A number of naming rights opportunities have been identified and can be viewed here. Donors with other naming interests should contact Troy Thelen in the Development Office at [email protected]. All naming rights opportunities must be approved by the VCS Board of Directors. 

The overall goal of the Secure the Future campaign is to incur very little, if any, long-term debt, as the funds being raised are outside of the general operating dollars of the school. We plan to only complete the phases as the needed funds become identified or available. The school currently raises tuition annually between 2 and 5% to offset inflation and rising operational costs. The campaign should not impact these annual changes.

Yes! We have a number of committees that support this campaign:

• Prayer and Spiritual Emphasis Committee
  • If you’d like to join this committee, please contact Campaign Chairman Greg Fraley
  • If you are not interested in joining the committee, but would like to pray for the campaign, please either visit FB or text XX
• General Gifts & Events Committee
  • Please contact Campaign Chairman Greg Fraley if you are interested in being part of this committee
  • Needs include connecting campaign leadership to individual donors, hosting small group campaign events at VCS or in your home, or – for those who are all in – making “asks” for the campaign

If you have other ideas for ways you’d like to support the campaign, please contact Greg Fraley.

Yes, a comprehensive campaign has been organized to seek funding from local businesses and corporations; local, regional and national foundations; grandparents, alumni and friends of VCS. We believe in leaving “no stone unturned” in order to complete this campaign effectively.

We began incurring costs the minute we began the campaign (June 2018). We are asking all donations to be fulfilled within the 3 years the campaign is running (2019, 2020, 2021), but upfront donations are especially appreciated. Gifts that can only be made if we are able to accept them over more than 3 years are welcome.

We are set up to accept donations through nearly any medium:

• Cash/check donations can be made directly to VCS.
• Online donations via a credit card, debit card, or checking account can be made at valleychristianaz.org/Campaign.
• Stock donations are immediately liquidated by VCS and turned into cash. If you’d like to make a stock donation, please contact Campaign leadership. A note on appreciated/depreciated stock:
  • Appreciated stock: For stocks that have increased in value (appreciated), the key to receiving tax savings is to donate the shares directly to VCS. You receive a double tax benefit by:
    • Avoiding capital gains on the profit you’ve gained, and
    • Receiving a full tax deduction for the fair market value of your gift.
  • Depreciated stock: For stocks that have lost value (depreciated) the key is to sell them first and then give the cash proceeds to VCS. You benefit tax-wise in two ways – you can take both the loss deduction and the charitable deduction.
  • Note that we encourage you to consult your financial planner or tax advisor who can assist you in evaluating the tax advantages available to you when making a donation of securities.
• In-kind gifts (goods and services; often labor or building materials).

We are currently in “Phase I” of the Secure the Future campaign. The moving of the Junior High and Elementary are both part of the “Future Phases” of the campaign. The initial discussions for the campaign began in 2016, two years before the JH opened and three years before the Elementary School opened, and our feasibility study was conducted in November of 2017, also prior to either school opening. In 2018, we purchased 14 additional acres of land next to our Chandler campus with the intention of eventually moving the JH and ELEM to our permanent campus in Chandler. This new land is a critically important piece of Phase I, and will allow us to move each school to our permanent Chandler campus in “Future Phases” of this campaign.

Our initial plans after announcing VCS Elementary were to open the permanent elementary campus in 1-2 years; however, with the closing of additional schools, the need to serve more students, and the blessing of our Price Road campus (which we purchased from Bethany Christian), we were no longer able to convert the warehouse to the proper facilities for our students. The plan is now to move VCS Elementary after Phase I is complete and Phase II begins. With both projects, a singular donor supporting an entire project (for example, a singular donor making a donation that would cover the entire cost of the elementary school construction) would move up either timeline to “immediate.”

JUNIOR HIGH

For 36 years, Valley Christian operated as a high school only, serving grades 9-12. In 2016, as we formulated our Strategic Plan (Valley Christian 2020: Renewed and Ready), we evaluated the sustainability of our school, including enrollment, our financial position, and more. One of our key findings was that, instead of 70%+ of our students coming from Christian middle schools, as they had in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, more than 70% of our students were now coming from public and charter schools. Instead of being able to rely on 70-80 students and families coming from Christian schools each year – with families accustomed to paying tuition, families fully understanding the tax credit program, and students well-versed in the expectations and culture of a Christian school – we could only count on 25-35 students and families from these schools, making up the remainder from unknown or inconsistent sources. Although our efforts in reaching students in public schools had been successful, we knew that we needed to grow the number of students in Christian junior highs for the future sustainability of VCS. 

On April 20, 2017, we announced that we would begin serving grades 6-8 in the Fall of 2018. When we opened our doors in August 2018, we did so with 85 students across three grades.

In November of 2017, driven by our desire for sustainability and our interest in educating more students in the light of God’s word, we began formulating the “Valley Christian Schools Association.” This initiative was intended to offer our feeder schools marketing oversight and support, professional development resources and opportunities for teachers, and many added opportunities all designed to strengthen and grow the Christian member schools. On February 14, 2018, we were able to announce the VCSA with three long-standing feeder schools – Bethany Christian School, Chandler Christian Academy, and Gethsemane Christian Academy – eventually adding Logos Christian School and Phoenix Christian School to the VCSA. Despite their best efforts and ours, within 15 months, 3 of these 5 feeder schools had announced closure. 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Even after adding the Junior High in 2018-19, VCS had no intention of opening an elementary school. In fact, there had been no Board or Administrative discussion on a possible elementary school until February of 2019. On February 5th, representatives from Chandler Christian Academy (CCA) called VCS to advise that the CCA Board had voted to close their school, asking if VCS could offer support in any way. After a few days, we regretfully advised that we still had no intention of opening an elementary school, but committed to helping CCA provide the right opportunity for their families. The next week was spent working with other Christian K-8 schools, proposing different options for partnering on a full K-12 educational experience for families, but to no avail. On February 12, the Board at CCA sent an email to their families announcing closure at the end of the school year.

The next day, a group of families with ties to both CCA and VCS called VCS to ask if there was anything they could do to support these displaced families. After two weeks of renewed discussions, numerous meetings, and significant prayer, we determined that God was leading VCS to open an elementary school to support these displaced families and other Christian families looking for a quality Christian education. We made this announcement on February 28. The next day, on March 1st, we received a call from the leadership of Bethany Christian School (BCS), asking to meet with VCS leadership. After initially meeting with BCS leadership in February, their position moved from one of intending to create a sustainable model of success at BCS to finding the best way to serve their families going forward, even if that meant closing. A few days later, BCS advised that they’d be closing at the end of the year, and a few weeks later, on March 18, BCS announced publicly that, “It is with heavy, but also very hopeful hearts… that we respectfully announce that Bethany Christian School will cease school operations at the end of the 2018-19 school year.” That afternoon, in conjunction with the BCS announcement, VCS announced that “we have been working hand-in-hand with Bethany’s Board and Administration on the best possible landing spot for displaced students and families. With the closing of Gethsemane Lutheran School (announced February 2018) at the end of last year, and Chandler Christian Academy (announced February 2019) and Bethany Christian (announced today) at the end of this year, the goal of all four of our schools looking forward has been the same: to provide the highest quality Christian education experience to as many families as possible.” 

During each of these announcements, we were intentional about communicating the following: “We enter this new opportunity humbled. We did not plan or seek out opening a K-6 school, but truly believe God has presented VCS with an incredible opportunity and feel His call on us to move forward. We are in the early stages of our school-wide facility expansion plan, and pending successful campaign support, we will begin construction later this year to house additional Valley Christian students. In hte near-term, the elementary school will meet at Bethany Christian’s current, well-equipped campus.” 

We are committed to supporting Christian education in the East Valley, whether at VCS or elsewhere.