Organization
Founded in 1999, Marian Middle School is the only all-girls Catholic middle school in the St. Louis area serving urban adolescent youth in a faith-based environment. The school utilizes the nationally-recognized Nativity-Miguel model that offers a longer school day and school year, as well as ongoing support for graduates through high school and college.
Partnership 1 (2012)
Marian has a strong board and development team. Their goal was to strategically increase the average giving level of their donors and strengthen their commitment and engagement in the school. The Brown Sisters provided a challenge grant their development team. Marian used this challenge to launch 1 on 1 conversations with its donor family, asking them to consider increasing their current level of giving to help them meet the challenge. Only the increased giving amount counted towards the match. They were able to raise over 1.5 times the grant investment in increased giving. Due to a strong donor care plan and some creative giving opportunities that were launched in tandem with the grant, they believe these increased giving levels will be sustainable.
Partnership 2 (2016)
Low-income and minority individuals, which comprises most of Marian’s student body, are significantly underrepresented in STEM fields. In order to provide students with the best, most advanced education possible, the school approached Brown Sisters Foundation for help in creating a STEM learning lab and workshop, thereby increasing STEM opportunities and outcomes for students. The STEM lab will enable classes that are more effective and efficient. With access to advanced technology and innovative tools, students will have an opportunity to build and create exciting projects and explore potential career paths. The Foundation provided a challenge grant to help the school attract additional donors to support the development and ongoing sustainability of this new space.
Partnership 3 (2021)
In order to realize key areas of growth in the school’s 10-year Impact Statement, the Marian is strategically growing its fundraising capacity to meet expanded budget needs over the next 5 years. The Brown Sisters Foundation issued a challenge grant to attract new and increased donations to support the school’s Annual Fund Development Mentoring Initiative. Through this initiative, Let’s Build Hope will provide coaching to Marian’s development team to create an even more effective fund development strategy, and build and embed an organizational understanding of successful fund development processes.