Guy Ciarrocchi: Giving students fish and teaching principals to be fishermen

(Author’s note: part of an occasional series of “good news” – people, organizations, etc., that make life better.)

“Jerry, you’re going to help Sister, okay?”

In 1996, Don Parsons, then Chairman and co-founder of CTDI, poked his head into his son Jerry’s office at CTDI and “volunteered” him to help the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia build a brand new Bishop Shanahan high school (BSHS) in Downingtown. Today, nearly 1,000 students attend the three-story building on a multi-acre campus. Since that day, not only was BSHS built, but also a foundation was created with professional staff and a board of directors. Amazingly, nine-figures in donations have been raised and distributed to Catholic schools and to students of all faiths, across the five-county Archdiocese. 

The Foundation for Catholic Education (FCE) does all of that and more. Along the way, they’ve donated money to make Catholic education more affordable for tens of thousands of students, helped keep dozens of schools from closing, promoted programs for students with special needs, and created and distributed a robotics program (with support and direction from Bentley Systems in Exton).

Talk to the people impacted by the FCE. See their website. Read and hear how they change lives: “Thank you Mr & Mrs. Bentley (Bentley Systems)…please know that you made a difference in my life…thanks for your kindness.” Haileigh Lozano, student at Blessed Virgin Mary School, Darby.

Yet the Parsons and the team at FCE are even more proud of their SPAT program — Strategic Planning Assistance Team. We often hear the discussion about the value of “giving someone a fish” versus “teaching someone how to fish.” 

With SPAT, the FCE does both. They not only distribute millions of dollars in tuition assistance to students needing financial aid, and not only distribute grants to help schools with their curriculum and stability; they also harness the business expertise and talents of their Board of Directors and executives at their companies to work with principals, business managers, and pastors at schools to show them ways to modernize and improve the efficiency of the resources that they do have. And how to effectively raise additional dollars in their regions.

By creating SPAT, FCE has ensured that not only will students receive grants and scholarships to find a school that works, but just as importantly, principals and business managers are given real-world expert advice on how to more effectively and efficiently run their school. It’s a major gift whose value increases over time.

True stewardship is donating one’s time, one’s treasurers and one’s talents — that is the embodiment of the 2025 version of the FCE.

Since creating SPAT, the all too-recent heartbreaking process of closing elementary schools has stopped. And over the last few years, a historic change is happening. School enrollment is growing — even as families and schools are battling with inflation. Through gifts of money and expertise, the Catholic schools in the region are growing — again, serving children of all races and religions. When those schools stay open, not only are there opportunities for the local students, but also the community does not have an enormous, vacant, dark building sitting in its midst. 

In 2001, a bipartisan coalition of legislators passed a law signed by Governor Tom Ridge to create the “education improvement tax credit” program (EITC). Over the years, the EITC program has been expanded with two related programs to encourage more targeted support: OSTC — to help students in the poorest communities — and EDS — for schools where the majority of students are in need of financial aid.

Anyone paying Pennsylvania’s income or an array of business taxes may make a contribution to a state-registered scholarship organization—such as FCE (others in our region include BLOCS and the Children Scholarship Fund Philadelphia). That contribution is eligible for up to a 90 percent tax credit.

In other words, anyone (a person, partnership, small business, major corporation) donating to a scholarship organization gets to deduct up to 90 percent of the contribution from their state tax bill. For example, if you donate $10,000 to FCE, BLOCS, CSFPhilly, etc., you would get a refund (or credit) of up to $9,000 toward your state taxes that you would owe anyway.  In essence, one’s $10,000 donation actually only costs the taxpayer $1,000 out of pocket.

(For the relatively new Pennsylvania EDS program — schools serving a majority of EITC/OSTC students, donations are eligible for a 99 percent tax credit. So, that $10,000 donation costs you only $100 out of pocket.)

These state programs are extremely impactful and extremely popular, as they are easy to support, easy to work with and the impacts are immediate. Donate money today to allow a young boy or girl to attend a school this fall that they might not otherwise be able to attend—changing the trajectory of the child’s life. We all win.

These programs have allowed the FCE to expand its great works — they are expecting to help over 10,000 this upcoming school year, and over 100,000 across our state through all scholarship organizations.

Does it make a difference? Take it from the parents: “With [your] financial and instructional support…Holy Trinity School has become a school of belonging.” April Halloran — mom of Sarah Maddie — at Holy Trinity School, Morrisville

Time. Treasure. Talent.

Long before the TED talks and places like Wharton began to talk about “servant leadership,” the Parsons family put it into practice. Motivated by their faith and a sense of civic duty, they have changed tens of thousands of lives — and, more importantly, put a foundation in place (literally) and built up the next generations of leaders to ensure that positive change will go for generations.

Guy Ciarrocchi is a Senior Fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation. Guy writes for Broad + Liberty and RealClear Pennsylvania. He and his wife are donors to FCE. Follow Guy at @PaSuburbsGuy.