Feature: 2020-2021 Giving

The Xavier Foundation has been moving forward with great clarity and focus.  As Xavier emerges from 20+ years of debt, we now shift gears and turn all our attention toward assisting in Xavier tuition, faith and academics, faculty compensation, parish subsidies, and advancing our Catholic faith in the Xavier community.  We do all of this through the Xavier Impact Fund.

Through your generosity and support of the Impact Fund, we were able to disburse over $230,000 to each initiative:  Xavier tuition assistance, faith and academics, and the teacher salary and benefits endowment. THANK YOU!

Last fall for the first time we introduced an opportunity within the Xavier Impact Fund in which all dollars raised beyond the individual parish’s goal would go back to the parish.  The money could be used for anything the parish decided.  This allows individual parishes to benefit from the appeal for the first time.  We’re proud to announce that five parishes achieved this mark and we hope all will be able to hit their goal this year.  

Due to the pandemic, the Xavier Foundation also froze subsidies from parishes for a second year.  This resulted in a $500,000 impact to our parish partners’ bottom line.  We look to continue to relieve subsidies whenever and wherever we can.

The Xavier Foundation Board maintains its energy and forward momentum as we keep our eyes focused on today’s challenges while also looking ahead to what’s on the horizon.  In doing so, we also updated our mission statement to the following:

The Xavier Foundation mission is to raise, manage and invest capital in order to strengthen and advance the mission of Xavier High School; to develop the total person in a Catholic environment.

On behalf of the Xavier Foundation Board, thank you to all of you who have contributed to the Xavier Foundation as we aspire to make Xavier High School the best it can be.  Xavier couldn’t exist without the continued support from you, our wonderful donors.  Thank you for being so generous.

David Schimberg (R91)
Chair, Xavier Foundation Board

Every October, I look with great interest at the first day enrollment numbers within Xavier Catholic Schools (XCS). Not only as a future XCS parent am I genuinely curious to these numbers, as president of Xavier High School I’m especially interested. The recent opinions of those we’ve hired to help take a look at increasing our enrollment have made something very clear to us. If we want to increase enrollment at Xavier High School, higher enrollment numbers need to occur within XCS grade schools. In my previous two years as president, reviewing those numbers have not been encouraging. In fact, it’s been quite some time XCS (K-12) enrollment numbers increased. But this year when I looked at those same enrollment numbers, a pleasant surprise was revealed.  

For the first time since the 2007-2008 school year, K-12 XCS enrollment numbers increased. In an era of enrollment decline across the country for Catholic schools, this for sure is a milestone worth celebrating! For Xavier High School, this good news meant a noticeable boost to our newest enrollment projections. In particular, XCS grade and middle schools were responsible for the increase (although it is also worth noting Xavier High School’s enrollment landed 10 students above projection this school year – something to celebrate as well!). 

Those same consultants we hired to advise us on enrollment growth have also made something else very clear. One of the key contributors to a family choosing a Catholic education often times is word of mouth. Peer to peer, neighbor to neighbor, parishioner to parishioner. With this in mind, I have a special, important request of you. 

If Catholic schools have made a difference in your life, could you please let others know, every chance you get? Share your story -- especially on social media! Don’t be bashful. We need loud, passionate, vocal fans. 

So yes, this Christmas season, absolutely go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. But after you’ve done that, could you also let folks know about our Xavier Catholic schools?

Chris McCarville (R97)
President, Xavier High School
@CRXPres | [email protected]