{"id":5468,"date":"2025-10-20T15:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T19:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archangeladvancement.com\/?p=5468"},"modified":"2025-10-20T16:58:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T20:58:35","slug":"budget-and-envelope-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archangeladvancement.com\/?p=5468","title":{"rendered":"Budget and Envelope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s see a show of hands…<\/p>\n

Have you started working on your school’s budget for the 2026-2027 school year?<\/p>\n

Or did you just think, “What?\u00a0 Is he kidding?\u00a0 It’s October, and this year, the first quarter isn’t even over yet!”<\/p>\n

Just so you know, I’ve given up mind reading as something I work at, but can still do it.<\/p>\n

When I worked for a Diocese, we used to meet with “the schools” to begin the budget process right after the “official” October 1st enrollment numbers were submitted to the state, but “the school” was not just represented by the principal or administrator.\u00a0 “The school” was represented by a team consisting of the principal or administrator, the pastor or members of the board of pastors, the business manager, and sometimes, the development director (if the school had one).\u00a0 It was through this format that information could be communicated and discussed, rather than having one person at the meeting who then brought it back to the parish or school, and then got passed around like the proverbial football.\u00a0 This could result in ideas and procedures receiving embellishment or omitting a key component or deadline, especially when we were discussing budgets.<\/p>\n

Please note that the operative word in that first sentence is “started.”\u00a0 There was no way we were going to have a budget completed by Thanksgiving.\u00a0 Rather, this was the time we began to share\u00a0concerns about enrollment for the coming year, discover if there were rumblings regarding\u00a0an increase in the cost of health care benefits, and become aware of what new governmental procedures were going to be put into place for the new school year.\u00a0 It was good preparation, especially when Principals, business managers and pastors met with Diocesan and\u00a0Office\u00a0for Catholic\u00a0Schools’\u00a0staff.\u00a0 It was also a way to make our internal relationships\u00a0stronger, involving everyone in the discussions about finances and financial aid.<\/p>\n

Of course, it didn’t prevent principals from leaving before the next school year began, but it gave a bit of a solid foundation for what needed to be put in place for the coming year, and a framework to share with potential candidates.<\/p>\n

So what does this have to do about marketing?<\/p>\n

Remember that marketing is not about getting new students to enroll in your school.\u00a0 That’s enrollment.<\/p>\n

Marketing is everything<\/em> that’s done to begin<\/em> a change in mindset and take the first step toward the next part of the process.\u00a0 That means there are different types of Marketing:<\/p>\n