FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
FEATURED SESSION
The Runway is as Important as the Flight
December 6 • 1:15pm
Mega gifts and transformational campaigns are not spontaneous. The most successful have key characteristics, the most important of which is preparation. Taking time to strengthen staffing, systems, and volunteer activity, verify your prospect pool with data and analytics, and develop a strong campaign rationale are all critical. Taking time to get these right will inspire your donors to invest in your vision rather than see this effort as merely “having another campaign.”
For editing purposes, these are the topics that will included:
• What are the crucial planning steps for a campaign?
• What are the crucial planning steps for a campaign?
• What’s the difference between strategic priorities, a “case for support” and your school’s vision?
• How do you ensure you don’t leave money on the table?
• What is the role of the Head of School and of the Board?
• What do you do if you don’t have a “fundraising board”?
• If you find that you are not campaign ready, what is next
Jim Zimmerman, Senior Consultant & Principal , Marts & Lundy
A-1 Business Intelligence for Boarding Schools
December 6 • 10:30am – 11:30am
Financial Management & Sustainability
Fiduciary oversight is a critical role for independent schools and their boards of trustees. In order to support this role, school leaders must provide their trustees with financial information that is clear, succinct and accurate. To maximize these efforts, NBOA’s signature data-collection platform, Business Intelligence for Independent Schools (BIIS), launched in 2017 to provide independent schools with a comprehensive look at financial health, sustainability and staffing compared to similar schools in a national data set. During this session, you will be introduced to the power and potential of the BIIS platform and its unique and school-specific reporting tools, including a Composite Financial Index (CFI) Calculator, The NBOA Financial Dashboard for Independent Schools, and the Commonfund Benchmarks Study of school endowments. Learn about these tools and begin to allow BIIS data to tell your school’s story and help you plan your future.
James Palmieri, Senior Vice President, NBOA, DC
Jeff Shields, President and CEO, NBOA, DC
Charles McCullagh, Chief Financial Officer, The Williston Northampton School, MA
B-5 Financial Health Indicators for Heads of School
December 6 • 1:15pm – 2:15pm
Financial Management & Sustainability
The vital statistics of general health for individuals – blood pressure, pulse, heart rate, weight, height, and family history. The vital statistics for independent schools – program net, grants, philanthropy net, operating contribution, full pay seats, and feet per seat. Join this panel of 5 heads of school and EE Ford to explore a 15 metric dashboard for deep, board dialog and discourse, as well as analyzing and assessing enterprise sustainability for near and long-term performance. This session will include performance data on 175 boarding schools and extended Q&A.
William Kummel, Principal, Rational Partners, NY
Suzanne Walker Buck, Head of School, Western Reserve Academy, OH
Laura Danforth, Head of School, Masters School, NY
Jody Soja, Head of School, Indian Mountain School, CT
Randy Bertin, Head of School, Cushing Academy, MA
Dan Marchetti, Head of School, Hebron Academy, ME
John Gulla, Executive Director, EE Ford Foundation, NY
D-16 Our Retirement Plan is in Place – We’re Covered, Right?
December 7 • 8:30am – 9:30am
Financial Management & Sustainability
An in-depth look at retirement planning and readiness from a board, school and individual level impacting the boarding school community. We will start with retirement planning from a board-level and administrative view of the imputed fiduciary responsibilities and the benefits of selecting a third party administrator. We will then take a practical look at the administrative and individual impacts of retirement readiness and discuss some of the pitfalls to avoid that specifically impact individuals retiring from boarding schools. We will provide tools to help simplify the process and some useful tips to help schools to assist staff as they navigate this process.
Geoff Still, Vice President, Finance & Operations, The Association of Boarding Schools, NC