Local News

Aug. 17, 2006

Catholic high schools build to meet Valley’s educational needs

By Andrew Junker
The Catholic Sun

A white truck and a few bulldozers sat in the middle of a dusty, flat field as construction began to transform the land into Seton Catholic High School’s new football field and track.

Seton staff and students view the progress as proof that their capital campaign will one day reach its goal.

An increasing demand for Catholic education coupled with aging campuses has meant that every Catholic high school in the diocese has either recently completed or is in the midst of a capital campaign, a special type of fundraising drive for large projects.

These projects might entail the building of a fine arts center, new classroom space, a better football field, or — in Seton’s case — all of the above.

“The way I’m talking about it with donors,” said Paula Osterday, Seton’s director of development, “we’re building an entirely new campus.”

Their campaign began more than five years ago when Seton completed a feasibility study that found a demand for more Catholic educational opportunities in the East Valley.

With no current plans to build additional high schools in the Chandler area, Seton set out to rebuild their school to accomodate 1,000 students, nearly doubling its current enrollment.

All told, Seton will have to raise $28.5 million to complete the project. And it’s only one of several ambitious campaigns in the Diocese of Phoenix.

Building frenzy

St. Mary’s High School in central Phoenix is raising money for a 35,000-square-foot, tri-level education center. The new facility will house new classroom space and an auditorium.

Down the road at Brophy College Preparatory, the school recently constructed a new library, fine arts center, a new mall and a sports campus.

Right next door at Xavier College Preparatory, the school has recently begun a “crisis campaign” to build a new convent for the school’s nuns.

On the west side of town, Bourgade Catholic High School undertook a new student services building and chapel while northeast Scottsdale’s Notre Dame Preparatory recently built a gymnasium, chapel, academic building, library, technology center and a guidance center.

While these massive projects may seem daunting, it falls to each school’s development director to impose a method in getting it done.

Keeping organized

For some schools, keeping the project on task means working with professional consulting firms.

Pat Farrell, St. Mary’s High School’s director of development, said that the consulting firm he hired was a key element in the campaign’s organizational process.

“A capital campaign is unlike any other fundraiser and demands special attention and a tremendous amount of involvement and organization,” he said. The consulting firm “was really instrumental in providing that expertise.”

Seton’s Osterday described campaign-consulting firms as professional fundraisers. They help define the campaign, design the brochures and case statements, create lists of potential donors and train the volunteers who actually solicit donations.

Seton enlisted a consulting firm to help raise $6 million for the first phase of their project. The school was so pleased with the results that they reengaged the company for the rest of the campaign.

Other schools keep the fundraising in-house.

Adria Renke, vice president of Brophy College Preparatory — a Jesuit-run high school nearing completion of a 10-year, $41 million capital campaign — said the school used a consultant only to train herself and Brophy President Fr. Ed Reese, SJ, in the “art and science of fundraising.”

The consultant “was there to advise us what works and what doesn’t work. Basically, when people feel they’re making a viable investment, they’ll invest in your school,” she said.

Alyssa Crockett, director of development for Xavier College Preparatory, which also does all of its own fundraising, said the outpouring of enthusiasm from supporters can be difficult to organize.

“It’s a matter of being fairly systematic,” she said, especially since all the schools “operate on very lean budgets and staff.”

Fund-finding, friend-raising

To counteract the “lean budgets,” the schools often marshal an army of volunteers to — as Renke put it — “hustle the cash.”

Osterday said that even with all the supplemental help provided by a consulting firm “you still have to be willing to pick up the phone, call, make an appointment and actually proposition someone to make a gift to the school.”

Finding a group of volunteers who have access to potential donors of “influence and affluence” is no easy task, Osterday said. It took her three months of one-on-one interviews to put together Seton’s initial team of volunteers.

Once assembled, the group began making solicitations by connecting with donors on a personal level.

“It’s not just about fundraising,” said Osterday. “It’s about friend-raising. It’s about engaging people about Seton, letting them know about our kids, telling the Seton story.”

For Carolyn Rock, director of development for Notre Dame Preparatory, getting the school’s story out was difficult.

“Notre Dame was clearly at a disadvantage in beginning a large campaign as a new school,” she said. The school did not have a “proven record. We were an unknown item.”

Once the new school found a cadre of leaders who “recognized and believed in the potential of the school,” the fundraising progressed quickly, Rock said, with $10 million raised in three years and an expected $1.6 million annually for the next four years.

Once donors believe in the school’s mission, they will continue to support the school, campaign after campaign, Crockett said.

She noted that mostly parents of alumnae formed the leadership heading up Xavier’s fine arts campaign. They “had seen the benefits of a Xavier education in their daughters and they remained committed” to the school even after their daughters had graduated.

“Friend-raising” keeps donors and volunteers giving throughout the years, but, as Renke said, it also attracts new friends to the school.

“We involve our constituency in the fundraising,” she said of Brophy. “Anyone who has already donated helps us gather other people to donate.”

This grassroots method is especially important in Brophy’s case since that the majority of the school’s donations come from private donors, Renke added.

Even so, she acknowledged the importance of certain foundations, notably The Virgina G. Piper Charitable Trust, which has donated to other Catholic schools in the Valley.

Construction complications

For some schools, raising the initial funds is only the first of many challenges.

Pat Farrell said St. Mary’s greatest difficulty arose in estimating the future inflated cost of building materials once construction was underway.

“We had been advised to figure a 10 percent cost increase over a two year period, and [the figure] came back at over 40 percent,” Farrell said.

This left St. Mary’s with a $1.5 million gap to fill.

And by when are the additional funds needed?

“It’s called ‘yesterday,’” Farrell said, adding that St. Mary’s has already tapped most of its fundraising resources in raising the $6.6 million needed to begin construction.

Notre Dame Preparatory faced a unique situation. The goal of their capital campaign is not the construction of new buildings, but the retirement of a loan that paid for buildings already completed.

When the site for Notre Dame was purchased in 2001, certain buildings had to be constructed or renovated to meet the students’ needs. The diocese allowed the school to renovate the location without first raising the funds.

While all the buildings are finished, Rock said it sometimes proves difficult to get people excited about donating to retire a debt.

With any large project, problems are bound to arise, suggested Renke. She advised that when a capital campaign seems stymied in difficulties, it’s important to “keep your head down and don’t lose focus.”

She said bettering Catholic education is a “great mission,” one in which Catholic schools throughout the diocese are participating.