PBS picked up on some of the amazing things happening in Chicago at Holy Family Ministries (which includes STC School Holy Family Lutheran that touts a 100% graduation rate). “Outside its doors is one of the highest crime neighborhoods in Chicago.”

Inside is top notch parochial school, nonprofit service center and an episcopal charity. President Susan Work describes the advantage of thinking outside the traditional parish model:

“By having a not-for-profit entity over everything we could access some other sources of funding that we would not otherwise be able to attract if we just stayed as Holy Family Lutheran School, a private school.”

You may ask how it is that Holy Family Schools serves that inner city but still requires tuition:

“Only fifteen percent of Holy Family’s income comes from tuition. It gets the rest from private donors, grants, and government.”

That is an amazing social service to the city, but as anyone in school fundraising understands, especially from our network where this situation is very common, it’s extremely hard work. Read more about how they fund by watching the video and reading the transcript at PBS.