I mentioned in a previous post that I would shed some light in more detail about what the Development Committee is overseeing and doing.
First of all, the MAP Committee, which is an offshoot of the Committee, headed by Lauren Miller and Jennifer Schneider has been doing some incredible work in building the community feeling within the Maranatha Family. That group has been generating ideas and following through on them with wonderful results.
With the Committee's focus on attracting and retaining students there are a whole host of activities that are in our regular plan that strive to deliver on this focus.
Marketing
- Billboard signs
- Visitor Days
- Print adds (Shawnee Dispatch, Shawnee Chamber magazine, KC Parent, etc)
- Banner in Lenexa Baptist's gym
- Information Stand at Upwards
- Redesigning the web site
- Radio spots on Bott, KLJC, K-LOVE
- Replacing inquiry packets with a credit card size flash drive with all the info
Fund Raising
- MJM program - merchants sending a percentage of credit card processing revenue to MA
- Raising funds for bleachers in the gym - Bleacher Buddy program
- Scrip card sales
- Donor appreciation gift books mailed
Public relations-
- Corporate Partner recognition reception
- Hosted Shawnee Chamber Coffee
- Heritage Council initiation - meeting with former board members and school administrators to share, get counsel and ask for their continued partnership in prayer and support
Near term focus-
- Evaluate our current efforts and then develop a new strategy to attract and retain students. In addition develop a plan for nurturing a donor base to help us fund our growth plans.
Hope this post helps provide a more holistic view of the activities of the school and encourages you to leverage these efforts to help us draw other Christian families to Maranatha.
New Landscaping
Beautiful new landscaping
Friday, February 25, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
5 Year Plan
Let's see if I can do this clearly and concisely:
Facilities: we are planning on being in our current facilities for the next 5 years. Therefore we will focus all capital investments in our North facility which we own and continue to minimize any investment in the south campus as we are leasing our facilities there. Specifically we have plans for improving the gym area and continue to do wise maintenance projects. A parallel effort will be to evaluate our options and develop plans for when the Lord begins to increase the number of students in our school
Development: their focus is to attract and retain students. So they will start with a near term focus on evaluating our efforts and developing a new strategy to attract and retain students. In addition we will be developing a plan for nurturing a donor base to help us fund our growth plans. The development committee needs to continue to raise $120,000 a year to help us meet our goals in facilities and program development.
Finance: Focus on getting a more competitive salary schedule, reduce the dependency on donations to fund our operations, and fund smart investments in the programs and facilities of our school which includes the start of an endowment fund. At the same time we will be looking at ways to generate income outside of tuition (i.e. profits from our preschool) to help us fund our operations and growth.
Planning: Prepare us for any transitions in leadership of our school.
That is the cliff notes version. Much more conversation about these should be had, but this provides an overview.
Facilities: we are planning on being in our current facilities for the next 5 years. Therefore we will focus all capital investments in our North facility which we own and continue to minimize any investment in the south campus as we are leasing our facilities there. Specifically we have plans for improving the gym area and continue to do wise maintenance projects. A parallel effort will be to evaluate our options and develop plans for when the Lord begins to increase the number of students in our school
Development: their focus is to attract and retain students. So they will start with a near term focus on evaluating our efforts and developing a new strategy to attract and retain students. In addition we will be developing a plan for nurturing a donor base to help us fund our growth plans. The development committee needs to continue to raise $120,000 a year to help us meet our goals in facilities and program development.
Finance: Focus on getting a more competitive salary schedule, reduce the dependency on donations to fund our operations, and fund smart investments in the programs and facilities of our school which includes the start of an endowment fund. At the same time we will be looking at ways to generate income outside of tuition (i.e. profits from our preschool) to help us fund our operations and growth.
Planning: Prepare us for any transitions in leadership of our school.
That is the cliff notes version. Much more conversation about these should be had, but this provides an overview.
Elementary Parents' Coffee
What a rich blessing this morning! I got to meet with a group of parents who are committed to the Maranatha Family and demonstrate that commitment by being involved many aspects of the school.
I shared many of the things I have posted on the blog: our 5 year plan concerning our facilities, development, finances and planning. I reviewed what we have been doing in these areas in the last few months and what we are planning to do in the next few months. Many of these things I have shared in previous posts. The best part of the time was the question and answer time. Many insightful questions and comments. I was honest and open and appreciated the frankness and receptivity. We don't have all the answers and as I shared with the group, we have some things we need to give some urgent attention to: raising the bar on our development efforts and finding other sources of revenue to minimize the need to rely on tuition increases.
I really enjoyed my time and thank Laura Burch for the opportunity to talk with the parents and I hope there are more similar opportunities in the near future.
I shared many of the things I have posted on the blog: our 5 year plan concerning our facilities, development, finances and planning. I reviewed what we have been doing in these areas in the last few months and what we are planning to do in the next few months. Many of these things I have shared in previous posts. The best part of the time was the question and answer time. Many insightful questions and comments. I was honest and open and appreciated the frankness and receptivity. We don't have all the answers and as I shared with the group, we have some things we need to give some urgent attention to: raising the bar on our development efforts and finding other sources of revenue to minimize the need to rely on tuition increases.
I really enjoyed my time and thank Laura Burch for the opportunity to talk with the parents and I hope there are more similar opportunities in the near future.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tuition
It was brought to my attention yesterday, that it might appear that there was not a tight connection between the Board's position on the communication of tuition increases and what was communicated on my last post and the tuition letter that went out last week. So let me add some context to the timing and re-state the rationale for the increases.
The Board and the Administration have a strong desire to carefully consider tuition increases to fund operational needs and growth opportunities as a third option after generating as much income from our pre school as possible and striving to add more students to our Maranatha family. This was clarified and stated in our Board meeting last Thursday, the 17th. The tuition letter had already been drafted and was caught just in time to add a sentence of explanation for the tuition increases.
The tuition increases were primarily due to two factors. The first reason was the majority of the cause. Our teachers and staff have not had pay raises in 3 years and with our pay scale significantly under schools in our area, we are at risk of retaining and attracting teachers and staff. They are the main face and personality of the school, so we felt it was a priority to reward them for their service. Secondly, we have developed a 5 year plan for maintaining and growing the effectiveness of the Maranatha experience. That was the other main cause for the tuition increase.
Please know that the Administration and staff are diligently monitoring expenses and making adjustments to keep costs down. And as I said in my last post, we will be aggressively seeking to minimize future increases by seeking to make our pre school return to its profitability of years past.
Please let me know if you have questions or feedback
The Board and the Administration have a strong desire to carefully consider tuition increases to fund operational needs and growth opportunities as a third option after generating as much income from our pre school as possible and striving to add more students to our Maranatha family. This was clarified and stated in our Board meeting last Thursday, the 17th. The tuition letter had already been drafted and was caught just in time to add a sentence of explanation for the tuition increases.
The tuition increases were primarily due to two factors. The first reason was the majority of the cause. Our teachers and staff have not had pay raises in 3 years and with our pay scale significantly under schools in our area, we are at risk of retaining and attracting teachers and staff. They are the main face and personality of the school, so we felt it was a priority to reward them for their service. Secondly, we have developed a 5 year plan for maintaining and growing the effectiveness of the Maranatha experience. That was the other main cause for the tuition increase.
Please know that the Administration and staff are diligently monitoring expenses and making adjustments to keep costs down. And as I said in my last post, we will be aggressively seeking to minimize future increases by seeking to make our pre school return to its profitability of years past.
Please let me know if you have questions or feedback
Friday, February 18, 2011
February Board Meeting
We had a productive Board meeting last night but we did not have time to get to the facilities question that I thought we would. Therefore we will carry that over to a priority discussion for our March meeting which is scheduled for March 31st.
Facilities Committee report: The focus was on planned work as most recently the air lock entrance to the gym was completed. So next up is the monument sign at the North Campus which the Committee is committed to having in place before the school year is out. Also for consideration were summer projects to install bleachers (if the funds come in) and to install more impactful signage for our gym entrance. They are also examining security/communication options for the North Campus for installation next year.
Planning Committee report: they are continuing to lead the Board in the process of having an intentional succession plan in place. After 18+ months of Board work, the next step is to gather input from representatives of the Maranatha Family as to important parts of this process. So Sean Slattery and I will be conducting focus group sessions with parents, teachers and administrators in March to gather that input.
Development Committee report: 1) Affirmed a 5 year plan for the committee (I will share more about this in a separate post). 2) They are considering some additional signage options on the west end of the North campus facing Swarner Park. 3) Developing plans for getting the right person and/or people engaged to build a strategy and have the time to carry out a funding development effort (also more in another post). 4) There are many Marketing, Fund Raising and Public Relation activities going on (more in...you guessed it...another post).
Finance Committee report: We continue to celebrate the Lord's faithfulness as our operation budget continues to be in good shape. We have a positive balance which will help us continue to invest in the school and our people so that we can maximize our efforts in accomplishing our Mission. One priority investment we are going to make is increasing the compensation for our professional and support staff. As contracts go out next month, we have built into the planned budget for next year raises for all teachers and support staff. The Board was enthusiastically in support of this action and to fund it supported a tuition increase for next year in light of the fact that salaries have been frozen for 3 years. Our last item was to ask for a focused evaluation by an industry expert on our pre school. When run at the appropriate capacity, the pre school generates a significant profit that in the future could help us restrain tuition increases while allowing for a stable operating budget and funding growth at our school. As we dive into this evaluation, I will be sharing more of our plans.
The final hour of our meeting was devoted to position statements concerning our handling the finances of the school. After much discussion, we agreed to the following in principle:
1) To fund growth and our operating budget increases, we will look to other income outside of tuition and increasing enrollment as our top priority source. For the near term future we desire that this type of income be generated from our pre school since it aligns well with our Mission, it is a business already in place, and it has in the past generated significant profits.
2) We directed the Development Committee to seek to further restrain tuition increases by intentionally and aggressively seeking to grow the number of students enrolled in Maranatha. We will need your help to reach your Christian friends and be an advocate for Maranatha to them.
3) We will continue to be very judicious concerning increasing tuition rates. Any tuition rate increases should be carefully justified and communication as to the necessities of those increases should be communicated to the Maranatha family.
I hope this information is helpful to you, and as always, I encourage your input on these matters.
Facilities Committee report: The focus was on planned work as most recently the air lock entrance to the gym was completed. So next up is the monument sign at the North Campus which the Committee is committed to having in place before the school year is out. Also for consideration were summer projects to install bleachers (if the funds come in) and to install more impactful signage for our gym entrance. They are also examining security/communication options for the North Campus for installation next year.
Planning Committee report: they are continuing to lead the Board in the process of having an intentional succession plan in place. After 18+ months of Board work, the next step is to gather input from representatives of the Maranatha Family as to important parts of this process. So Sean Slattery and I will be conducting focus group sessions with parents, teachers and administrators in March to gather that input.
Development Committee report: 1) Affirmed a 5 year plan for the committee (I will share more about this in a separate post). 2) They are considering some additional signage options on the west end of the North campus facing Swarner Park. 3) Developing plans for getting the right person and/or people engaged to build a strategy and have the time to carry out a funding development effort (also more in another post). 4) There are many Marketing, Fund Raising and Public Relation activities going on (more in...you guessed it...another post).
Finance Committee report: We continue to celebrate the Lord's faithfulness as our operation budget continues to be in good shape. We have a positive balance which will help us continue to invest in the school and our people so that we can maximize our efforts in accomplishing our Mission. One priority investment we are going to make is increasing the compensation for our professional and support staff. As contracts go out next month, we have built into the planned budget for next year raises for all teachers and support staff. The Board was enthusiastically in support of this action and to fund it supported a tuition increase for next year in light of the fact that salaries have been frozen for 3 years. Our last item was to ask for a focused evaluation by an industry expert on our pre school. When run at the appropriate capacity, the pre school generates a significant profit that in the future could help us restrain tuition increases while allowing for a stable operating budget and funding growth at our school. As we dive into this evaluation, I will be sharing more of our plans.
The final hour of our meeting was devoted to position statements concerning our handling the finances of the school. After much discussion, we agreed to the following in principle:
1) To fund growth and our operating budget increases, we will look to other income outside of tuition and increasing enrollment as our top priority source. For the near term future we desire that this type of income be generated from our pre school since it aligns well with our Mission, it is a business already in place, and it has in the past generated significant profits.
2) We directed the Development Committee to seek to further restrain tuition increases by intentionally and aggressively seeking to grow the number of students enrolled in Maranatha. We will need your help to reach your Christian friends and be an advocate for Maranatha to them.
3) We will continue to be very judicious concerning increasing tuition rates. Any tuition rate increases should be carefully justified and communication as to the necessities of those increases should be communicated to the Maranatha family.
I hope this information is helpful to you, and as always, I encourage your input on these matters.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Can You Be a Bleacher Buddy?
I ask about the Bleacher Buddy participation, because it is another step in our journey to provide the facilities and equipment to have the quality of educational experience we would like to offer through Maranatha. I purposely used the word step because, as any homeowner knows, you are never done with the upkeep, enhancement and modifications to our facilities. So there will be future steps, and we need everyone to carefully consider how they can be involved in each step.
I think the Lord has provided us with some nice and very usable facilities at our North campus. And since the Lord owns them and we provide stewardship, it is wise to make investments in the property to maximize its use and leave a good perception of our school on those who visit whether they be other schools or prospective families.
So I hope you will prayerfully and carefully evaluate how you are going to be involved in the upcoming plans for improving the value and usefulness of the gym area. We just added the airlock doors to the north entrance. Next up is adding bleachers which will allow us to host homecoming, league sports showcases, and other larger events in our gymnasium. Then we would like to put in some team locker rooms complete with showers, sinks, toilets and changing areas. It is not a great experience for visiting teams to change in the classrooms. We also need to seriously upgrade our bathrooms. There will be other steps, but hopefully you will share and participate in our excitement to improve those gifts the Lord has given to us.
I think the Lord has provided us with some nice and very usable facilities at our North campus. And since the Lord owns them and we provide stewardship, it is wise to make investments in the property to maximize its use and leave a good perception of our school on those who visit whether they be other schools or prospective families.
So I hope you will prayerfully and carefully evaluate how you are going to be involved in the upcoming plans for improving the value and usefulness of the gym area. We just added the airlock doors to the north entrance. Next up is adding bleachers which will allow us to host homecoming, league sports showcases, and other larger events in our gymnasium. Then we would like to put in some team locker rooms complete with showers, sinks, toilets and changing areas. It is not a great experience for visiting teams to change in the classrooms. We also need to seriously upgrade our bathrooms. There will be other steps, but hopefully you will share and participate in our excitement to improve those gifts the Lord has given to us.
Prepping for February Board Meetings
Tommorrow starts the committee meeting journey leading up to the February 17th Board meeting. First up is the Planning Committee chaired by Sean Slattery with Jim Cotton, Chris Wojcik and Dr Daugherty participating. I join as an ad hoc member. Our attention will be on getting some focus groups set up in the next 30 days to gather input on the succession planning work that this committee has been working on for the past 18 months.
The Development Committee will meet on the 15th with plenty to talk about: the recently announced Bleacher Buddy program, future development of the North Campus; input from the Maranatha family about future plans for the school, marketing, attracting and retaining students and families and whatever else we can fit into a hour and a half meeting. Your Dev Committee is chaired by Dr Daugherty with Brandyn West, Dennis Wiley and Shawn Stewart serving.
The Finance Committee will meet on the 17th. I chair this committee and our primary topic of discussion will be salary contracts that will need to be sent out in March. I will report from our last meeting that our financial situation allowed us to provide a small stipend to our teachers and staff. Praise the Lord! We are also diligently monitoring the budget so that we can fund future growth in salaries, development activities and programs. Blake Welch, Dr Daugherty, Bernie Zarda and Rob Metcalf (Rob and Bernie are not currently on the Board) serve on the Committee.
In the Board meeting on the 17th we will discuss motions and results from the committees as well as tackle a couple of Board position statements concerning a definition of growth and governing concepts for financial management.
The Development Committee will meet on the 15th with plenty to talk about: the recently announced Bleacher Buddy program, future development of the North Campus; input from the Maranatha family about future plans for the school, marketing, attracting and retaining students and families and whatever else we can fit into a hour and a half meeting. Your Dev Committee is chaired by Dr Daugherty with Brandyn West, Dennis Wiley and Shawn Stewart serving.
The Finance Committee will meet on the 17th. I chair this committee and our primary topic of discussion will be salary contracts that will need to be sent out in March. I will report from our last meeting that our financial situation allowed us to provide a small stipend to our teachers and staff. Praise the Lord! We are also diligently monitoring the budget so that we can fund future growth in salaries, development activities and programs. Blake Welch, Dr Daugherty, Bernie Zarda and Rob Metcalf (Rob and Bernie are not currently on the Board) serve on the Committee.
In the Board meeting on the 17th we will discuss motions and results from the committees as well as tackle a couple of Board position statements concerning a definition of growth and governing concepts for financial management.
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