CSO director: Alumni play a key role in growing diocesan schools

BACK TO SCHOOL: Ray Witkowski is new Director of Advancement

Ray Witkowski

Whenever you visit one of the Catholic schools in the Diocese of Albany, the word family is used a lot. And for good reason. The principals, teachers, assistants and staff go out of their way to make it feel like home.

When talking about this idea with Ray Witkowski, the newest Director of Advancement for the Catholic School Office, he said it is time to bring some of those “family members” back when many schools in our area need their help.

“The Beacon of Hope has been our annual fundraising event, and we are looking at ways to make that less of a one-year event and more of an annual campaign,” said Witkowski, who grew up in Troy and attended Catholic Central High School. “I think only a select number of schools have benefitted from that.”

And this is where the alumni base of the schools could get involved, theorized Witkowski.

“There are a lot of alums from Catholic schools who are many years removed and I think there is an opportunity here to reconnect the alumni base with many of their schools,” he said. “I invested in Catholic education because I believed in the importance of it as a foundation. But as the years go on, there is a cost factor and we relied on income from our household to support that education but are there other ways to support (the schools) that are out there.”

“Parents are going to be a few years removed so they know the impact the education had on their sons and daughters. And if they still believe in that, what I am hoping is that they will support the future of Catholic education in the Diocese to help those families that want to have their son or daughter in a Catholic school but are inhibited in certain ways.”

As well as reconnecting with the alumni base, Witkowski will work with all the schools to establish community partnerships much like the successful marriage between Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School and the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Schenectady.

In the short-term, however, the focus will be on the high schools — Catholic Central School is currently running a capital campaign — with how to best assist the grade schools, likely through an annual fund, always top of mind.

“When we are fundraising and going forward it is out of determination not desperation,” Witkowski said. “We want those ongoing streams of connections with the schools and for those alumni to be reconnected even at the elementary level.”

A fresh strategy is needed more than ever with too many schools relying on tuition dollars and subsidies just to maintain the upkeep on their buildings.

“Catholic education is being impacted by changes in the economy just as much as higher education institutions are,” Witkowski said. “(We want to show people that) this is the impact that Catholic education has had in the Diocese and we want to continue that, but it is going to take more than what it took in the past.”