Your faith-based school is in a business category of its own when it comes to operational requirements and challenges. Part private business, part service organization, and part educational institution, your needs and challenges are unique, and one-size-fits-all solutions don’t always work.
As a private school, tuition fuels your organization’s budget. That means your relationship with students and families is quite different from public schools. Your community is naturally more intimate, close-knit and familiar. On the other side of the coin, you’re expected to be more responsive to parent and student requests and concerns, offer clear value for tuition dollars, and even face sharp competition when it comes to recruiting and retaining students.
As a faith-based Christian organization, your school is built on the teachings of Jesus and your mission is driven by faith and service. As a religious institution, you’re free to make many of your own rules and decisions, and set your own standards for how your school operates. Charting your own course has its challenges, however. For one, you don’t exactly fit the “mold” for most service vendors and providers. Outside contractors might treat your school the way they would a larger public institution, or try to mold your business needs around their services, instead of the other way around.
Your school doesn’t have to settle for “good enough” partners and vendors to help manage athletics, food service, janitorial services, or other outsourced essentials. Partnering with another faith-based company can do more than meet your needs; it can become a distinct operational and competitive advantage.
Five Reasons Your School Should Partner with Christian Service Providers
Christian partners share your values.
From personal interactions to business practices, a God-centered partner or vendor will be more likely to live your school’s faith-based values. They’ll be more likely to understand the reasoning behind your policies and decisions, and more naturally ready to adopt those rules and systems. That means easier onboarding, smoother vendor relations, and a more collaborative environment for everyone involved.
Shared values are absolutely essential when that vendor is responsible for staffing positions within your school, like line cooks, dining service managers or janitorial staff. The people they bring onto your campus become a part of your school’s culture, interacting with your students and directly supporting your staff and faculty. Operating from a shared set of values helps to create immediate connection, strengthen relationships, and amplify your school’s mission at every touchpoint.
Christian Partners bring you the right people for the job.
A faith-based partner is focused on serving your school well, and that means interviewing and hiring food service, janitorial, teaching or maintenance teams with your culture in mind. A faith-based partner understands that they play an active role in the way your school lives its mission in the world. A faith-based partner is more likely to have stricter codes of conduct, a more thorough interview and vetting process, and better instincts for finding the people who will treat your students like family and your school like home.
Christian Partners anticipate your challenges.
Running a faith-based business or organization comes with specific challenges that are unique to the Christian leadership and business space. Working with a faith-based partner ensures that your outsourced services understand the nuances of running a values-driven business and living your faith through that company.
From navigating public prayer to competing in a secular space, you’ll have plenty in common with a fellow Christian business when it comes to market blessings and challenges. No matter what problem you’re trying to solve, chances are your Christian partner has encountered a similar challenge and is ready to brainstorm an effective solution.
Christian Partners are more likely to customize services.
Faith-based vendors tend to be smaller businesses that are focused more on staying nimble and serving customers like you, while bigger corporate players compete to “own” the market. That difference in business approach affects everything from the boardroom to the breakroom and every level in between.
A larger corporate vendor or partner is more likely to offer you a one-size-fits-all solution to your unique needs, creating a pre-packaged, transactional relationship. A smaller faith-based partner will offer the same capabilities with a sharper focus on delivering value through customizations and tailor-made programs created to meet your actual needs. A faith-based partner is more likely to create a one-of-a-kind solution that considers your school’s size, budget, culture, and population.
Christian partners value service over commerce.
Operating from a similar mission statement can make all the difference when it comes to service and culture alignment. A faith-based business will most likely have “selfless service” baked into its core values, emphasizing people over profit (and meaning it). For a Christian school or university, that means you can lean on your faith-based vendors for trusted guidance, unfiltered feedback, and a true strategic partner who can help you reach your goals.
How are your vendors and partners helping your school live its mission with students, families, and in your community? If it’s time to rethink your relationship with your food service provider, we’d love to brainstorm some solutions with you.