CatholicTranscript.org ~ The Monthly Newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut

HARTFORD – A million-dollar share of an anonymous grant has made possible a new partnership of Catholic school alumni that can potentially "secure the long term viability" of Catholic elementary schools in Connecticut, said Dale R. Hoyt, superintendent of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Hartford.

The Catholic Alumni Partnership (CAP) is an effort to support Catholic elementary schools through sustainable fund-raising programs for 304 schools in New York and Connecticut, according to a press release from the archdiocesan Office of Catholic Schools. The consulting firm Changing Our World Inc. is working with CAP to ensure its success, the press release stated.

New York schools benefiting from the endeavor are in the Archdiocese of New York as well as the Brooklyn, Buffalo and Rockville Centre dioceses.

Kim Shea, archdiocesan CAP coordinator, wrote in an e-mail that about $1 million of the total grant will benefit archdiocesan Catholic schools. All money from the grant is specifically allocated and will go toward improving existing alumni development, or fund-raising, programs and the creation of new ones, she wrote.

The grant made possible the discovery or verification of 78,000 addresses of Catholic school alumni, Ms. Shea wrote. More than 84,000 alumni names were searched.

Each school in the Archdiocese will receive a new donor management system to help with its donor management program, she wrote.

"In addition, the grant provided development consulting services for each school. Recognizing [that] each school operates differently as regards development, consultants were sent to each school to better understand what each school is presently doing from a development perspective," Ms. Shea wrote. The consultants will help each school develop an individual plan to be implemented over the next 18 months, she added.

"Plans will vary by school, but all will include alumni newsletters, annual appeal correspondence, social media opportunities (Facebook, Web site enhancements, etc.) and other alumni outreach programs. Our goal is to provide each school with a customized annual alumni development program that they can manage and grow from year to year," she wrote.

CAP is privately funded by an anonymous benefactor.

Mr. Hoyt said, "We are blessed with the opportunity that the Catholic Alumni Partnership offers to reconnect with graduates of Catholic elementary school education and engage them in a comprehensive effort to secure the long term viability of our schools."

Mr. Hoyt expressed the hope that Catholic school alumni "will embrace this initiative in order to provide future generations with the same educational excellence that they enjoyed."

Information is available from Ms. Shea at (860) 242-4362, ext. 140, or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .