next 60 Days

By John Cooper, ISPD Enrollment Specialist

• Work your parish bulletins with eye-catching "Good News" and pictures
  Stop it right now. You heard me. Stop doing it right now. Stop putting "boring" material about your school in the parish bulletin. Things like "Meet and Greet" for the 2009-10 school year will be held on August 19. BORING! I don't know of any studies related to how long a busy mom or dad reads the parish bulletin on Sunday morning, but it's safe to assume you have a narrow window of opportunity to grab their attention. How about an eye-catching title, a picture (that's worth a thousand words), and text to further explain the story?
  
  Here's an example:
  • 8th Grader Awarded Prestigious Scholarship
    Timmy Sample, eighth grader at St. Example Catholic School was accepted into Bishop Example High School. Timmy won the prestigious Bishop's Scholarship. This scholarship will cover Timmy's entire tuition. While at St. Example, Timmy not only excelled in his studies, but he also was involved with the Academic team, CYO basketball team, and chess club. He has been an active volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. Congratulations Timmy!
    (If possible, include a photo of Timmy with his family)
• Offer a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee
  Speak to the person who is worried about the financial implications of a decision to enroll at your school. You might not be able to do anything about the cost of tuition, but you sure can speak to the value of what you have to offer. As one way of doing this, how about offering a 30-day money back guarantee? Place the guarantee in your parish bulletin. Send it out to all those who have expressed an interest in your school. Use it as an excuse to phone call your prospects who maybe haven't given your school the time of day up and until now.
• Host an Information Session this summer that's not an Open House
  We often shy away from Open Houses over the summer months for two primary reasons. One is that we are worried about getting enough staff, teachers, and parent volunteers together to host it. Second is that we might have such a small turnout that it will negatively portray the school to the small number of prospects who do show. Moving from an Open House format to an Information Session format solves these two problems. In the Information Session you can go with as little as the principal and 2 teachers plus 6 school parents and a recent 8th grade graduate for a total of 10 persons. Meet in the library or some other comfortable room in the school. Set out 15 chairs (with more close by, if needed) organized in a way to facilitate discussion.
  
  Follow this sample agenda:

1.       Welcome, Introductions, and Opening Prayer - Principal

2.       What our school has to offer your child - Principal

3.       What our classroom teachers have to offer your child - Teachers

4.       How the school has benefited our family - Parents

5.       How the school has benefited me - 8th Grade Graduate

6.       Questions

7.       Closing Prayer

8.       End with tour of the school

• Story Telling is the "in" thing in Marketing Today - Use it for Your School
  My continuing marketing education happens every day as I receive at least 3 and sometimes more marketing related newsletters from experts across the country. Sometimes their marketing advice is not applicable to Catholic school marketing. However, the constant "mantra" today in marketing is to use story telling to get your message across. This is perfect advice for Catholic schools as the story of how you change the lives of your students and families is literally unfolding every day.
  
  I recommend the following:

• Set a goal of writing one or two of your stories this summer.
• Do some brainstorming to surface particularly compelling human interest stories from within your school.
• To learn the 5 essential ingredients in telling a good story, read Andrea Jarrell's advice at http://ajschoolofthought.blogspot.com/2009/04/5- storytelling-essentials.html.
• With permission to write the story, interview the students/families involved in these human interest stories.
• Select local newspapers that especially during summer months are looking for news. Keep in mind that many of these newspapers are working with fewer reporters.
• Don't just rely on your story being picked up by a newspaper. Run it in the parish bulletin. Place it on the homepage of your school web site.

Note: Here's an easy way to get your school free publicity. Ask a recent graduate to write a "Letter to the Editor" thanking the school for what it did for them.

Here are a couple more things that I would suggest you do over the summer.

• Phone call - one more time - all eligible prospects as well as other inquires that have not registered. If these persons have been called previously, it might work better to have someone else (representing another dimension of your school) call them. For instance, if the principal has called them, then have a faculty member make the call. If a faculty member has called them, then have a school parent make the call. If there is still interest, it is important that your phone callers be more direct in laying out next steps to enrollment. If there is no interest, it is important that your phone callers be more direct in attempting to learn where the person has chosen to enroll and why.
• Contact your local public library and volunteer to offer a session for parents (during the summer reading program) about preparing a child for school. Often times there is nothing for a parent to do while waiting for the child. Use your expertise and share your wisdom. It creates good will and just maybe interest in your school. Also, while making contact with the local public library, see if you can set up a display about the "Top 10 Things to do in Preparing a Child for School."
• Don't get mad at me for stating the obvious, but have a system in place to respond to phone inquiries over the summer. If there is not going to be someone at the school at times over summer, what is going to be the protocol to follow up with those prospects that make contact?
• Teachers will not like me for including this final piece of advice. Teachers should make personal contact with each family enrolled over the summer to help "on-board" students and to minimize "melting" that might occur, especially in an economy where we are quickly approaching 10% unemployment. One-way communication such as a postcard through the mail just can't pick-up on the fact that dad or mom has lost a job!

Let me summarize by using a baseball analogy for enrollment initiatives over the summer. Just like in baseball, the Catholic school recruitment season is a long one. Catholic schools have to hustle and run out every ground ball (inquiry lead that comes in) whether it comes in the first inning or the last. You can make an error or two and still end up making the plays necessary to win the game or at least learn enough to improve. It's not over until the last out. At the end of the game, place your hope in tomorrow!

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Spiritual Thought

On the internet the other day, an online friend shared a profound quote from an unnamed source. As we conclude the school year, I think that quote holds meaning for how we should move forward. The quote reads, "Forgiveness is the utter abandonment of all hope that you will ever have a better past." May the Spirit of our good God help us to forgive any hurts or misunderstandings from 2008-09 and place our hope in 2009-10. Peace Be with You!

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Upcoming ISPD Webinar Series

ISPD is pleased to offer a year-long series of monthly $39.00 Webinars on Catholic Development.

Scheduled topics:

• Jul 2009 - Understanding True Catholic Development
• Aug 2009 - Role of the Pastor and/or Principal in Catholic Development
• Sep 2009 - Value of a Development Core Team
• Oct 2009 - Organizing the Annual Fund
• Nov 2009 -Enrollment Management: Increasing & Retaining Students
• Dec 2009 - 25 Ways to Engage More People into the Life of Your Catholic Institution
• Jan 2010 - Organizing & Implementing the Total Stewardship Process
• Feb 2010 - How to Invite the Gifts
• Mar 2010 - Getting Ready for a Capital Campaign
• Apr 2010 - Integrating Total Quality & "Customer Service" into Your Catholic Development Efforts
• May 2010 - Hosting a Gift Reception
• Jun 2010 - How to Effectively Host Input Sessions/Town Hall Meetings

Exact dates and times will be announced by June 22.

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Spring 2009 Development Workshops

ISPD Workshops Delve Into Depth

One day workshops presented by ISPD offer Catholic leaders throughout the country an in-depth experience on a specific topic. For more than twenty years, ISPD has been this country's leader in offering process-driven workshops that are practical, affordable, and interactive. 98% of all ISPD workshops receive a rating of 4 or 5 (out of a 1-5 rating system) by those in attendance. This spring ISPD will be presenting workshops on capital campaigns, engaging more people into the life of a Catholic parish, the best first steps in Catholic Development, enrollment solutions, long-range planning, and much more. Please visit our web site at www.ispd.com for the latest information and also to register on line.

ISPD Also Conducts On-Site Workshops

Offered to Catholic schools and parishes within a single diocese, these workshops are designed to meet your specific needs.

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Development Directions

Development Directions is our free monthly online newsletter for anyone engaged in the ministry of Catholic development. Hear about success stories in your neighboring schools and parishes that will give you the confidence to take the first step necessary towards successful development.

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Visit our ISPD Web Site for Free Resources

• One Day Development Workshops across the country
• Educational DVDs on Catholic Development
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• Monthly Newsletter Archives
• Library of Development Articles

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Visit our web site for free resources and valuable information. The Institute of School and Parish Development (ISPD) is a national, Catholic development consulting firm created to serve Catholic schools, parishes and dioceses in the areas of planning, marketing, fund-raising, and resource development.