SWOT+Issues+-+Finances

The compilation of important SWOT issues: 1. Tuition rates must be kept as low as possible to retain and attract students to SFA. 2. Faculty and staff compensation must align with diocesan guidelines to foster retention. 3. All school’s fundraising efforts/activities must be reevaluated so as not to overwhelm parents. School activities and trips that are important and support the mission of the school should be part of the operating budget hence should be funded by tuition. Fundraising monies should be directed towards specific programs at school and should not be looked on to fund operating costs. An option to create incentives for parents to participate is to use current year’s fundraising monies to offset tuition for the following year. 4. Develop marketing plan with a Customer Service approach 5. Clearly define & communicate financial status of school to parish/school families annually. 6. Re-evaluate Pre-K tuition, perhaps offer half day classes to increase enrollment. 7. Development of a school alumni association 8. Develop an Parent “exit Interview “ process for parents leaving the school to gather data as to the real reasons parents are leaving SFA. 9. Determine a real “cost per student” model to better understand what it takes financially to operate the school. 10. Hire a Development Director. 11. Create a Marketing plan. 12. Increase Parish and Community awareness. 13. Tracking costs and researching for competitive vendors and utilize parent resources if appropriate. 14. Create a professional annual report to communicate to the parishes, parents and alumni the schools financial status. Hold annual stakeholders meetings to publicly review the report. Donors want to see how their money was spent. (Create a positive communication of funds to encourage more giving to support great programs.) 15. Creating a customer service and customer service value among the whole community as referred to in the narrative. (page 6 ) 16. There are no line items for capital reserve accounts in the budget 17. Building endowment 18. Support from parishes 19. Support from alumnae