By David
Posted June 1, 2009
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Traditionally, Jewish education has adopted a model of running on a budget deficit, with the intention that donations will eventually make up for the shortfall in funds. While there are certainly a number of Jewish schools that have excelled at fundraising, the majority of Jewish schools have not. For them, growth and survival year after year can be a real challenge.

The following presents a new strategic and financial model for Jewish schools, designed to produce financial independence and academic excellence. In this model, high enrollment results in tuition alone covering the cost of operations, while fundraising can provide an additional surplus.

To understand the financial independence model, we turn to the business world, where the goal is to offer a product or service for which a sufficient number of customers are willing to pay a certain price, thus enabling the business to operate at a profit.

Granted, not-for-profit organizations like most Jewish schools do not think of generating profit per se. However, these organizations can still learn to generate a financial surplus rather than operating at a deficit.

The Value Proposition

The key to this model is to offer a value proposition strong enough to attract a sizable student body. Here's how:

Within an existing school, it is possible to create the framework of a magnet school specializing in something that will hold great appeal to a potentially large student population.

For example, consider the case of a Jewish School in the Los Angeles area that currently does not attract a sufficient student population to create a critical mass. With too few students, the school runs at a financial deficit, offers a reduced social environment for its students, and is unable to expand the scope of its academic offerings.

In this example, we hypothesize that the local Jewish parents are unwilling to enroll their children in the Jewish school because it fails to offer a value that the parents would deem worthy of the high tuition price.

In other local private schools, however, these same Jewish parents are, in fact, willing to pay a high tuition. Why? Because these secular private schools offer an exceptionally prestigious academic program and other benefits such as a high-quality social circle for their children and themselves.

Changing the Equation

In the case of the Los Angeles area, many Jewish parents are connected to the entertainment industry. What if the Jewish School changed the entire equation by opening a magnet school for Business Administration for the Entertainment Industry? What if such a school would be called the Steven Spielberg School of Business Administration at __________. Fill in the name of the Jewish School.

Or, if opening a separate school-within-a-school presents too many complications, the same objective can be accomplished more basically by simply offering the Steven Spielberg Program for Business Administration at __________. In this case, offering a program is within the capability of virtually any school, and the benefit is derived from branding the program and marketing it as a unique, stand-alone entity within the auspices of the school.

In terms of out-of-pocket cost, opening a magnet program is very cost-efficient, requiring very little resources. Yet, the school can now offer something that is highly prestigious and attractive to local Jewish parents. "My child goes to the Steven Spielberg Program for Business Administration at ___________." That's something that many Jewish parents in Southern California especially may consider worth paying for.

With such a program, that Jewish School could step into the spotlight almost overnight, with word of mouth spreading like fire, an abundance of free press, good PR, prestige, and most importantly -- a unique value for the students.

This concept does not mean that the original mission of the school needs to change. The mission remains, only now, the school offers an added attraction that would quickly boost enrollment.

A Scalable Plan

With a larger student body comes financial independence from tuition alone, a much easier pitch for fundraising, and a solid foundation for alumni who will be financially ready, willing, and able to endow the school for generations to come.

And, once a formula is established for a magnet school program, it would be possible to operate more than one simultaneously at the same school. For example, the so-and-so school for performing arts, the so-and-so school of science, the so-and-so school of leadership, etc.

Tactics

To keep costs down and implementation easy, each magnet school program could simply consist of the usual General Studies and Judaic Studies/Hebrew classes, with one or two additional classes in the afternoons dedicated to the particular topic of the magnet program.

For example, it is possible to offer a certain class on Mondays and Wednesdays, and another class on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the first semester, with different classes offered the second semester. That way, in marketing the program, the school could list four magnet-specific classes each year.

The main challenge would be to identify a prominent and prestigious Jewish name-bearer to associate with the magnet school. For the example above, Steven Spielberg would be ideal. Once the name-bearer is identified, the rest of the implementation would be easier than a single year's worth of routine fund-raising.