Healey Awards More than $30K to Archdiocese of Philadelphia Schools

Three Archdiocese of Philadelphia schools have received awards from the Healey Education Foundation for excellence in Catholic school advancement. The School Advancement Grants for Excellence (SAGE) acknowledge results in Catholic school sustainability through work by the Foundation’s partner schools in enrollment management, fundraising and governance. Eight schools from four dioceses in total were acknowledged in 2016.

Saints John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic High School received both the $15,000 Founder’s Award and a $5,000 award for Highest Percentage Growth in Enrollment by a High School, achieving 5.2% growth for the 2016-17 academic year.

Bruce Robinson, President, Neumann Goretti High School with Robert T. Healey Sr., Founder, Healey Education Foundation

The Founder’s Award is presented to the school that has demonstrated exceptional results in implementing the Foundation’s Advancement Methodology through an entrepreneurial spirit reflective of Founder Robert T. Healey Sr. In virtually every aspect of its recent transformation, Neumann Goretti High School exhibited the entrepreneurial spirit, based on three criteria:

• Leveraging Human Resources by empowering staff, laity, volunteers and parents
• The ability to be nimble and adapt to a changing environment
• Growth through calculated risk (analysis, strategy, development and execution)

Neumann Goretti was the characteristic Catholic inner city school facing challenges of changing demographics and a new economy. The school’s cultural shift spanned organizational changes, the hiring of new teachers and introduction of innovative professional development, renewed relationships with parents and alumni, the establishment of a new Board of Directors and more strategic outreach for enrollment and development.

“They are all about ‘people’ at Neumann Goretti,” said Healey Director of Schools Sr. Mary Dacey SSJ. “As they apply Healey best practices, they always do so through the lens of those they serve. Building relationships is key to their success in enrollment, development, academics and governance because they value traditional relationships even as they create new ones; build on the past, even as they seek to transform it.”

“‘We have always done it that way’ is simply not in their vocabulary!” said Sr. Mary Dacey SSJ, Healey Director of Schools, of Founder’s Grant recipient Neumann Goretti High School. The school community is now engaged and thriving. Freshman enrollment is up 50 percent, and the school just welcomed its largest class in five years.

Two Archdiocesan schools also received Annual Fund Awards, $5,000 each:

• Highest Percentage Growth in the Annual Fund, High School: Cardinal O’Hara High School (Springfield, PA), 24%

• Highest Percentage Growth in the Annual Fund, Elementary School: Mother of Providence Regional Catholic School (Wallingford, PA), 169%

Brooke Jackson, Healey Director of Schools, explained that Mother of Providence achieved such a dramatic increase through the commitment and dedication of the school’s Advancement Director, Principal, Pastors and Board. “By staying true to the best practices provided by the Healey Education Foundation and capitalizing on a community who firmly believes in supporting and advancing Catholic education, they surpassed their aggressive fundraising goal,” she said.

Both schools’ advancement work had been featured in success stories shared by the Foundation earlier this year: Cardinal O’Hara for its first-time Lead Gift Event and Mother of Providence for its enrollment increases via Tuition Transfer Grants.

Jennifer Tuberosa, Vice-President of Development, Cardinal O’Hara High School; Sr. Mary Dacey SSJ, Director of Schools, Healey Education Foundation; Tom Fertal, President, Cardinal O’Hara High School. The school received the Annual Fund Award and also a specialty Advancement Staff Award recognizing Tuberosa’s exemplary achievement.

Cardinal O’Hara also received a specialty Advancement Staff Award recognizing the exemplary achievement of the school’s Vice-President of Development, Jennifer Tuberosa.  

The awards were presented at the Foundation’s fourth annual Celebration of Achievement attended by more than 240 guests at the Union League of Philadelphia.

The Healey Education Foundation invests in PK-12 Catholic schools. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Foundation provides a high-impact program delivered through a coaching relationship with dioceses and schools that are ready to embrace change. Healey’s work For the Future of Catholic Schools empowers grant recipients to deliver sustainable results through effective governance, enrollment management and fundraising. Since its establishment in 2004, the Foundation has grown to serve more than 60 elementary and high schools across five dioceses in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Minnesota.
 

Founder’s Grant and High School Enrollment Award Recipient: Saints John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic High School. From left: Christine L. Healey, Foundation President; Jennifer Cooper, Director of Operations; Robert T. Healey Sr.; Bruce Robinson, President; Genevieve Torrres, Vice-Principal for Instruction and Transformation; Anthony Ragno, Director of Admissions; Jason Morrison, VP of Operations, Healey Education Foundation.

Annual Fund Award (High School) Recipient: Cardinal O’ Hara High School. From left: Jason Morrison, VP of Operations, Healey Education Foundation; Marie Keith, Board Member; Jennifer Tuberosa, Vice-President of Development, Tom Fertal, President; Kim Flaville, Senior Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Connelly Foundation, award co-sponsor; Tom Logan, Chair of the Board; Christine L. Healey, Foundation President; Tom Goldsmith, Vice-Chair of the Board.

Annual Fund Award (Elementary School) Recipient: Mother of Providence Regional Catholic School. From Left: Christine Healey, Foundation President; Beth Missett, Development Chair; Linda Rooney, Advancement Director; Sean O’Reilly, Enrollment Chair; Joe Dougherty, Board Chair; Therese Waters, Principal; Kim Flaville, Senior Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Connelly Foundation, award co-sponsor; Rosemary Endres (Business Manager); Mike McArdle, Board Member; Jason Morrison, VP of Operations, Healey Education Foundation; Father Ed Hallinan, Pastor, St. John Chrysostom.

For further information: Contact Valerie Asuncion, Director of Communications, Healey Education Foundation