May 2009
As the school year begins to draw to a close, it is a time of very mixed personal emotions. I will conclude my role as president of ACSI this summer on July 31. It has been a most blessed privilege and an honor to serve in this leadership capacity for the past 13 years. I have truly seen God’s hand at work in Christian schooling across the nation and around the world. Even in an economically upended environment, we have been blessed to see God’s continuous provision.
Thank you for your faithfulness and diligence to the leadership tasks where God has placed you. The near countless conversations I’ve had with Christian school leaders and teachers have provided some of the richest encouragement. So many have shared both challenges and God’s amazing provision.
I pray God’s continued leading for you; I pray for wisdom beyond your greatest imagination as you seek His face in every aspect of your decision making. And I would like to call your attention to a passage of Scripture that most of us have committed to memory, yet so amazingly, in reading it just a few days ago I received such a powerful new reminder of what it says about worship: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship (Romans 12:1, TNIV). It is my personal prayer to be such a living sacrifice.
I would like to thank you for your willingness so many times over the past few years to respond to our periodic―rapid surveys, one- or two-question surveys that you quickly responded to. That information proved so helpful to us.
Two Reminders:
- I believe that you are all aware of our new agreement with Microsoft regarding special pricing for our member schools on software and licensure through our encompassing Microsoft Education Alliance Agreement.
- More than once, you have probably heard of or read about my very strong endorsement for the Benevon sustainable fund development program. To date, 67 ACSI member schools across the nation have joined the program. Nine of those schools have had their second annual Ask Event, and another 39 have completed only their first Ask Event. That’s a total of 48 Ask Events during a two-year period. Those 48 Ask Events have generated a total of $9,989,286 in gifts and pledges. On average, the 48 events generated $208,110.
We know of no other program or service that has that kind of positive economic impact on the generating of sustainable operational funding. The ACSI Education Foundation has provided funding to ACSI to make available a number of additional repayable grants for our member schools. These grants will enable you to provide this training for your school team. The Benevon Model for sustainable funding has been introduced to and piloted by ACSI member schools with demonstrated success throughout North America for two years. ACSI Education Foundation desires to assist schools that have challenging cash flow issues, helping them access this training in order to quickly begin the discipline of cultivating donor support for operations. All schools that are selected to receive the repayable grant must implement the model within one year, thus achieving the capability to repay the grant.
No interest will be charged, and the funds will then be available for other schools to access. We have a few repayable grants left.
To apply for an ACSI Repayable Grant, please download the attached application and e-mail it to ACSI’s Assistant Director of Development. Grants may be used to attend Benevon workshops around the country. For more information, please call toll-free: 866.401.4801.
2009 ACSI Repayable Grant Application
Are you looking for a great summer read? Don’t miss Malcolm Gladwell’s latest, Outliers: The Story of Success.
Blessings for a restful and restorative summer!
Ken Smitherman
President (retired 2009)
From My Heart to Yours May 2009