Introduction
DURHAM. You can still see the false words written in the preamble of the Constitution on the blackboard in what used to be Mr. Infinito's story. But there are no lessons for his studies at the RTP Christian Academy of Technology, a private, faith-based private school in Durham. Too many parents lost their jobs in a recession. The shrinking student body forces the school to close its doors on Tuesday. “Everything went well, the recession is really to blame,” said Sean Allen, the principal and co-founder of the school that combines Christian teachings with advanced academic classes. "It was a very sad experience." (Latifi, 2009)
Every day we hear about another Christian school that is struggling to survive or even close its doors in the tough economy that the country is now facing. For many Christian schools there were many sacrifices, and many difficult decisions loomed at a distance. Christian schools close every day; Is there any relief in sight? I believe that the time has come for radical actions and shifts in our thinking that will test our faith and reorient our goal of being in Christian education. Consider the following, not just as suggestions, but as a call for change, to change what we think about school business. I believe that the following will not only help your school survive these economic times, but in the future will lead to even greater success of your school:
Lower tuition fees
It sounds like a crazy idea, but count it in your mind. Every chair that is empty in any classroom right now in any camp of any Christian school does not earn money at school. Every day when an empty chair has a warning potential, but if it remains empty, this warning potential is not realized. Reducing tuition fees, there are two things that are happening now. First, you are making a statement to the community on your campus now, as well as in your community, that you care about them and you recognize their need. Everything fights. Right now in your school and community, people are losing their homes, and cars and other property are returning, money is stretched so subtly that every violation matters, and yet many bring almost impossible sacrifices to continue raising their children to the Christian school, because they believe in it, but a decision emerges every day, a month and, of course, from the school year to the school year, if they can continue. By lowering tuition fees, you realize that these solutions are complex, and you offer help and a reason to stay. Similarly, in a community that desperately needs answers to public school system problems, a reduction in tuition fees will encourage those who may think that education in a Christian school is financially unattainable. You position yourself to start filling empty chairs in each classroom. Second, you create a school environment in which parents and students participate who will act as an epidemic of goodwill and help spread the news of your actions to the surrounding community (Gladwell, 2000/2002).
Consider this scenario. The Christian school does some simple demographic research of its current student body and surrounding community, and based on this research, decides to reduce its education by 30%. They report this to their families and immediately see that people sign up for next year. Soon others begin to arrive, and by the grace of God your enrollment doubles. Now the school may still face the challenge of not allocating its budget, but this gap is narrowing, and now there are more students who can help in fundraising efforts, more parental buy-in for the school, because help around campus and more community feeling for those who visits Not all financial. The reality is that your school feels successful, and it will help you ultimately create a more financially secure environment. Understand that if you can survive this year, next year will add more profit to the bottom line, because if the training remains low, people will stay, more will come, and the bottom line will become more secure.
Think of the airline industry, in any airline, there is a certain price for a seat for any given flight, but not everyone pays that price for their specific location. The factors of when a ticket is bought by buying online, no additions or changes, all can add to the cost or expense for the client at the end. The Internet is filled with a travel site, such as Orbitz, and Priceline, offering competitive prices and packaging for those who can plan their journey according to a relatively small number of factors. Therefore, when you fly a plane and you pay the full price, you could not fulfill these parameters. When you associate such a reality with the idea that every day when a place in the class (for example, free space on the plane) is empty, it takes money from your bottom line, now you can see the benefits and power of using a price model that takes into account various parameters , packaging, financial sliding scales, etc. Remember that the money spent on education is discretionary, and therefore pressure is increasing in these countries to allow for a deteriorating economy.
Redefinition of financial assistance
Financial aid has become such a difficult subject for most Christian schools. Many times a scholarship fund was created, and there was never enough money for the school to really make this big difference in their bottom line. However, what if financial aid can be redefined and understood in a different light? Based on the concept of “filling chairs”, what if our goal was to revise financial assistance to mean that education could be based on other mitigating factors for each individual family. For example, what if the Christian school of Christ the King reduced their studies by 20% and reoriented their policy of financial assistance so that the sliding scale was adopted for learning so that families could use their current financial position. What if you just agreed with each family for what they could pay? There are vouchers in Florida that are offered to low-income families. What if a Christian school accepted this money as a tuition fee for these students? I understand that not every state will have such a program, but what is available for families in your community? How can you rent these facilities for more students attending your school? Let's return to our illustration above. The school has cut tuition by half and doubled the number of students, but there are chairs. Why not fill these chairs with any cash you can make for your budget? Think about the rate in the hotel room, the price is there, which could be paid for this room, but few have ever charged this amount. Similarly, learning must be redefined in a wider combination of terms than just the budget amount divided by the number of students.
The reality here is that there is no risk to take more money, there is a big risk not to get more money. I presented this scenario before my close friends in schools struggle, and many of them are concerned that they will fill the chair for less and miss the opportunity to fill the same chair that will be fully paid. Airlines are not worried about these discounted locations, and why Christian schools should appear in them. If the place is empty, fill it out and make money. Here is my challenge to you - count your chairs. Right now, today, go to each class and count the chairs that are empty in each bedroom, and then make a simple calculation of what income will be realized by allowing students who interviewed your school but did not come because of the loans that paid you even the smallest amount (for example, $ 200 per month). Friends, we are no longer financially, the world has changed, and our survival will come from doing something else and not remaining the same.
Override fundraising
Fundraising campaigns have become anathema to Christian schools. So many times to compensate for the savings, there are fundraisers who ping the same families over and over again, trying to make up the difference in a bad budget. One woman that children attend a famous Christian school in the area recently made a comment to me. She said: "If I could afford to spend more money, then I could afford a large tuition fee." Wow, well said. Therefore, we must redefine the fundraising, and I believe that this is done in two critical ways. First, we need to understand that our best fundraiser will come by filling in places that are empty. I know that this sounds like the last section, but you cannot say that every free space cost your school a critical amount of money that can be paid back, and this is not necessarily the amount of tuition. Let's say that I work in a school that currently has 100 people, with the possibility of attracting another 50 students without adding additional staff or critical overhead costs. Think about it, again, as an airline, it’s worth it to fly from Miami to Los Angeles, regardless of whether the plane is full or only half full. Filling these empty chairs for as little as $ 2,000, we stand at $ 100,000 not only in the top line, but also in the BOTTOM LINE budget - this is all the profit, because our expenses will not change significantly. Now, which of us could raise $ 100,000 in fundraising, especially with 100 students? It just makes sense to use the resources available to you in this way.
Secondly, if you decide to fundraise, you need to focus on making fewer campaigns that will make a large income margin for a specific purpose. Gumball fundraisers for general expenses will not be as effective as a walk in the gym. Your events should be highly focused, well-organized, well-executed and slim. Then you need to produce immediate results for those who are worried. Send photos of new mulch and swing sets to next month’s newsletters. You must establish your credibility in such campaigns if you will be successful year after year and expand your programming.
Increase Image Building, not advertising
What is your market role? - You are a technology leader (for a school you would be an academic leader, but you did not adapt to those who cannot speak at this academic level), or you are the king of service (for a school you would be a school that is not an academically leader, but the school meets the needs of the individual student with excellence and clearly matches the needs of the students), or you are the leader of operational excellence (the cheapest school, nickel and dime for additional services, and you provide only to basic service and not an academic leader). The solution to one of these roles is how you start creating your image in the community, because the components of the image building are already built into the structure of who you are as an institution. Consider your educational institution as a consulting firm and consider it marketing. We are consultants for those families that have students who will be lost in a hopeless educational system that teaches them to think in ways that contradict our beliefs. This is a system in which students are endangered and unsafe. This is a system that cares more about its bottom line than the spirit of a child. This is a system that is ______ (you fill the gap.) What are we doing to identify these shortcomings and how are we really experts in troubleshooting the system? We need to create an image in our community that includes excellence, stability, security, and an understanding of what is necessary for the success of young people who will go into the work force. These are your sales news strategies. Use these strategies even if you advertise in a newspaper or advertise on television. You have to sell your experience, not how you look like everyone else.
How does this build images? Great news is not expensive, but it takes time to succeed. As the first phase of any good imaging campaign, consider the following:
· Create or revise your website as a vocation that requires not only the excellence of your institution, but also the best link for your knowledge and knowledge. Take a look at some really well-designed websites for large consulting companies (http://www.libertybuilding.com is a great start) and look at how well-organized they are and FULL information that is relevant to their area of expertise. After that, simulate your school website. You have to start thinking differently. · Use social networks to connect to your families and their network of friends. Set up a page for your school across all different networks and use Ping.fm to publish on all of them at the same time. Use them to talk about why Christian education is a good solution. Point out problems in the news about the public school system (“Headline” - 5 children injured in school shooting - this is a great opportunity for you to create an image for families who are concerned about the safety of their children, and they should be). Use it as a platform to talk about what the school is doing and post artwork, flyers and events to keep in touch with the network. He works, but he needs to dedicate it. · Publication of articles in local newspapers and tabloids on issues related to learning. If you can publish in educational journals, then hit your progress in publishing on all social networks. You will have to “disassemble” your own horn a little, but people will pay attention to the expertise, especially when something goes wrong in public places.
· Become a blogger - install it and use in conjunction with your site. You must become a student on how to drive traffic to your website (this is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO). Set up email lists by specifying who in your community should know about what you offer, but don’t know that you exist, or that it is affordable and sends high-quality email newsletters. Blankets of the media and other retail outlets with news about your successes and experiences, and not just about upcoming events. The community will care more about what you have done well, and these are the people you want to meet at your door, because they are not currently registered. · Hire an external consultant to help you create such an initiative. It is not very expensive, and there are many who would be happy to help the local school with their experience. You can go it alone and find success, but with a little money and little experience you can see the results faster.
Think creatively about everything
I work with a local Christian school that has partnered with several local businesses that write grants for work and research done in a professional environment for high school students. Students conduct research and produce supplies for enterprises and train as part of their education, and in response to these research and development, companies provide a grant to the school to finance the program. This effectively eliminates the need to study at the high school level. This is an example of some creative thinking that created an environment in which finances are no longer a problem. I knew about schools that accepted foreign students who came to the United States to study specific subjects or participate in sports training, and they needed to continue their studies, and the school entered into relationships with these students and accepted them as students with studies that reflect their international status (in some cases this is double regular training), and then additional training costs were used for fellows who could not afford to come; very creative. It is time to wake up and use our creativity as an asset that will help us understand (Marx, 2006).
Last thoughts So let me tell you all about it. These theories seem to be a “pie in the sky” for some, and perhaps for others. However, there are those who read this article and are still on the fence. Итак, позвольте мне предложить вам эти моменты, чтобы обдумать. Почему ваша церковь начала христианскую школу? Подумайте об этом полностью. Для большинства идея христианской школы была вызвана любовью к вашей общине и желанием предложить библейское образование, и на самом деле была надежда завоевать семьи за Христа и следовать Великой комиссии по созданию учеников. В самом сердце вашей школы есть желание любить и служить другим, и я призываю вас вернуться в то место, когда вы считаете будущее. Просто неверно допускать нехватку финансов для людей класса, которые увлечены христианским образованием. Но это тот самый сценарий, с которым мы сталкиваемся. Помните, 2 Тимофею 1: 7 говорит нам, что Бог не дал нам дух страха, но силы, любви и здравого ума. Не позволяйте финансовому кризису, с которым мы сталкиваемся, чтобы задушить ваше творчество - это в самом сердце того, как мы были созданы; в образе полностью творческого Бога, который дал нам возможность услышать от Него и выйти из лодки и ходить по воде. Мы просто должны быть готовы столкнуться с боязнью промокнуть в лицо и поверить в Бога, который призвал нас начать школу в первую очередь. Мысль по-разному будет ключом, который сделает разницу между удушением и выживанием, выживанием и процветанием, процветанием и инновациями. Это будут новаторы, которые всегда будут переживать каждый трудный момент, потому что они будут определять, какое направление путешествовать независимо от того, что определило успехи прошлого. Успехи будущего всегда будут полны риска и вознаграждения для тех, кто готов придерживаться правды, которые никогда не меняются и не изменят методы, которые использовались для получения правды тем, кто отчаянно нуждается в подарке, который только Бог предлагает. Это должно быть нашей мотивацией, и тогда Бог может по-настоящему благословить нас и, в конце концов, сказать нам: «Молодцы».
(c) 2010 Oak Brook Productions, Eustis, Florida - Все права защищены Ссылки
Cashman, K. (1998). Лидерство изнутри: стать лидером на всю жизнь. Миннеаполис, MN: TCLC, LLC LeaderSource.
Gladwell, M. (2002). Переломный момент: как мало что может иметь большое значение. Нью-Йорк. (Первоначальная работа опубликована в 2000 году)
Latifi, S. (2009, 21 ноября). Закрытие христианской школы RTP. Издательская компания News & Observer. Получено 12 декабря 2009 г., с http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/203319.html
Маркс, Г. (2006). Руководство, ориентированное на будущее: подготовка школ, студентов и общин к реалиям завтрашнего дня. Александрия, VA: Ассоциация по надзору и разработке учебных программ.
