Development Directions
ISPD’s team writes a monthly newsletter on advancement, enrollment management, and strategic planning in Catholic schools and parishes.
Back to School Night and Vision Articulation
All across the country next month, the majority of Catholic schools will open for the 2024 -- 2025 school year and many will open with the infamous "Back to School Night". What a wonderful time for marketing and promoting the value of your school. These can be teachable and/or impressionable moments. Remember that old saying: “You only get one chance to make a first impression.” WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND WITH THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR! This is one that many Catholic schools open with, and for many, this is where first impressions are made – especially for new families and...
ISPD Circle of Catholic Champions
In celebration of our 35th anniversary in June 2024, ISPD is announcing our first Circle of Catholic Champions. This is a combination of individual Catholic leaders, parishes, schools, and (arch)dioceses that ISPD has worked with in the past 35 years. They represent the following traits that exhibit true Catholic Development – Advancement – Stewardship excellence: Commitment to engaging people Belonging leads to believing culture Proactive thinking Excellent stewardship of resources they have been given Collaborative leadership Ability to create and share an innovative and dynamic vision Mission-driven results Commitment to bringing people to Christ and Christ to people This first...
ISPD Celebrates 35th Anniversary Year
(Editor’s Note: This Special Edition newsletter is about the early history of ISPD, the people, and the events that made it happen. I will admit from the beginning that not everyone who receives information from ISPD is going to be interested in how this company got started. It is written with two purposes in mind: 1. As a celebration of our 35 year anniversary, to share the early (and fragile) moments that allowed ISPD to be born; 2. For those who have just started or are thinking about beginning their own company, the fine lines between success and failure and how...
Two Important Ingredients for 2024-2025: “PD” and “SGP”
Professional Development and Strategic Growth Plan. In the battle today for individual sanity and institutional survival, these two ingredients rise to the top as we begin to put the “wrap” on the 2023-24 fiscal year. Professional Development First, let me get my bias out of the way. ISPD is hosting our annual Summer Development School here in New Orleans on June 18 – 20, 2024. This will be the 35th anniversary of our company. Would I like to see you attend? Absolutely! However, there is more to this newsletter on professional development than just a “pitch” for our annual conference....
Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying
This is the famous quote that Andy Dufresne says to Red in the movie The Shawshank Redemption. The message is clear: Life can be spent going through the motions and waiting around for something to happen (reactive), or life can be spent making things happen (proactive). I recently hit the REFLECT button a few weeks ago. With 2023 behind us, the second month of 2024 moving quickly, Catholic Schools’ Week activities on the horizon, and the Lenten Season right upon us, I took time to download and read some publications that were recommended to me. They all reminded me of...
ISPD’S Catholic Development Resolutions for the New Year
Happy New Year! We hope the Christmas Holidays were a wonderful and blessed time for you and your family to grow closer, share stories, worship together, and get that well deserved “down time” that all of us need in order to charge the battery. Here’s wishing that 2024 may be a healthy, prosperous and joy-filled year for you, both personally and professionally. Here at ISPD, we find it beneficial if we use the month of January as a way to take a look at what resolutions are worthwhile considering in order to grow and enhance our Catholic Development efforts. Every...
Revelant Post-Pandemic Macro Considerations for Catholic School Leaders
Hands-on the wheel with an intentional gaze forward, we briefly look into the rearview mirror and see remnants of the Cares Act of 2020, the Paycheck Protection Program 1 and 2, PPP Loan Forgiveness, and the EANS program, all providing a stimulus to the operational vitality of Catholic schools over the past forty months. Looking further ahead as we maneuver along, the winds before us are changing, blowing from different directions, causing us to momentarily consider how these forces will affect our movement and trajectory. Purposeful reflection reveals that pandemic-fueled federal programs behind us were helpful as Catholic schools took...
Don’t Let Giving Tuesday Pass You By!
It’s the most wonderful (and busiest) time of the year! For school administrators, the final two months of the calendar year can be the most hectic – between the end of fall sports, the start of winter sports, parent-teacher conferences, annual fund kickoffs, high school open houses, and all the multitude of special holiday events that fill our calendars. For many Catholic school administrators, the countdown to Christmas Break starts before Thanksgiving break begins. Nestled right in the middle of all this end-of-year chaos is a big opportunity for your school to expand its ripples of philanthropic giving and invite...
A Pause for Prayer, A Cause for Mourning
January 3, 2025
10 min
Here in the Greater New Orleans Area, where our company is located, all of us at ISPD extend our sympathies and condolences to those who were killed and/or injured in the early New Year’s Day tragedy on Bourbon Street. We are heartbroken and grieve for those families having to endure the reality of this senseless act. New Orleans is a city built on resilience. Through the years, we have faced adversity and risen stronger. As a friend of mine said this morning, “We stand together, not just in mourning, but in our resolve to heal and grow from adversity.” Mardi Gras will go on; the Super Bowl will be held, the spring festivals will take place, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will be staged; and our company’s annual three-day conference (ISPD Summer 2025 Development School) in June will welcome Catholic leaders from throughout the country. We will rise and come back better than ever. As we said in our December Christmas story: “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.” Candles of remembrance, respect, reverence, and hope are lit in the City of New Orleans.
Case Study: Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux Enrollment Management Plan (Part II)
December 13, 2024
6 min
Optimize your school's enrollment with strategic management. Learn how to attract, enroll, and retain students while meeting budget goals.
Case Study: Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux Enrollment Management Plan (Part I)
November 23, 2024
4 min
Enrollment management is an intentional, strategic process employed by schools that focuses on attracting, admitting, enrolling, retaining, and supporting families from admittance through graduation. Enrollment management historically began in higher education and has expanded into primary and secondary education.
Capital Campaigns: Why do Some Succeed and Some Fail?
October 21, 2024
6 min
Do you ever wonder why some capital campaigns in Catholic schools and parishes are successful and some...
How will 2024-25 Be Different in Your Catholic School and/or Parish?
August 15, 2024
6 min
HOW WILL 2024-25 BE DIFFERENT IN YOUR CATHOLIC SCHOOL AND/OR PARISH? One of the greatest joys in...
Back to School Night and Vision Articulation
July 17, 2024
7 min
All across the country next month, the majority of Catholic schools will open for the 2024 --...
