By Hilary Anderson
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR

Fenwick High School’s Bob Dixon likes his job so much that he seldom stays in his office. The school’s director of development more likely can be found pounding the pavement talking to business owners, foundations and whomever else he can get to listen about why they should invest in Catholic education and specifically, Fenwick. It’s not unusual to find Dixon walking down LaSalle Street seeking out prospective donors or driving to a distant city or suburb with this single purpose in mind.

He and a host of other Catholic high school employees willingly face the daily challenge of seeking outside donations to help fund student scholarships, operating expenses and occasional special projects. They are known by several titles. Some call themselves development directors like Dixon, others fund-raisers. A few have adopted the new moniker, directors of institutional advancement.

“We have an extraordinary gift in our Catholic high schools,” said Dixon.

“This is the last bastion of opportunity to take youngsters when they are most impressionable and educate them in our faith. From these young people will come our future leaders. I am only doing my part to respond to the Gospel call to transform the world.”

Dixon’s peers tout an affection for the jobs that is no less sincere.

“We believe in our schools, Catholic education and the young people we see every day,” said Julianne Joyce, development director at St. Patrick High School.

“We have a true passion for what we do even though it sometimes can be exhausting and there’s not enough staff to do everything that needs to be done.”

Joyce says she keeps striving for more contributions because she knows there are young people who can not afford the tuition.

“You always need money,” she said. “You are never done.”

St. Scholastica’s Barbara Lynch lives in Elmhurst but makes the daily drive to her job as director of institutional advancement at the school’s far North Side location. She credits her love of the job in part to being a member of a visionary team that is led by a president who knows the importance of outreach.

“We are blazing the mission of Catholic education,” she said.

“No two days are alike but being able to relate to the students is one of the best parts. I could work at the job 24/7. It’s a wonderful position.”

Leo’s Pat Hickey bluntly says he loves going to work and serving as the high school’s development director. He shares credit for Leo’s financial success with everyone from the maintenance staff to the office workers to the management team. In particular, he credits Bob Foster, the school’s president, and Pete Doyle, principal, with taking the action that kept the school open. He says the school was in heavy debt and about to be closed in 1991 by those who previously operated it.

“Alumni and others came through, paid off the long-standing debt, helped make capital improvements and now the school has a cash flow that most thought would never happen,” said Hickey.

“There were so many good people that stepped up and helped. What made Leo a success is that its operation matches its mission. It’s so rewarding to be a part of this. I’m along for a happy ride.”

		“We believe in our schools, Catholic education and the young people we see every day,” said Julianne Joyce, development director at St. Patrick High School.

The development directors without exception talk about the positive aspects of their work but they also mention its many challenges. One of them is having much to do and being understaffed.

St. Francis de Sales’ Jeff Fiedler, school marketing and development director, calls it “spinning a lot of plates.” He has a staff of two full-time and one part-time person but like his peers could use more help.

“We wear many hats,” he said. “We promote the school, develop alumni contacts, coordinate events, recruit new students. It’s one project after another. We try to cultivate an image about our school that will encourage people to want to donate to us. Anything you do to promote the school has an effect on development.”

Regina Dominican’s Stephanie Garrity, director of development, faces a similar challenge. She has many projects to juggle.

“Because we are a smaller school, we are limited on personnel,” she said.“It takes effective time-management to oversee all the functions effectively.”

She credits the Adrian Dominican community with great foresight in their financial planning. But Garrity is quick to mention that a growing number of students at the Wilmette high school need financial help. She says 47 percent of the school’s enrollees come from Chicago and 26 percent of the student body requires tuition assistance. That’s up from 10 percent.

“I really enjoy the environment,” she said. “It’s a family-friendly place and the students help make it an even more positive atmosphere in which to work.”

Mary Kay Vincenti, vice president for development at Mother McAuley, is so concerned about developing new sources of donors that she keeps a paper and pencil on her night stand in case she gets an idea in the middle of the night.

“We are trying desperately to provide excellent education while keeping the tuition affordable,” she said. “How much more can you charge before you lose everyone? It sometimes keeps me up at night thinking about how to better market our school to potential donors.”

Jackie Matthews, director for institution advancement at Mother Guerin in River Grove, is another person whose development job occasionally keeps her up at night. She is a professionally trained fund-raiser. Even with a staff of two full-time and three part-time people, Matthews says there are not enough hours in the day.

“There always are so many more things I want to do to cultivate new resources,” Matthews said. “If you have a good mission and know how to treat people, the money will come.”

Not all high school development people have formal training in fund-raising.

Jane Gardiner teaches, recruits and does development work at St. Barbara, a high school she describes as one that helps girls who “fall between the cracks.” Gardiner was a banker for 18 years but always wanted to teach. She says, “Life got in the way.”

Unlike many of her peers who held previous jobs in fund-raising, Gardiner wasn’t quite prepared for her development role.

“I did not realize how important the development position is,” she said. “I was really scared the first time but astounded at how many people wanted to help as long as you presented a project that interested them.”

She recalled approaching the White Foundation for funds. “They took me through the process step-by-step. I give them a lot of credit. It would have been easier to deal with someone already in-tune with how it works.”

Gardiner now is building on her success to find money to pay for a remedial intervention specialist who can work with both students and teachers.

“St. Barbara’s niche is students who need extra nurturing,” she said. “We have that caring, family atmosphere here. It is special to watch them grow to believe in themselves and fun to be part of it all.”

Many of the development people have suggestions about ways to make fund-raising more effective for Catholic schools.

“We have a tremendous job to do of educating potential donors about the history of our Catholic schools,” said Catherine Karl, president of Queen of Peace in Burbank.

“Many of them were founded and staffed by religious congregations. That has changed as have other things in the world. Many of the adults who were the recipients of that fine education have moved away. We must now look elsewhere for endowments to continue that fine tradition. We also have the challenge of informing them [potential donors] about the significant impact their gifts could make. Catholic schools are about more than religion classes. From them come our future leaders.”

Harry Vande Velde, president of St. Benedict high school and grade school, suggests that one of the challenges many Catholic schools face is acquiring a working cohesiveness. Many have been operated by religious orders as independent entities.

“The majority of them have operated like separate ships,” he said. “They must learn to work together for their mutual benefit.”

Vande Velde also says Catholic schools should refine the art and science of fund-raising as they know it.

“We all have to become much better at friend-raising and fund-raising,” he said. “The more people you get interested in your mission, the more they will invest in you.”

Gordon Tech’s Bob Keeley is very specific about what he thinks Catholic schools need.

“One of the universities in the Chicago area or an archdiocese office should set up training in development for the presidents and development directors of the schools,” he said.

“The church and Catholic higher education leadership need to provide a pipeline of trained experts to be ready to step up and bring development expertise across the board of our Catholic high schools to a much higher and wider professional level.”

David McCreery, president of St. Joseph High School in Westchester, adds his suggestions to make development more effective in Catholic schools.

“We must generate revenue to keep tuition affordable,” he said.

“In order to do that we must keep up with the Joneses to be successful. We must be more sophisticated in our approach. Universities have large staffs to generate contributions. They have glossy and classier materials to attract potential donors. Most of us do not. We are 40-50 years behind Catholic universities in learning how to solicit big money. It’s not that we are not doing a good job. We just have to spend money to make money.”

McCreery also thinks Catholic school development people must improve their professional approach in order to be more effective.

“The business now is very competitive,” he said. “The sphere of foundations is limited. We as a group must pull in professional grant-writers, use professional mailing services.”

Tom Inzinga, director of institutional advancement at Marist, expands on his peers’ comments.

“In-service training for development directors must be more informative,” he said.

“There generally has been a lack of professional training. You can’t expect novices to solicit large funds until you’ve shown them how. Unless there are big donations coming in, more Catholic schools will close. This training should go down to grade schools, to the boiler plate level. Perhaps some development directors can work pro bono with the grade schools. This is not a competition. We each have our own constituencies. We are all trying to further Catholic education. It’s an investment in everyone’s future.”