Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School (SEAS)
Planning for play at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School (SEAS) serves more than 600 preschool through eighth grade students. Although SEAS offers recess, elementary and middle school students did not have a playground or greenspace for play. Building a playground was a top priority. SEAS worked with a company to design a beautiful playground – but they needed the funding to build it.
Our perspective:
While the school’s first playground design totaled $400,000, it was important to know how attainable that goal was and what SEAS might need to best use the money. M. Gale led an assessment of SEAS’ readiness to start a campaign for that amount, and provided key recommendations on how to move forward.
How we solved the challenge:
M. Gale led research including face-to-face interviews and a schoolwide electronic survey, capturing feedback from 197 individuals.
The school’s fundraising program was reviewed, including processes, policies, procedures, and staff support, and outlined overall support for the SEAS playground.
An assessment report outlined internal recommendations, external observations and findings, and a campaign strategy, recommendations and timeline.
M. Gale presented findings to members of the School Advisory Council and Development Committee.
M. Gale recommended that SEAS leaders adjust and finalize plans for the playground, add a staff member devoted to fundraising, and equip a small major gifts committee to execute this major gift initiative.
While the pandemic slowed down efforts, M. Gale launched the $300,000 Campaign for Play in 2020 and by 2021, the playground was open! Work during the campaign included donor screening, help selecting a new donor database, hiring for the fundraising staff member and more.
Our client’s outcome:
“I learned so much working with the M. Gale team. In my tenure, SEAS leadership had never conducted a major gift campaign and M. Gale taught us the fundamentals. The strong foundations they helped us build made a campaign that – although interrupted by COVID – was ultimately a big success. Our development program is stronger and on track for continued growth and success thanks to our relationship with M. Gale.”
