Rising costs and changing policies are leaving much more than a trail of frustrated employers and Business Managers. People are becoming more aware of their health, lifestyle, and options—changing their routines to include healthier options in hopes of avoiding expensive doctor visits and medical bills.

Here we go again. Gas prices are rising daily and reporters predict costs to peak this summer around $5 a gallon. Are we really going through this again?

Springtime around ISM means it’s time to start our community garden. If your school has a garden, it might also have some native wildlife. Here in our patch, we have a few bunnies and a groundhog we’ve lovingly nicknamed “Tubby.” But, as much as we love to see them visit, we’re not huge fans of what they do to our vegetable garden—especially our bunny friends.

In your fund-raising efforts, you are most likely focusing on the constituents who are with your school now—current families. But what about your alumni? Alumni and their families are some of your biggest fans, and you should strive to keep them “in the family.” Often, your alumni constituency is a lightly tapped, or untapped, source of support.

Often the spring means it’s auction season—live and/or silent—at private-independent schools. The auction is not only a fund raiser but also usually a fun celebration for everyone. With eBay as a household word, more and more, schools are using an online auction options for their silent auctions.

Your annual fund is the foundation of all your other fund-raising efforts at your school. This month, Phil Higginson, Assistant Head of School for Institutional Advancement, and Penny Rogers, Director of Communications, both from Ravenscroft School (NC), tackle a question about donor categories and benefits.

The conventional idea is that teacher evaluation is based solely on classroom observation—and that the annual review is a “lets get it over with” thing. Personal and professional development is not generally part of the equation, and the evaluation system can be viewed as punitive rather than productive.

As Head of a private-independent school, you generally operate on a budget that is rooted in tuition and other hard income matched to the cost to deliver your mission to your students. For your school to operate, you must recruit and retain your students and make every attempt to minimize the “gap” between tuition and cost to educate a student—striving to reduce that gap to zero. For continued success, your Trustees should be mapping out a strategic plan and a strategic financial plan to grow your school for future generations. You use your annual fund and other fund-raising efforts to support the “extras” that define your school.

As one last winter storm threatens Delaware, we’re still excited to start sharing spring-related articles and green tips. This month our Twitter followers led us to an interesting article on berkeleyside.com, about Sharon Gamson Danks, an urban planner who believes in edible, eco-education.

Good news ACSI member-school Business Managers, ISM and ACSI have announced their partnership.