Stewardship
By carefully managing our resources and relationships, we strengthen DeSales University and support our mission. This pillar focuses on building and protecting the people, finances, and facilities that help our Catholic, Salesian identity grow.
We aim to be responsible with all the gifts we receive. We do this by investing in our people, running strong fundraising efforts, creating steady revenue sources, and forming meaningful partnerships outside the University. These actions help us build a solid base for the future.
We also care for creation in all our stewardship work. This means our growth supports both the University and our responsibility to the environment and society. Through these efforts, we prepare DeSales University for long-term strength and continued mission success.
Attract, Develop, and Retain Exceptional Faculty and Staff
We are working to build an excellent community of faculty and staff who strengthen the University. Our plan includes studying pay equity to fix any gaps, advertising job openings more widely, and improving how many applicants accept our offers. We are also tracking retention each year and offering more professional development workshops for staff and administrators. Updates to our employee handbook support these efforts. Together, these actions help us create a workplace where great people want to grow their careers at DeSales.
Execute and Achieve Goals of Our Comprehensive Fundraising Campaign
Our fundraising campaign will help us involve more alumni and raise important resources for the University. The first phase is the quiet phase, where we focus on large gifts of $100,000 or more. Our goal is to reach 50–60% of the total amount before we go public. The public phase will invite more people to join in. This includes visits with potential donors, forming committees, hosting events, and increasing alumni outreach. We aim to grow alumni participation and bring in more first-time major gifts each year. The final phase will secure the last contributions. During this stage, we will also strengthen relationships with donors and celebrate the success of the campaign.
Develop New Revenue Sources and Leverage Assets for Sustainability
We are growing our revenue in new ways and using our resources wisely to support long-term economic and environmental sustainability. This includes bringing in more annual revenue, launching new income-producing programs, and increasing net income from housing, dining, and events. We are also making better use of our campus facilities to generate revenue and checking the return on investment for major buildings and equipment. Strategic partnerships with businesses, community groups, and government agencies will help expand our funding. We will focus especially on supporting veterans and promoting our conference services to wider audiences.
Execute Integrated External Partnerships
We are building external partnerships that support the University’s goals and mission. We will strengthen key partnerships by sharing student and graduate stories, hosting more campus visits, and holding internal planning meetings. Our goal is to grow our total number of partnerships by 45% and increase enrollment from these partners by 10%. A new partnership with the Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce will help us reach more than 250 organizations. We are also exploring new partnerships for programs like the Master of Criminal Justice and the Master of Science in Information Systems.
