Christian School Development Without a Development Person

I have been challenged recently to develop a strategy and plan to help a school with a development plan even though they have no one person to assign to the job.

There are several workable alternatives to staffing. Before you tackle these, it is important to decide what are the critical objectives that need to be met. These can be:

• Lead an event or two


• Send out appeal letters


• Introduce the school to the local community


• Bring in grandparents and other volunteers

Once the critical objectives are decided, then the school can decide how and who is the best staffer. Look for people whose talents match the skills required for the job; a good match is very powerful. This can be done in a number of ways:

• Volunteer


• Part-time just assigned to development


• Added responsibility for an administrator or a teacher - this could be an interesting enrichment opportunity

Lastly, organize some help in the form of a task team. This is not a group of people who have lots of ideas and advice; it is the group of people who trust and agree with the plans that are already committed to and are willing to be the hands and feet.

If this is new, pick a few clearly-defined goals and do them well in this year. Then, others will want to join your well-oiled and tuned machine!