37 years in, the processes have evolved. The mission has never changed.
“Through consulting, education, and coaching, we bring people, process, and ministry together to help build the Kingdom of God.”
This June 2026 marks the beginning of our 37th year in business for the Institute for School and Parish Development (ISPD). Seven years ago, in these same pages, I wrote about thirty years being “quite a milestone.” Seven years later, I find myself even more grateful — and even more convinced that the work we set out to do in 1989 matters more today than ever. It continues to be quite a ride, walking alongside Catholic schools, parishes, and (arch)dioceses across the country as they discern, plan, and build for the future.
When this company began, social media did not exist for Catholic institutions, online giving was not an option, and many schools and nearly all parishes had no formalized development or stewardship effort at all. The landscape has changed dramatically. What has not changed is the conviction at the heart of everything we do: that development is not fund-raising. Development is the meaningful, prayerful invitation of people into the mission and vision of a community — the engagement of their many gifts, most of which have little to do with money. Belonging leads to believing.
ISPD by the Numbers: Campaigns, Communities, and Catholic Leaders Trained
More than 500 Catholic schools, parishes, and (arch)dioceses. 120 capital campaigns. And we are only getting sharper.
Catholic Institutions We Served This Year: Capital Campaigns, Strategic Plans & More
ISPD proud to serve as outside counsel for Mercy McAuley’s capital campaign.
This past year has been one of the most active in our history. Across the country, our associates and I have had the privilege of guiding parishes, schools, and (arch)dioceses through feasibility studies, capital campaigns, strategic plans, and total stewardship processes. A few of the engagements that defined our 37th year:
- Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church, Sildell, Louisiana — a client of nearly three years, where a $6.7 million goal became more than $7.2 million in commitments. This spring we completed the “Welcome Home: Together We Build” Plan of Action, shaped beautifully by Father Jared Rodrigue’s reminder that Christ — not stewardship — is the cornerstone, and that stewardship is the fruit of an encounter with Him.
- Our Lady of the Lake, Mandeville, Louisiana — one of our earliest clients from 1989, still walking with us today through a multi-million-dollar campaign and Pacesetter Phase. Thirty-seven years of relationship in a single parish is its own quiet testimony.
- Mercy McAuley High School, Cincinnati — the re-launch of “Our Path. Our Pack.” toward a $10 million goal, with donor invitation materials built to carry the school’s story forward.
- Vandebilt Catholic High School, Houma, Louisiana — a completed Financial Feasibility Study moving into a full capital campaign, with operational and division leadership being formed and mentored.
- Our Lady of Mercy, St. Pius X, St. Francis of Assisi, Pope John Paul II High School, Archbishop Rummel High School, St. Matthew the Apostle, St. Alphonsus School, St. Mary/Catholic of Pointe Coupee, Mercy Montessori School, St. Francis Xavier, Our Lady of Light Family of Parishes, St. John Neumann, Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School, La Salle High School, the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Notre Dame Academy, the Diocese of Savannah, and Our Lady of Light Family of Parishes — feasibility studies, listening sessions, planning processes, educational webinars/workshops, and capital campaigns spanning Louisiana, California, Georgia, New York, Texas, Illinois, and Ohio, each one adapted to its own community’s palette, people, and mission.
Add to these our continuing partnerships with the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the Diocese of San Jose, and numerous schools and parishes engaged in assessments and strategic planning, and you have a portrait of a firm still very much in the field — still laboring in the vineyards.
Beyond Fund-Raising: Building Operational Vitality in Catholic Schools and Parishes
If there is one phrase that captures where ISPD stands at thirty-seven, it is Operational Vitality — the sustainable systems, healthy cultures, and clear processes that allow a Catholic community to thrive rather than merely survive. We have come to see that true vitality requires integration across seven areas: financial stewardship, strategic planning, resource management, innovation and adaptation, mission alignment, effective communications, and visionary leadership. This is the lens through which we now frame every engagement, and it is why we describe ourselves not as consultants, but as mission companions — the team who stays close, tells the truth even when it costs us, and measures success by whether we leave a community stronger than we found it.
“The goal of every ISPD engagement is the same: to leave your community stronger, more capable, and more deeply rooted in mission than when we arrived. The plan is the beginning. The people are the point.”
Summer Development School 2026: AI, Advancement & Catholic Leadership in New Orleans
Nothing captures the vibrancy of this anniversary year quite like our Summer Development School, gathering Catholic leaders from across the country at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside for three full days. This year’s program is our richest yet — four keynotes and more than two dozen breakout sessions on development, enrollment management, marketing, strategic planning, and leadership. We open with Adam Olenn on impact storytelling and close with longtime Catholic-school leader Faustin Weber on “From Chalkboards to ChatGPT: Four Decades of Leading Catholic Schools Through Technological Changes.” In between, Father Jared Rodrigue shares the story of St. Luke’s $7 million campaign from the pastor’s chair, and our associates lead working sessions on everything from major-gift receptions to planned giving to filling every seat in the school-choice era.
A thread runs through nearly every session this year: how the thoughtful use of AI can take administrative weight off our people so they can return to the one thing no tool can do — being present, eyeball-to-eyeball, to the donors and families who sustain a Catholic community. That same conviction drives the ISPD Compass, our mission-focused writing and strategy partner built on nearly four decades of Catholic institutional knowledge. It is not another chatbot; it is added capacity, trained on the very methodology behind every ISPD engagement.
And two sessions remain especially close to my heart — “Tales from the Trenches: 37 Years of Real Stories from Catholic Development Ministry” and “Using the Correct Development Language to Promote and Invite.” That second title is no accident. After thirty-seven years, I remain convinced that the words we choose matter: we invite; we do not “ask.” We help people invest in mission; we do not simply collect “gifts.” Language reveals what we truly believe — and when people come first, the dollars naturally follow.
Sustaining Catholic Development Ministry: ISPD’s Seven-I Approach for the Future
Thirty-seven years also brings an honest awareness: the greatest legacy of any mission-driven firm is not the founder, but the methodology and the people who carry it forward. We are not the firm we were in 1989 — and that is exactly the point. The mission that called us then calls us still, but the way we serve it keeps getting sharper. This year we began our most important internal project to date — capturing and transferring the ISPD approach to our associates so that the work continues and continues well.
At the center of that effort is the discipline that has always set us apart: the Seven-I Approach — Identify, Inform, Invite, Involve, Invest, Implement, and Improve. We continue building an annotated history of real engagements — for example: La Salle High School, Our Lady of the Lake, and St. Luke the Evangelist — so that the next generation of ISPD associates learns not from theory, but from genuine application. A new Vice President of Operations is expected this fall to help steward our standards, our processes, and our quality. The vineyard, God willing, will be tended long after I have stepped back from it.
Our team is what I am most proud of. ISPD’s associates bring more than 250 combined years of experience as superintendents, principals, development directors, enrollment managers, and parish leaders. They are not generalists who happen to serve Catholic clients; they are Catholic leaders who serve the Church. That is the foundation on which the next thirty-seven years will be built.
Gratitude to the Catholic Communities, Partners & Leaders Who Make ISPD’s Mission Possible
As always, there are far more people to thank than these pages can hold. To the (arch)bishops, pastors, principals, presidents, board members, and volunteers who trust us with their futures; to our associates who carry the mission across the country; to our National Advisory Board; to long-trusted friends and collaborators — Dan McKinley, Father Denny Hartigan, Wade Marshall and Margaret Kapow with NCEA — plus those whom we have lost but are certainly not forgotten — Father Jim Manning, Mike Guillot, Tim Clifford — and so many others; to Sister Angela Zukowski and the Institute for Pastoral Initiatives at the University of Dayton, where we continue to teach Catholic development; and to my family, whose patience with the travel and the late nights has never wavered — thank you. You are ISPD.
Thirty-seven years of “laboring in the vineyards” and making new wineskins. The juxtaposition still delights me. Your community’s story isn’t finished — and neither is ours. We have so much more to share, and the future looks bright. Thank you for continuing with us on this journey, and for allowing us to serve you. Hopefully, our paths will continue to cross.
In service to the Kingdom,
Frank Donaldson
President and Founder
Institute for School and Parish Development
