CATHOLIC EDUCATION FUNDERS CONVENINGTuesday, December 2, 2014

Caruso Catholic Center9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

SUMMARY

On Tuesday, December 2, 2014 philanthropic and Los Angeles Department of Catholic Schools (DCS) leaders met to share and learn together about assessment and reporting of Catholic elementary school student academic achievement and growth and to explore the possibility of working in collaborative partnership to address this issue. The intended outcomes of this day together were to:

Pick up where the funders group left off in October, 2013 by revisiting our collective commitment to, “…work closely with Archdiocesan leaders to explore meaningful, system change around: innovative school governance models, reliable financial data and transparency, and quality student achievement data and transparency to ensure the long-term sustainability and vitality of Catholic schools serving disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.”

Learn together about the pre-conditions for collaborative partnerships and the current Catholic education landscape, recent activities and grant making since our last meeting

Deepen trust and our ability to work together as a collaborative team by sharing knowledge and furthering our understanding of focus areas we identified at our last meeting

Work toward: Closing the information gap that may exist between funders and the DCS on

the issue of student achievement data and transparency Starting to create a shared definition of what constitutes quality student

achievement data and increased transparency Developing a common understanding of challenges related to this issue Identifying specific next steps

Discuss and decide: If there is a project(s) related to elementary student academic achievement

data and transparency where funders feel ready or willing to consider learning more, or working to support further progress

Whether and how to institutionalize this convening and commit to coming together on an ongoing basis for a period of time

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The meeting began with opening remarks by Sam Garrison, Vice President of Development & Strategic Initiatives at Caruso Affiliated who welcomed the group to the Caruso Catholic Center. Bill Ahmanson, President of The Ahmanson Foundation, thanked the meeting participants for their feedback, which guided the creation of the meeting agenda, reviewed the intended outcomes for the meeting, and introduced Archbishop José Gomez.

Archbishop Gomez thanked the meeting participants for inviting him to address the group. He shared data to support his view that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is among the most advanced of any other Archdiocese in the United States specifically in the area of building school communities that are demographically representative and culturally welcoming. He emphasized data showing that Latinos are the future of Los Angeles Catholic schools and the importance of reaching out to this demographic group to enroll their children because Catholic schools change lives and bring hope. He shared the value of his own experience attending Catholic school. Archbishop Gomez assured the group of his commitment to the financial transparency and fiscal accountability of Catholic schools. He said that he and his team at the DCS are moving in that direction and he welcomed the help and support of the philanthropic community in this work. He reiterated his goal of increasing Catholic school enrollment telling the group that there were 68,000 infant baptisms in Los Angeles this year so, “we know the kids are there.” These are more baptisms than the Archdiocese of New York and Chicago combined. He shared his goal to make a Catholic education possible for all and again underscored the importance of reaching out to Hispanics. The average tuition price for a Catholic school education in Los Angeles is $3,500. per student. He identified the following areas as most important to achieving his vision:

1. Outreach to L.A.’s large Latino community to enroll their children in Catholic schools

2. Tuition assistance to cover or defray the $3,500 average per student cost of Catholic school tuition and the over $5,000 per pupil cost to educate each child

3. Training of pastors in the skills and knowledge required to provide a financial plan and leadership support to schools

4. Struggling parishes must explore working together in partnership (i.e., Board of Limited Jurisdiction governance pilot in Deanery 9)

5. Involve all Catholics in supporting tuition assistance for Catholic schools not just the current pool of donors and foundations

6. Address possible alternate school governance models.Archbishop Gomez welcomed the partnership of foundation leaders. He assured them that he is eager to work closely with the philanthropic community and to hear their ideas and suggestions about how to make a Catholic education available to all Los Angeles students who want to attend Catholic school.

Sr. Rosemarie Nassif, SSND, Director of the Catholic Sisters Initiative at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, thanked Archbishop Gomez for sharing his vision and for his invitation to engage in partnership with funders. She explained that this meeting was designed by a diverse planning team and invited all participants to emulate Pope Francis by listening to understand each other’s point of view, by being present with one another, and by proceeding with clear focus, candor, courage, relentless determination to support students, and with open minds and hearts.

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Mary Chambers made a presentation in response to participant’s expressed desire to explore if and how they might proceed as collaborative partners. The presentation gathered from articles and interviews on the topic was titled, “Eight Essential Pre-Conditions for Collaborative Partnerships.”

Following this presentation, each foundation and the DCS leaders were invited to share a brief update about one activity they have been engaged in related to Catholic education since the last time the group met. The updates are as follows:

The Dan Murphy Foundation is currently working with the Archdiocese in three high schools helping to bring on board Development Directors to help in partnering, fundraising, grantmaking and other development efforts. Two Development Directors are currently in place (Sacred Heart HS and Bellarmine Jefferson). We are still interviewing at Bishop Conaty HS.

The John H. and Cynthia Lee Smet Foundation funds Onward Scholars (ONWARDSCHOLARS.ORG) a scholarship program with mentoring and enrichment activities at St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy. We fund 75% of the tuition for 36 students (growing to 48 in two years). Our goal is to find exceptional students and give them the extra push they need to excel in college. Also, our goal is to create a very effective marketing tool for this school. Our other program is Onward Readers, a reading intervention program focused on improving mastery of fluency, word study and comprehension for students Pre-K through 5. The program incorporates both lower and higher orders skills as well as opportunities for independent application to narrative and expository texts. In our first year we worked in four elementary schools. This year we are in seven schools touching 766 students. We have found that our work is very dependent on leadership. This represents a culture shift for the schools and you need strong school site leadership to make it work.

The Steinmetz Foundation board often complains that we get grant requests from many schools for competing products. Why can’t we get a group of schools to collaborate to get a better price? Last year we worked with St. Bernard and St. Matthias who agreed to purchase the same student recruitment/management system and to learn together how to implement it. We were delighted to make this cooperative grant. We are working on student tracking systems whose consortium will include Catholic and charter schools. This methodology helps our foundation better understand and appreciate the product and training involved.

Catholic Education Foundation hired a new Executive Director, Kathy Ash. She told the group that she joined CEF because Catholic education changes lives.

Rose Hills Foundation provided 20 scholarships for currently enrolled low-income 7th and 8th grade Catholic school students. 18 out of 20 have not submitted their final reports due 9/30/14.

Leavey Foundation created a Loyola High School alumni challenge grant to increase dollars and donors. It has a complex structure placing graduating classes in competition with one another that really worked well. It included money for class gifts larger than the year before, money for attending an event, an award for new donors, an award for increased class reunion attendance. The challenge grant raised $1.7 million for our Leavey grant of $1.5 million.

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The Ahmanson Foundation has continued funding the capital needs of Catholic schools including room remodels, some IT equipment, air conditioning, etc…We have an informal relationship with the Shea Foundation where we provide additional support to projects they have vetted and work is soon to begin or has begun. Occasionally, Dan O’Melveny will suggest other projects they have identified as a need but do not fit their funding priorities and are a match for us.

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has expanded its exploratory grant program in the area of Blended Learning at St. Anne School and St. Gertrude the Great.

The Weingart Foundation made one grant to a Catholic school last year -- a $99,000 capital award to Verbum Dei High School for campus renovations. Our assumption is that due to the misinformation spread about the Weingart Foundation to Catholic schools, many schools erroneously assumed that we are not funding in this area. This, of course, is not true. We do, however, require an audit from a school or a sponsoring organization. Interestingly, during that same period of time, we only made six other grants to schools: five to charters, and one to an early childhood learning center. We also only made three other grants to organizations coded as “Catholic” in Gifts.

The Parsons Foundation has made two grants to Catholic K-12 schools since our last meeting. St. Anne’s School for Blended Learning pilot ($25K) and Verbum Dei capital campaign ($100K). We also worked to have the Archdiocese send a clarifying letter to their schools correcting the misinformation that had been distributed to Catholic high schools stating that the Parsons Foundation had ceased funding of Catholic education.

J.F. Shea Foundation: Our biggest challenge since last we met is technology grant requests from the schools. The issues are: lack of school preparedness (no plan, research or funding in place); lack of professional development, training and support; schools often seek technology before addressing their basic infrastructure needs and priorities; lack of budget for maintenance and turnover.

The Riordan Foundation is working with St. Turibius Elementary School near Central Avenue and the 10 Freeway. We offered to pay for an audit after the pastor, Fr. Rafael shared that he was not able to get complete financial information from the previous principal. He and his staff declined our offer. We organized a volunteer day with UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management students, school staff, parents and students; painted the lunch area; paid a plumber to inspect plumbing issues; secured a permit and had trees removed that were causing plumbing problems; invited St. Turibius teachers to foundation sponsored professional development events; paying for a technology consultant to help the school develop a technology integration plan; and partnering with Shea Foundation who is upgrading the school’s infrastructure.

The Specialty Family Foundation continues to work with Catholic elementary schools through their marketing and development capacity building program, Catholic Schools Consortium (CSC). Nearly all twenty-one schools have created exit plans to continue the program in some fashion after foundation funding is complete. Under the leadership of Bruce Williston, Carrie Shea Tilton and Michael Feeley, the CSC has received 501(c)(3) status and has secured funding for several pilots including an accounting pilot assisting eight schools to become GAAP compliant, a STEM pilot working with LMU’s

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CMAST program and three schools. Each of these pilots involves multiple schools, multiple funders and a third-party partner to assist schools with implementation.

The Carrie Estelle Doheny Foundation issued a challenge grant to increase the number of 8th graders going on to Catholic high schools. The grant increased the number of 8th graders going to Catholic high schools by 11% which translates into 57 more students across the 8 schools that accepted the challenge.

The Caruso Family Foundation launched the “Operation Promise” ecosystem in Watts in partnership with St. Lawrence Brindisi, Verbum Dei, and St. Mary’s Academy. These schools, together with LAPD mentors and scholarship/mentoring partners, will guide more than 300 scholars from elementary school through college graduation by 2024.

The Department of Catholic Schools:a. Due to the generosity of the Dan Murphy Foundation and the Conrad N.

Hilton Foundation, Catholic high schools have significantly increased their development efforts. A study “Archdiocesan and Parish High School Fundraising Performance Activity” completed by independent evaluator, Changing Our World, Inc., found the total funds raised by the high schools has increased by 40% to over $20 million in the past four years.

b. After a 10-year period of declining enrollment from 2001-2010, we have increased student enrollment by nearly 2000 in the past 4 years largely due to the revision and reorganization of the DCS completed this year.

c. A marketing and donor database has been launched and is being adopted by all high schools and 19 elementary schools so far. Training is underway.

Following a 10-minute break, where meeting participants were invited to sign their names to signify their commitment to the “8 Essential Pre-Conditions of a Collaborative Partnership”, the group re-convened to address: elementary student academic achievement -- quality data and increased transparency.

The goal of this exercise was:• Listening to one another, work toward closing the information gap that may

exist between funders and the DCS on this issue• Start to create a shared definition of quality student achievement data and

transparency• Develop a common understanding of challenges related to this issue• Begin to identify some specific next steps.

We began by asking FUNDERS to respond to the following questions:

a. What do funders mean by quality data? What are the attributes and characteristics funders are looking for in the data collected by DCS?(Funder responses are in blue)

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DATA ATTRIBUTES & CHARACTERISTICS SOUGHT BY FUNDERS“We want to see and know that Catholic schools are more than loving and safe.”

Quality, standardized tests aligned with common core standards Relevant Reliable (credible, scientific and independent) Honest Comparable (to other Catholic, public, charter, private and elite schools) Complete Organized Meaningful to DCS leaders, school site leaders and educators Packaged in a way that is accessible and easy to understand by all key

stakeholder groups including: school site leaders, teachers, staff, parents, students, school advisory board members, prospective parents and funders

b. What things do funders want to see measured and reported? What indicators are the most important to funders?

METRICS & MEASURES SOUGHT BY FUNDERS

Student achievement by grade level Progress and growth of students over time Value added Reading level proficiency at 3rd and 8th grade Number of students proficient at each grade level in ELA and math Number of students moved up from below basic to basic to proficient to

advanced Student achievement across all major subject areas Disaggregated achievement data* Demographic data Parent, student and teacher satisfaction Retention/attrition rates over years Number of students who start as freshmen and graduate not just number of

seniors who graduate Graduation rates Number of graduates attending Catholic high schools Number of graduates accepted at high level, elite high schools such as

Harvard-Westlake, Brentwood, Marlborough… College application, acceptance, enrollment, success, persistence, graduation

in 6-years rates What kinds of arts and academic programs are offered at the school? Professional development of teachers Teacher qualification/certification Teacher, principal and staff retention rates How test results drive classroom instruction and professional development SAT/ACT scores Number of AP courses offered Percentage of students completing A to G requirements for UC admission Do all Catholic Schools take a quality, standardized assessment aligned to

standards?

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Number of suspensions and other discipline data Number of expulsions Applicant acceptance rate Amount of tuition charged per student School’s spending per student Academic decathlon participation and achievement

_________________________________________________________________________________* Disaggregate means to separate a whole into its parts. In education, this term means that test results are sorted into groups of students who are economically disadvantaged, from racial and ethnic minority groups, have disabilities, or have limited English fluency. This practice allows parents and teachers to see more than just the average score for their child's school. Instead, parents and teachers can see how each student group is performing.

c. Take a look at the sample academic achievement data summaries in your binder. Does this kind of summary report satisfy our understanding of transparent and accountable?

d. What do funders mean by “increased transparency”? What would that look like?

DATA REPORTING & TRANSPARENCY SOUGHT BY FUNDERS

A clearly presented, easily accessible, public, online, school by school snapshot like LAUSD provides would be helpful

Make the information easily available to each stakeholder group including central administrators, local school leaders, school board members, teachers, parents & students, prospective and current funders/investors

Next, Dr. Kevin Baxter, Superintendent of Elementary Schools, Archdiocese of Los Angeles and his team presented DCS current practices and vision in the area of elementary student academic achievement assessment and reporting of data.

We asked Kevin and his DEPARTMENT OF CATHOLIC SCHOOLS team to respond to the following questions:

a. What Catholic elementary school academic growth and achievement data is currently measured?

b. Where and how is it measured?(DCS responses are in blue)

DCS CURRENTLY MEASURES STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT, GROWTH AND PERCENTILE RANK All DCS schools currently take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) The ITBS scores each student’s national percentile rank (NPR) and provides

grade equivalents in reading and math, and provides a score ranking of each student’s growth called the Student Growth Percentile (SGP)

The test is given to grades 3-8 once a year in the fall. It takes two weeks to administer the test The ITBS science test is not aligned with standards

THE NEW STAR ENTERPRISE TEST MEASURES MORE AND CORRELATES TO STATE REPORTS

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Next year, DCS schools will take the STAR Enterprise assessment This test assesses early literacy, reading and math It will be given to grades Transitional Kindergarten (TK)-8 It correlates to State Reports and other common core assessments including

(CA state test Smarter Balanced, ACT Aspire and NWEA) This test also provides scaled scores (SS) and student growth percentile

(SGP). It measures the % of probable readers by student, links to blended learning, provides a states standards report, diagnostic screening, instructional grouping and planning, core learning progressions, student progress monitoring and longitudinal reports.

c. How does the DCS use this student growth and achievement data to inform academic interventions to advance student learning?

The ITBS data from the fall exam is used to guide student instructional interventions that same academic year

The Star Enterprise assessment is quick and will be given four times a year at all school sites and up to weekly at individual sites for more real time student achievement intervention

Schools will need training, coaching and mentoring

d. What is the cost? ITBS is $12 per student NPR/SGP dashboard is $1.50 per student

The new STAR Enterprise cost is $10.80 per student for the test and the dashboard report

Plus $75,000. per year for professional development (online tutorials and site specific data coaching). This amount is not currently funded.

e. Where and how is this student achievement data reported and shared? The test data and dashboard are shared with each school Training is provided Each individual school decides how to share and report their student

achievement data

f. What are the problems, constraints and challenges faced in collecting and reporting this information?

The challenges faced by DCS are: a decentralized governance model; leadership disparity; widely differentiated per student funding levels (from $10K per student to $1K per student); the execution/implementation of instructional intervention requires funding and ongoing training.

This decentralized governance model means that each pastor has the authority to determine whether and how to report and share his school’s student academic achievement data.

g. What is it that DCS would like to do in this area? What is the DCS vision?h. Where does DCS need philanthropic partnerships to help address these

challenges and achieve its vision? DCS will use a new assessment, STAR Enterprise next fall Tutorials and coaching for this new test cost $75,000 annually

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DCS needs the support of the philanthropic community to implement the academic intervention and support indicated by the data that will be collected from the new STAR Enterprise assessment including: Professional development about how to read, report and use data, mentoring, coaching and capacity building

Then, together the group discussed: What Actions Will it Take to Get From Where We Are Now to Where We Agree We Want to Be?

Create a working group comprised of school site, DCS and funder leaders to develop a mutually agreed upon school by school dashboard/snapshot of student academic achievement and growth indicators in an accessible, uniform, comparable format. Develop incentives for schools to pilot and adopt the dashboard.

Support the implementation of the new STAR Enterprise assessment and the academic interventions it will indicate.

Work together to create and support a culture shift toward increased trust and transparency.

Over lunch, each table team discussed the following questions:

Is there an area(s) related to Catholic elementary student academic achievement data and transparency that we might explore, support or further together?

Questions we would like to pursue related to Catholic elementary student academic achievement, data and transparency

Develop a uniform, clear, accessible school-by-school, single page, student academic growth and achievement dashboard for internal and external sharing and reporting. Draft a statement of the dashboard’s purpose. Create incentives for schools to pilot, adopt and share the data dashboard

Support the implementation of the STAR Enterprise assessmenta. Training, support, mentoring,

coaching cohorts, capacity building

b. A structure to implement ongoing academic interventions driven by assessment data

Work together to deepen trust and create and support a more open, transparent culture.

How do we support and incentivize a transparent culture?

How can we streamline the process for aggregating the data?

After lunch, the group agreed to the following ACTION ITEMS and NEXT STEPS:

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Specific Action Who Is Accountable?

When Will this Action be Done?

Define SuccessWhat will it look like when this step is achieved?

1. DATA DASHBOARD TASK FORCE

Recruit and convene a task force (include school site leaders, teachers, experts, funders, DCS leaders, parents) to develop a clear, accessible data dashboard of key student achievement and growth, and school-wide progress indicators (see pages 5-6 for a list of metrics and desired characteristics).

Dr. Kevin Baxter 1. ID Task Force Members: 1/20152. Convene Task Force: 2/20153. Develop draft dashboard: 3/20154. Present dashboard to funders in advance of next convening:Spring 2015

1. Recruit task force members*

2. Convene meeting(s)3. Develop a dashboard.

A statement of purpose for the dashboard, and incentives for schools to pilot, adopt and share the dashboard

4. Present dashboard draft to funders convening

2. SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF STAR ENTERPRISE

Prepare a strategic plan for implementing the STAR Enterprise assessment, production and distribution of test data reports, professional development, coaching, mentoring, reporting of data, capacity building and implementation of student academic interventions indicated by the assessment data.

Dr. Kevin Baxter Early 2015 Present plan to funders for feedback and direction regarding proposal development

3. AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT CATHOLIC FUNDERS CONVENING

a. Discuss the focus issue: reliable financial data & transparency

b. Discuss ways to incentivize and cultivate a more open, collaborative, transparent culture

c. Address pastor/principal relationship and leadership

d. Discuss possible creation of a common funding application for Catholic schools

e. Address principal recruitment, professional development, leadership formation, retention

f. Address high schoolsg. Look at draft data dashboard.

Planning teamMary Chambers

Next 6 months 1. Date selected for next Catholic Education Funders convening

2. Agenda drafted and distributed

3. Group convenes again before May, 2015

*If you are interested in serving on the Data Dashboard Task Force, please contact Dr. Kevin Baxter at (213) 637-7328.

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Finally, the group discussed and reached agreement on the following question: Do we want to institutionalize this convening and commit to coming together on an ongoing basis for a period of time?

The group agreed to convene again in six months.

WHO: The next Catholic Education Funders convening will be funded and planned by the current planning team plus additional members Debra Duncan and Charlie Steinmetz.Any others interested in participating on the Planning Team, please contact Joe Womac of the Specialty Family Foundation at (310) 899-9700.

WHAT: The next convening agenda will include such items as:a. ASSESSING SCHOOL FISCAL VIABILITY: RELIABLE FINANCIAL

DATA AND INCREASED TRANSPARENCYCreating shared definitions, closing the information gap that may exist between funders and the DCS, developing a shared understanding of challenges related to this issue, and identifying specific next steps around quality school financial data and transparency

b. The data dashboard presented by the task forcec. High schoolsd. Principal/pastor leadershipe. How to incentivize, support and cultivate a more transparent culture?f. Possible creation of a common Catholic schools funding application

WHERE: To be determined by the planning team

WHEN: In 6 months

Deb Estes and Joe Womac of the Specialty Family Foundation summarized the group’s work, agreements and next steps.

Kevin Baxter called on each participant to, in round-robin style, briefly complete the following sentence: For me, the most important “take away” from today’s meeting is…

To conclude, Jim Hannon of the William H. Hannon Foundation, offered thanks and closing remarks.

The meeting adjourned at 2:17 p.m.

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CATHOLIC EDUCATION FUNDERS CONVENINGTuesday, December 2, 2014

Caruso Catholic Center

EVALUATION SUMMARYThis transcription of confidential evaluation responses was created by

Lisa Selje of The Wellspring Group

1. What were the most meaningful parts of today’s meeting? Well organized The meeting moved forward thoughtfully and each agenda item built upon the next Good, clear, specific conclusions All the amazing, personal communication, beautiful materials and preparation in the

months leading up to the meeting Impeccable organization of the day Quick, intentional and highly-focused pace You somehow managed to set a table that inspired collaboration and respect. I was

doubtful it could happen. My hats off to you! The spirit of the day was honest and open The participation and preparation of Kevin Baxter and his team Plenty of opportunity for conversation and dialogue Pushing the group to commit to specific next steps The open, respectful discussion. I learned a great deal by truly listening with an open

heart like you told us to. I took the slide presentation to heart and tried to follow the 8 rules you presented. It changed everything for me. I think everyone walked away saying, “I really learned something here today.”

Unity. Bringing all our goals together, seeing so much agreement. Together we made a good plan Open sharing of what foundations are up to Guideposts for effective collaborations presentation set a great tone for our interaction DCS presentation demonstrating progress in data collection regarding student quality The feeling of collaboration with other funders and DCS Solid outcomes: A to-do list that is measurable, specific and has a timeline Helpful structure, process and format Great facilitator -- she kept us focused and led us to make decisions and agree upon next

steps yet she did not overpower the group and she let US do the talking Appreciation that funders and DCS are on the same wave length A wonderful, rare opportunity to be part of that magic when people really listen to one

another with open minds and open hearts Learning from multiple voices both DCS and the different funder perspectives Meeting the other funders and hearing about their initiatives Hearing and learning about STAR Enterprise Gaining more confidence in the quality and commitment of DCS leaders. Gaining

confidence in the quality and commitment of givers Structured focused conversations around specific topics

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Forming, deepening and strengthening this burgeoning collaborative partnership The respectful dialogue and constructive path moving forward The second half was more meaningful than the round table part The open minds of funders and DCS A focused and rich discussion about student achievement data Identifying what funders need to know and seeing their enthusiasm for Catholic

education. Also, seeing the leaders in DCS and understanding their accomplishments and issues

The openness The very specific, clear outcomes Hearing from DCS The candor The candid, informative presentation by DCS

2. Did we achieve the intended outcomes for our day together? Yes ✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓ A very good start Yes, except for finance Definitely I think so Mostly yes No. We did not get to the financial question I am glad we took the time to go more in depth and just cover one topic

3. What next steps are you most hopeful about addressing? The continuing partnership Honesty Finalizing the data metrics required by funders The template task force Work of the task force The task force and the next convening Principal leadership An understandable, usable deliverable on STAR data We have a clear charge to move forward Getting a template for academic achievement and then next one for school finances Aggregated data that does not place an additional burden on the schools/principals The data dashboard task force and their draft presentation High school needs Finding ways to measure schools Convening again as a whole group The dashboard Set up a task force to create an academic growth and achievement template Create an agenda for the next Catholic Education Funders convening Partnership between foundations and with DCS The task force Further exploring additional DCS initiatives is just as important as data Getting together as a whole group again Reliable financial data and transparency

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What will enable the next steps to be realized? The dedication and commitment of the participants We must stay focused and committed to these exciting goals we set Continued dialogue Continued open mindedness and partnership Asking questions and having a similar candid conversation around financial transparency

and sustainability Following the 8 essential elements of partnership that Mary presented to us Focused effort and continued dialogue with DCS The planning team and the DCS data dashboard task force Perseverance and early timing As good a facilitator as we had today The continued commitment of the planning group and DCS Continued commitment of time The creation of a draft data dashboard A planning grant to allow DCS to hire a consultant to facilitate the taskforce Follow through from DCS to validate that funder/DCS does indeed have impact Keeping Mary on board All the participants continuing to make this a priority in their schedule Ongoing participation from all stakeholders For heaven’s sake, someone on the planning team please sit down with Mary and hire

her to stay with this group in a permanent capacity over time. That will be the single most important determining factor of our success. If Mary is on board, the job will get done.

The commitment of the organizing committee and…we have to have that same facilitator

What obstacles do you anticipate as we begin next steps? Time, always time! I am concerned about the reluctance of pastors and principals about sharing data with

funders Busy-ness We must keep the conversation going Keeping up the excitement and inspiration of today and deliver on the task force Perhaps too much committee action will keep us from focusing on action The ebb and flow of funder bandwith and attention Defining the balance of focus between HS and elementary Keeping the ball rolling None ✓✓ Time scheduling Time management There is always too much to do Culture is very hard to shift Time constraints of givers and DCS Limited time or understanding of the entire context Inertia Realistic conversations around the long term sustainability of schools that are not all about

scholarships Finding a more permanent place to house the committee Overworking DCS staff

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4. How could this Catholic Funders convening have been more effective? I think the meeting was highly effective A few more bathroom breaks This may be the most effective meeting I have ever attended No comment ✓✓ DCS materials could have been circulated in advance We spent too much time saying what funders wanted. This could have been shorter so

we could have let Kevin start his presentation sooner I cannot think of anything Only if more agenda items could have been covered Presence of Weingart and Parsons Foundations I cannot imagine any way that it could have been better I found the meeting very helpful. Mary somehow managed to move us along well Answering the questions and sharing the responses ahead of time So well done! There was a good deal of funding opportunities presented by DCS. Those should be

avoided Perfect Nothing comes to mind We should have ended on time or 5 minutes early

5. Any additional comments? I just want to say thank you for all the preparation, attention to detail and hard work that

helped move this meeting forward in such a productive way I appreciate your leadership of the meeting Great, great, great day! Thanks to all who made this happen Watching Mary facilitate is like watching an orchestra conductor. She has a light hand,

let’s us do the performance, but keeps her eye on everything, does not let any single voice dominate the conversation, and keeps us all on task and on time. Masterful!

Great work! Just thanks, thanks and thanks Thank you for coordinating the meeting Thank you to whomever picked up the tab for this meeting Thank you! Thank you A+ Optimistic!

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