Before he was the Head of School at Paideia, my husband David had a great many jobs in his life: roofer, army sniper team leader, sheriff’s deputy recruit, economic assistant at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But probably one of the least glamorous positions he’s held is door-to-door salesman for a window company.
Out of everyone on his team canvasing neighborhoods, David booked the fewest number of window sales appointments. “Do you want new windows?” he would ask. “No,” the homeowner would say. “OK,” he would say, and then move on to the next house. He didn’t have a fancy sales pitch to try to convince someone that she really ought to buy new windows. Instead, he went down the road to find someone who actually did want new windows.
Interestingly, although David booked so few appointments for the guys coming out to the house to give the actual quote for the homeowner, in the end, he had one of the highest rates of actual sales conversions. Why? Because when the follow-up appointment happened with the homeowner, the homeowner hadn’t been pressured into making that appointment for something she didn’t need or desire. The appointment wasn’t a white elephant he had tricked someone into taking, but an actual opportunity for them to learn something to their benefit.
We have a gala fundraiser banquet coming up on Saturday, November 5. It’s going to be a grand celebration of our first ten years as a school, and it’s also going to be a night where we ask people for money.
Asking people for money can feel uncomfortable. It can feel awkward. But in this case, it doesn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable at all because Paideia’s vision is something both needed and desired. It’s something we believe in.
What Paideia does is a benefit to parents, students, churches, and the Christian community at large. Raising children in wisdom, virtue, eloquence, and the fear of the Lord so that they can more fully worship the God who created them is a cause worth raising money for.
We are not seeking to finagle or goad or guilt funds out of people who have no interest in the school’s “product.” Instead, we are offering a vision and showing the fruit that has already come from ten years of carrying out that vision. If you, your relatives, your church, or your broader community find value in Paideia’s vision, we ask you to help support it.
The funds we plan to raise at the gala are not tied to one particular item but will form the seeds of our improvements for the next five to ten years (our “Future Fund”). While we’re not yet at the point where we can establish a full-fledged building fund, part of the funds we’re raising will form the seeds for this. Finding a building where the school can be rejoined in full community and not be split across two campuses might take years of effort, but those efforts have already started.
This year, we are also post-COVID restrictions and out of survival mode. It is time to return to improving our program at Paideia. We have come to see that expanding our extra-curricular opportunities is a very fruitful way we can better help families and disciple kids. The theater program is back for both elementary and secondary, and we are starting up a mock trial program. We have a new Director of Athletics at school, leading the charge both to offer sports locally at Paideia and to help form a Christian school league for like-minded schools that desire to hold faithfully to Christian principles and ethics.
Lastly, we are exploring all the possibilities of supporting and improving our staff of teachers and admin. For the last ten years, we have always balanced the budget on tuition and this wisdom has led to great stability for the school. We weathered the chaos of COVID without an existential crisis because we don't fundraise to keep the doors open.
At the same time, our normal budget based on low tuition does not afford us the means to think about extra staff we could put to good use. By increasing our annual fundraising ability, we can grow our ability to offer more help to students with learning challenges and special needs and we can hire additional admin support to develop school community and culture.
In sum, moving towards the eventual creation of a building campaign and expanding the ways we teach students and serve families will require extra funds outside our normal tuition budget. Raising $50,000 at the gala (the goal set by the board) will give us the institutional flexibility to create new expressions of Christian culture and education in the lives of children.
We’re not selling windows on November 5, but we are showing a window into how the Lord has blessed these last ten years of Paideia’s journey. If you want to book a table for eight that day or sponsor the event, we are selling an opportunity to participate in Paideia’s vision for the next generation.
Come, join us as we taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
