Catholic Schools “On Brand” with Help from Fulcrum

June 30, 2020

Fulcrum is helping Catholic schools put their best foot forward.

For Kristin Moore, the director of marketing and enrollment for the Office for Catholic Schools (OCS), it’s all about finding what makes each of the 72 schools in the Archdiocese of Seattle special. Kristin’s position at OCS is funded as a loaned executive by the Fulcrum Foundation, allowing her to work closely with both organizations.

“When I started last May, I hit the ground running and went to as many schools as I could,” Kristin said. “It wasn’t a test. It was to discover where each school had opportunity.”

Kristin’s primary goal is to help schools establish plans that will increase enrollment through effective marketing strategies—particularly increased online presence. She works closely with principals, teachers, development directors, and parent volunteers to streamline the enrollment process and offer rebranding suggestions.

Her marketing efforts have already created a spike in interest from prospective parents at the Catholic schools Kristin has helped.

And when COVID-19 closed school buildings and sent students to remote learning, Kristin’s Fulcrum-funded work was more important than ever.

“How do you keep marketing when your building is closed? How do we welcome students in a virtual world? These are just some of the topics I’ve been discussing with principals,” Kristin said. “Since COVID, I’ve been holding weekly meetings with schools, talking about admissions, advancement, and marketing.”

The results of Kristin’s hard work can be seen in schools like Visitation Catholic STEM Academy.

“Kristin’s been amazing,” said Marc Nuno, principal of Visitation. “The most important thing we did was make marketing and enrollment a goal for the whole school to embrace. Kristin helped elevate our efforts and shift us into a higher gear.”

Working together with Kristin, Visitation redesigned its website and rebranded the school, showcasing its STEM-focused curriculum. Within the first month of the website re-launch, Visitation was receiving an increased number of online applications and new funds from donors.

“There were good things happening at Visitation. We just had to start sharing that story,” Marc recalls. “Kristin was really like a catalyst, helping us broaden the engagement of the community. There’s been a lot of positive momentum as a result of our new marketing and enrollment. You can feel it in the way people speak to each other, in the way we’re collaborating together. Kristin was a big part of that impact.”