The Sustainability Myth: What’s the Aim and How We Compare

By Brandon Allen
Executive Director | Fortify Foundation

When we bring up the word “sustainable” I’m sure there are a number of things that come to mind. Often, it’s the challenges of today that rise to the surface because those are the immediate pressing hurdles that we have to cross over. Creating true sustainability is not a one and done procedure. It is an ongoing effort. But hopefully, in this process we’re creating a school that is:

Independent. Efficient. Resilient. Benevolent. Excellent.

These 5 words should be the aim of every Christian school! And yet statistics show that the average Christian school is not better off financially than when they started. Often the balance sheets and income statements have increased in the size of numbers they are working with, but their ability to withstand future economic downturns still looks bleak at best. 

Current planned strategies to address budgetary needs vary from state school choice offerings, increasing fundraising efforts, building a savings account, and of course, when necessary, cutting back budgets. Look at those 5 words above again. With those in mind, consider each of these current planned strategies and assess whether or not they meet the criteria of a truly sustainable school.

Strategy #1 – School Choice

Many states have been blessed with school choice options that have afforded their parents to makethe best choice for their kids to attend a private school at either an extremely affordable or completely discounted rate. Admittedly, I’ve been envious of relatives that have had this option as we compare our annual school bills. There is most certainly excitement on the horizon as our state has made some progress to institute this change (let alone what is happening at a federal level). There is no question that Christian schools will experience an influx of students when this occurs providing them a bit of flexibility in the budget that they may not have experienced before. This could afford schools a greater ability for excellence (i.e. facilities kept up to date, teachers paid better, and perhaps the ability to be a bit more benevolent). BUT at the end of the day, keeping a school’s independence will prove to be a bit more challenging. As one administrator put it, if this money is ever taken away, parents most likely won’t have the money to keep their kids in Christian school since that money has most likely been reallocated on bigger homes, newer cars, and boats. No doubt some will sacrifice those things for Christian education, but then it becomes a matter of how many families truly will and how it will impact our budgets. Hopefully, this won’t be the case but failing to plan around it most certainly isn’t a sustainable strategy.

Strategy #2 – Fundraising

Every school needs to be fundraising! This is an absolute must regardless of your financial situation or what your current needs are. Building a culture of philanthropy that further connects families to your mission has proven to be a key to creating further buy-in. It’s great when parents value what you offer enough to pay tuition for it. But that’s the minimum. It’s even greater when they are willing to go above and beyond by sacrificing for your mission! This is when you really know they appreciate what you have to offer! 

The one caveat to this is what you are fundraising for. Surveys have shown that 90%+ of Christian schools are fundraising just to meet budget. Thinking of our 5 words above… How many of our schools can operate in these realms if this is the case? Even worse, it could only take one economic recession to flip our schools completely over. That isn’t exactly a position of excellence. We are all beyond grateful for those individuals that have financially poured into our missions to get us to where we are today, BUT proper stewardship of those resources shouldn’t keep us in the same state. It’s a bittersweet moment when I share some simple steps schools could have taken in the past that would place them in a completely different financial position today. 

Strategy #3 – Savings

There are typically 2 schools of thought when it comes to money: 1. Cash is king. OR 2. Cash is trash. The former probably sticks out a little more than the latter phrase due to the organization that has become quite popular from it. My aim isn’t to refute or argue with either side. I have no doubt that both would agree the key is to allow the money to work for you! Unfortunately, a savings account is the exact opposite of money working for you. The only exception would be a high yield savings account, but the seasons for true high yields tend to be few and far between. It’s great to have a rainy-day fund that sustains us for a period of time should the need arise, but this shouldn’t be our only fallback plan. At best, this buys us a little more time but doesn’t ultimately build the resilience we need. 

Strategy #4 – Cutting Costs

There is no question that it takes a lot of money to successfully run an excellent school. We should always assess the budgets and look out for any unnecessary spending that might have crept in. A lot of this comes just due to the nature of how schools often run their budgets. 

For example, a school that has departmental budgets may discover their departments are spending more than is necessary to run a successful program for fear of losing money in future budgeting. If we show a continual surplus, that surplus might get repurposed. So, a department will choose to spend it on things that provide no added value for their departments just to keep those funds on hand. This may be insignificant over a short period of time amongst a couple of departments. However, this can create quite a bit of money being held up that could be stewarded better elsewhere.

But what about the times when we are forced into cutting expenses year after year just to meet budget? Perhaps this comes from a heart of benevolence in trying to keep costs down, but we are sacrificing excellence in the meantime. Maybe enrollment has dropped, and we are just attempting to survive this momentary season of transition. Hopefully, we have a plan beyond cutting costs since this won’t be a reasonable long-term strategy. 

In each of these current planned strategies, we’ve seen the shortcomings to accomplishing true sustainability in framing an independent, efficient, resilient, benevolent, and excellent school. The problem is we often focus on the symptoms and not the root problem. Sustainability is building a strategy that is able to accomplish all these things and place us in a truly stronger financial position. Not just for you, but for the generations that come after you. 

Based on the premise for Fortify Foundation’s existence in building a more sustainable future for Christian schools, we thrive in helping schools develop a stronger plan to keep their independence, become more efficient, maintain benevolence, continue to pursue excellence, all the while being more resilient.