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The Net Assets podcast delves into the most pressing issues in independent school business and operations. Delivered by NBOA, the only national nonprofit membership association focused exclusively on fostering financial and operational excellence among independent PK-12 schools, each episode is based on a popular article in NBOA’s Net Assets magazine. Chief financial and operational officers alongside other leaders of school business share what inspires and challenges them as well as their approaches to problem solving and innovation. In each lively exchange, host Jeff Shields, NBOA president and CEO, teases out the human stories behind the printed story.
Looking at revenue and Auxiliary Programs, I just see it as so important. And once we all talk about tuition and enrollment and how independent schools are going into the future, I see Auxiliary Programs as a huge piece of that. And I know many schools are getting involved in it, I just wonder if they're really getting into it as they should.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Net Assets Podcast, the podcast from MBLA where we explore the people, strategies, and ideas shaping the future of independent school business leadership. I'm your host, Jeff Shields, MBLA President and CEO. This episode of the Net Assets Podcast is provided with the generous support of Blackbaud. If you're not familiar with MBOA, AKA MBOA Business Leadership for Independent Schools, we're the only national association focused exclusively on business and operations professionals in Pre K-twelve independent schools. We empower our members with knowledge, community, and tools to lead their schools with confidence and clarity.
Speaker 2:Today's conversation is a notable example of how a new generation of business leaders is rethinking the role and the impact of the business office. My guest today is Weston Outlaw, Chief Financial and Operations Officer at Columbus Academy in Columbus, Ohio. While Weston is relatively new to the school, he's an experienced business officer and driving his school's leadership effort that's taking a fresh look at how schools generate revenue beyond tuition, particularly through auxiliary programs. And what's exciting here is not just growth for growth's sake, but a more intentional approach to using auxiliary programming as a strategic, mission aligned engine for financial sustainability. So today we're going to talk about that journey, what it looks like to step into a leadership role with fresh eyes, how schools can think differently about non tuition revenue, and why Auxiliary Programs may be one of the most underleveraged opportunities at your independent school.
Speaker 2:Weston, welcome to the Net Assets Podcast.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Jeff. It's great to be here.
Speaker 2:So I wanna talk a little about your background. You're a former independent school student, and you attended the Sacred Heart in Chicago and Culver Academies. I'm really interested in how does that influence the way you approach your business leadership role, your current school, but at any of your schools. You were an independent school kid.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I often say I'm a product of what I do, and I just loved my schools. And when I tried to find the past, I just remember being a kid that I just when I went to school, I was just very happy and very content with the people around me, the teachers, my friends, my classmates, and just the experience. And I remember kindergarten, first grade, I just I remember being very happy and comfortable in that space. And even into high school when I went to Culver, being on a beautiful campus on the lake and just taking it all in and living with people from all around the world at such a young age before you go to college.
Speaker 1:Of course, I had to figure that out after I left. But it was just an amazing experience, and working in independent schools also helped shape that. But if I hadn't gone to independent school, which my mother paid for, I don't know if I would have had such an influence in the way that I work today. My mother passed in 2016, but I feel like I do this in honor of her. I do this for two reasons.
Speaker 1:In honor of her for what she gave to me, an independent school education, but also to give back to these independent schools so that students can experience what I did.
Speaker 2:Wow. That's really a beautiful thing you say about your mom. If you can think back to young Weston, was there a time during these experiences at any of those schools that you thought I could work at a school someday, or was it really a vocation you came to post college?
Speaker 1:I think it was right when I graduated college. But when I left Culver and I went to Loyola in Chicago for college, my elementary school Sacred Heart was right across the street. And my eighth grade teacher, I stayed in touch with her, she told me, why don't you work in the after school program when you start college? And so I said, what a great idea. I did that, and my very first day of college was my first day at after school back at my elementary school.
Speaker 1:And I ended up doing after school. Before school, I was a IT assistant, and I even substitute taught through my career at Loyola. And when I graduated, I realized that why don't I just work there?
Speaker 2:You found it. Had bring
Speaker 1:it to the high school office and said, I've been here. I'm graduating. Is there anything for me? And we and she made something happen. So it was really just natural progression.
Speaker 1:And I knew when I started that first day on the job, I said, I'm I am where I wanna be.
Speaker 2:Wow. That's great. What an opportunity. But you also listened. You paid attention to your experience in saying, where am I, but where do I wanna go?
Speaker 2:And you found out it looked a lot like where you already were and what a great opportunity she gave you. I wanna talk a little bit about your work at Columbus Academy. Now you've just finished your first school year, and you succeeded a longtime CFO who served more than two decades. Now I know that's a big opportunity, but also a big responsibility. I wanna cite our demographics of the independent school business office, which we published last year, which suggests a significant wave of retirements among business officers are already here and will be experiencing them in the future year after year.
Speaker 2:So you're really part of, as I see it, the next generation of business leaders. What advice would you give to someone who's coming into a school in that same circumstance? How do you honor that past legacy, but really create your own path in this really important role for your school?
Speaker 1:Sure. When I came to Columbus Academy, I stepped onto the campus and I saw a beautiful campus. It was successful, Lots of kids. The faculty and staff were happy and engaging. And I stopped and looked at that and said, this is because of my predecessor.
Speaker 2:Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1:If she had not done a great job, I wouldn't be here today having this opportunity. So I just made sure that first day that I took that in, and that became a pillar of everything going forward. And then getting into the work, we work in education. So I say, I'm a lifelong learner, and I'm gonna be a sponge. And so I was able to spend some time with her before she moved on practices, to learn how she does things.
Speaker 1:We looked at very specific processes, and she would give her opinions at times, and I would just soak it all in because it's all an experience. I don't have to grade it. I don't have to critique it. I just need to take it in and really learn what she has been doing for the last thirty years.
Speaker 2:Is there one nugget from her that you think about or that keeps coming back to you?
Speaker 1:No, nothing specific. It's more when I was going through the processes with her, we're deep in the spreadsheets, and she's showing me how she does things. It's a very particular way, and I'm used to doing it a different way. Because of my lens, I'm thinking, okay. Don't critique it.
Speaker 1:Listen and pay attention and learn it so that you may want to adjust to this process. You may wanna adjust it, or you may wanna completely change it. But you should have those three options, not just, oh, this isn't the same that I do, so I'm gonna completely change it.
Speaker 2:That's really great advice for people who are following a long term business officer, isn't it? Yeah. One thread in your background that obviously stands out because it was part of your origin story was your work in Auxiliary and Special Programs. Now, how did that experience, and you may not have really even understood it at the time, but how did that experience shape your perspective on revenue diversification and the broader business model of independent schools? It seems to me that somewhere along the way, you married this kind of passion for auxiliary programs, but also at the same time realized I'm the CFO, and this is important to our school's overall financial health.
Speaker 2:Tell me about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I it goes all the way back. Not only did I go to independent schools, but I also went to summer camp. And I went to Ever Camp for six weeks every summer as a kid starting when I was nine. And that really changed my life and really had an impact on me.
Speaker 1:Because of that, started working in camp as a summer camp counselor. I enjoyed that, and then I worked full time in summer camp at an independent school. And then I became an Auxiliary Program Director, and then I went into the business office. So all along the way, I've picked up some experiences, everything from being a camper to a counselor to being in charge of things, then being in boardrooms and talking about finance and talking about how the Auxiliary revenue is affecting the budget. Yep.
Speaker 1:So it's it's almost like a nice progression of time that when I'm talking about this, my entire history historical experience comes out. Yes. And so looking at revenue and Auxiliary Programs, I I just see it as so important. And once we all talk about tuition and enrollment and how independent schools are going into the future, I see Auxiliary Programs as a huge piece of that. And I know many schools are getting involved in it, but I just wonder if they're really getting into it as they should.
Speaker 2:You're getting into it with a passion for it. And I have to say, most people look at Auxiliary Programs at schools and they probably think of it as, this is a nice thing to do for the community, right? It really is a contributor to that. And it's certainly part of their mission to educate kids. They educate them in during the school year and they engage with them all summer long.
Speaker 2:But somehow along the way, it clicked and that passion married, really, I would call it a financial necessity for schools. It's still five or 6% of a school's operating budget, which most people might just not really understand. That's five or 6% that you don't have to get from tuition or you don't have to get from a donor. No one wants to give up that five or 6%. Is that when it really just clicked for you once you got into the boardroom and saw the financial impact that a healthy auxiliary program had for a school?
Speaker 1:Going back to Culver where they have a huge summer program, and that's where I went. So there's a lot of connection there. I got to see how much a summer program could be involved in a revenue situation with schools. Okay. Tell me more.
Speaker 1:There's 1,400 kids that go there every summer from 40 countries, and it is a large part of their revenue. Of course, it's not anywhere near tuition, but if you look at their income statement versus a typical, it's gonna be much larger. Now I know they're a boarding school, and so we have day in boarding schools out there, but the point is that it just shows how much you can do on a campus. I mentioned the 1,400 kids in the summer. They only have 800 students in the school year.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's impressive. Let's take a quick break. Independent schools today are being asked to do more with less, while delivering a seamless experience for families. Blackbaud's connected K-twelve solutions help schools bring enrollment, billing, financial operations, and incidental revenue together in one unified platform.
Speaker 2:That means greater visibility across revenue streams, fewer manual processes for your team, and a more intuitive self-service experience for parents. Blackbaud is helping schools work smarter and stay focused on what matters most, your mission. What do you think separates a okay auxiliary program from a really outstanding one?
Speaker 1:I look at the name itself, Auxiliary Programs. It's other programs. And if you have that thinking, you're not gonna be in the right spot. And it will provide what you need, the percentage that you mentioned, and you'll trickle along and it will be fine. But if you really want to grow this and be a really big part of your program and your revenue, you're gonna want to make it a pillar of your institution.
Speaker 1:So it can't just be that, oh, when school is out, we run these cute little programs that give us a little money and they're just wonderful. No, you're gonna say that at Columbus Academy, we have summer experience that offers kids from a wide range of ages to come to campus and enjoy a summer experience at Columbus Academy. In all, we can say whether you go to school here or you go to camp here, everyone can have a Columbus Academy experience in their own way.
Speaker 2:And that's what you're building right now as we speak. Right? Yes. And let's talk about that. What makes Columbus Academy ripe for delivering that kind of Auxiliary Program experience that you just described?
Speaker 1:I came in and we are just wrapping up our new strategic vision. And some of that involves our campus. It involves connecting with our community like Columbus, Ohio, and sustainability. And those are perfect items to look at auxiliary programs and to really engage that piece of the institution. So when I came in, the program was large, and it was doing well, and it still is doing well, but the revenue is very low.
Speaker 1:So we're having a great time and great program, but we just don't get a lot from it financially.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And that is something that we need to fix. Because if that was the same case in our tuition scenario, the school would not be running.
Speaker 2:Gotcha.
Speaker 1:I need to look at the finances, and that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to change the program. I've been working with our special programs director who has been here for a long while, and she is absolutely amazing. Oh, good. Let's be partners. Let's keep your program the same as much as possible, but let's clean up the back end a little bit.
Speaker 1:We worked together on spreadsheets and said, let's put these guardrails up so that you're almost guaranteed to have a better outcome financially. And that's what we did. But also we said, okay, strategic lens, we have a campus that has two thirty one acres, and we have eleven sixty students here during the school year. And what I mentioned about CulverEd is the same thing here. Why don't we have eleven sixty campers in the summer?
Speaker 1:So we have also took the current program and moved it over to the side. It's still running as it was, but now we've created a new program alongside it. And it's more of a traditional program than the specialized areas within the other camp. And we're launching it this year, and the registrations are great. So we're expanding, and I've convinced the board and our head of school and our leadership that auxiliary is important, and we need to grow in order to be sustainable and follow our strategic vision.
Speaker 1:And that's what we're doing.
Speaker 2:It sounds like the current camp experience is a little bit more maybe you would describe it as transactional. Maybe you would describe it as short term. Maybe you would describe it as something that's very niche. It sounds like what you've created, though, is something that's a little bit more holistic, a little bit more about developing community and connection among the participants. Is that what you're going for?
Speaker 1:Absolutely right. You hit it right there. So the new program is focused on relationships. It is a traditional program. And when we looked at the pricing strategy, we wanted it to align with that relationship goal.
Speaker 1:So what we did was you can come here for this new program for ten weeks straight and have a huge discount because of that. Or you can come and be part of it for a week and pay a much higher price. And Yeah. Any industry, right, how much you pay for how much you're getting. And I've I've been training our special programs director and her staff that the length matters.
Speaker 1:Feels like you're creating a whole camp experience. And really, honestly, Weston, you're running it as an experiment.
Speaker 2:Right? Now you met the demand. Yeah. It sounds like demand is high, but you're running it as a new experiment with what summer programs could look like at Columbus Academy.
Speaker 1:And so we we want that that long relationship. And so we're offering that ten weeks. And we're also looking at who we're trying to cater to. We want new families.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So what is it what's important to a new family? Number one is that can we cater to them for the entire time that kids are out of school? So are we looking at our own calendar, or are we looking at the public school calendar, the district calendar? And we're trying to align as much as we can. We can't be perfect because of our own calendar.
Speaker 1:But to even pay attention to that and say, how can we offer our nonstudent population to come join us for the summer? The other piece of it, this is a school. This is not a camp. And so what can you learn from the camp industry? It's an industry in itself.
Speaker 1:So are you connected with the right associations? Are you connected with Spark as an Auxiliary Program Director? Are you connected with the American Camp Association? I encourage all camps that at schools to try to go for accreditation with the American Camp Association, to be able to say that your school is accredited by your regional association and that your camp is accredited by the American Camp Association, don't you see that as an alignment there? And what it's also doing is also helping your camp staff and your special programs person be in line with national standards and safety staff training and program development.
Speaker 2:I can't help but think, but you take camp very seriously, and that's really been your approach. That's what I hear you say, and I think it's actually fascinating that you're driving this from the business office. Now I think that's unusual. You've got the passion, you're in the business office, but what is your advice for the level of engagement to other business offices? How engaged should they be around their Auxiliary Programs?
Speaker 1:First, you need to look at your special programs person if you have one and look at yourself and align the skills. I know that I have a background in special programs, so, yes, there's an advantage there. But, really, it's becoming that partnership that I talked about earlier. Usually, your special programs person has a program background in some way. Right?
Speaker 1:And maybe they were a teacher. Maybe they were in camps, whatever. So they have that program skill, and you have a financial skill. And you may want to bring in other parts of your school that have expertise. Think about your marketing and communications department.
Speaker 1:They should be involved in this. And your admissions office. And eventually, if you grow the program enough and there's some length to it where kids start feeling that they're connected to the summer program over a longer period of time, you can get your development office involved because now you have created a new affinity group for them to eventually solicit and engage with in the future.
Speaker 2:What do you say about the relationship between a successful Auxiliary Program and enrollment?
Speaker 1:It is so important, Jeff. Financial gain is an important one to help the operating budget of the school continue. But one of the most important things you can do is connect with enrollment. And that's because, think about it, if we have 500, let's say 500 kids on this campus and 300 of them are not our students, I don't think I have to say anything more right there. You have 300 students on your campus every day that are not going to your school.
Speaker 1:So, yes, you could send their parents an email saying, hey, look at our school. And they may treat that every other newsletter that they're gonna get in their inbox. Or you could create a long term lasting relationship with them in the summer. And what I mean by that, we're talking about ten weeks of camp. We're talking about continuous engagement from summer to summer where there's a reason to come back, like the great summer camps of America that we have, where you're wanting to come back.
Speaker 1:We are building a great relationship with the children to the point where they go, you know what? I've been on this campus for many summers. I know the buildings. I know the people. I just wanna be here, mom and dad.
Speaker 1:And there is your natural progression into the school. So it is an important part with enrollment, and I think they need to be part of it. And then you can also connect the enrollment office with your camp and add some intentional pieces to the summer camp program that introduces the kids to the school. One quick example of that is during your open orientation with your camp staff, you probably explain that this is a school and that's running a camp. Why don't you invite your director of enrollment to introduce the school to your staff and tell them about enrollment.
Speaker 1:Tell them about all the great things that the school does, and tell them that at any moment, when you're walking around with your kids and they point to something, you say, you know what? Kids in the school do this. And if they seem to have more of attraction to that, get them connected or get their parents connected to the enrollment office. So it's not enrollment getting excited about obtaining your email list and blasting them about your school. You're now engaging with them in a whole new way with brand new kids on your campus and getting them connected into the school.
Speaker 2:You've made me a believer. That's all I can say. With your passion and your energy around this topic, I think other people listening are gonna be believers too. What is your best advice for some of the risks or pitfalls schools should be thinking about as they want to really, what I think you've described is reimagine your school's auxiliary offerings? What would be that advice you'd give them?
Speaker 1:I think the most important thing is that don't underestimate this department and the person that you're choosing to run it. I know that your financial position is an important one to consider, but I would refrain from making this a stipended position for a teacher. This needs to be a thoughtful business leader that you can be a partner with and really think about things that your teachers and your other program people on campus are not thinking about, and that is pricing strategy, marketing, and engagement, and program development. There's so much to do and so much to think about to make it a great program that you just don't want it to minimize it. And work with your head of school, work with your board, and you wanna make this an important part of the institution, as I've said before.
Speaker 2:That's a great place to end it on, and that was some really good advice. I kinda wanna come back in three years and talk to you again and say, where are we now? Where are we now? But I'm really excited about the future you described. So thank you Weston for sharing all of that great wisdom around Auxiliary Programs.
Speaker 2:And thanks to everyone for listening to the Net Assets Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and share it with a colleague. And remember, MBOA saves independent school business leaders time and helps schools save money by turning collective expertise into practical tools, trusted benchmarks, and ready to use solution so leaders don't have to start from scratch or learn through costly trial and error. Go to mboa.org to access these best in class tools and resources to support your business leadership role at your school. Thank you again to Blackbaud for supporting this episode of the Net Assets Podcast.
Speaker 2:Until next time, I'm Jeff Shields, and thanks for listening.