Sissy Spence, a senior vice president with J.F. Smith Group, Inc., has become quite familiar with Jackson Academy in recent years. She and her colleague, Richard Hood, are spending time on campus this month interviewing JA families to determine JA’s readiness to pursue a capital campaign.
J.F. Smith Group, Inc. is a fundraising consulting firm from Auburn, Alabama in its 30th year of service to non-profit organizations across the country. The group conducts feasibility studies and capital campaigns for organizations that anticipate building programs, campus improvements, or program enhancements.
Spence and Hood are conducting face-to-face and Zoom interviews while on campus, plus an online survey going out next week to provide many families the opportunity to contribute to the conversation. JA families care so much about JA, Spence has found through her interviews. “The school’s families are very appreciative of the nurturing aspect of JA and of the teachers–and how the teachers love and truly care about the students,” said Spence. She also says families report that JA students are ready for their next step when they graduate, and in many cases, JA graduates are “well ahead” of their counterparts in college classes. The Christian environment shines through as well, she says.
After conducting personal interviews with roughly 200 JA constituents and reviewing the results of the online survey, J.F. Smith Group, Inc. will present its analysis to the JA Board of Trustees by the end of the year. The board will then determine when to proceed with a capital campaign and what that campaign will encompass. All efforts are intended to guide JA as it seeks to serve students and families as an even stronger independent school.
