Investing in the Future: Eliza Cowan is Shore’s First Director of Revenue Development

Investing in the Future

Eliza Cowan is Shore’s First Director of Revenue Development

“Iam completely invested in the independent school model,” says Eliza Cowan, Shore’s first Director of Revenue Development. “With that investment comes concern.” In 2020, Shore’s strategic plan, Our Future in Focus, called for the school to pursue financial sustainability through “more diverse income streams and continuous generation of surplus assets to reinvest in new programming and new business initiatives.” Hiring Cowan in spring 2022 marked a major step towards this key pillar of Shore’s long-term strategy. The emphasis on a broader, more diversified approach to financial health comes as shifts in the independent school market exert increasing economic pressure on institutions like Shore, which have historically depended almost entirely on revenue from tuition and philanthropic giving to sustain their operations. “We are all dealing with the same challenges,” explains Cowan. “Enrollment is down; fewer families can afford independent school tuition. As a result, the competition for that shrinking pool of paying families is only becoming more intense. Many schools are reshaping and resizing to survive.” At the root of the problem is the traditional independent school financial model. “A smaller and smaller number of families are being asked for everything,” Cowan says. “Those full-pay families that choose independent schools are also the ones we turn to for philanthropy to fill the gaps that tuition revenue cannot. It is exhausting—for the families and for the schools—and it is unsustainable in the long run.” Shore, assures Cowan, is at the forefront of an industry-wide movement to change the equation. Change is needed, she argues, not simply because of the dollars at stake. “If we are truly committed to making progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion, then a new model is essential.” Indeed, a second major goal of Our Future in Focus is ensuring that Shore becomes “a diverse and accessible community where everyone feels a sense of belonging.” The Board of Trustees in 2020 approved an Equity & Inclusion Commitment that pledged, “We pursue individual and systemic cultural competence in order to model equity leadership in a complex world.”

“If we can start relieving some of the pressure on philanthropy and tuition,” Cowan says, “I hope

Director of Revenue Development Eliza Cowan

that will enable us to cast a wider net to families who might have felt that they were just on the cusp of being able to afford the tuition. We will become more approachable as a school, for a much more diverse range of families. But I think it’s more than that. I hope that what we are able to achieve is a more wideopen campus—a campus that brings in more people and has more use, and also one that helps people to see us differently, to engage in new conversations with us, and to be inspired by what we do every day.”

But getting there, according to Cowan, is no simple task: it is not merely a matter of renting out Shore’s facilities more often, or of expanding summer camp offerings. “There is certainly the low-hanging fruit,” she admits, “but my job is not to be shortsighted. What’s exciting to me is thinking about the long game—about genuine engagement with our families and our community, real progress on our DEI goals, and powerful impact on our programs.”

While the types of opportunities Cowan is most interested in pursuing are varied, they do have one characteristic in common: they will benefit Shore students and families. “I imagine us partnering with businesses and nonprofits in a way that will offer our students something unique, that will open their minds to the world beyond Shore. If we are able to work with a research lab, if we are able to partner with cutting-edge educational opportunities, if we are able to bring nonprofits into our space, all of those partnerships are going to provide an opportunity for our students and our families to see something that they haven’t seen before on the campus.”

With deep experience in both business development and parent relations—she owned her own business for 12 years, and more recently has served as an independent school development officer—Cowan naturally looks to the network effect as the starting point for the initiatives and partnerships that she sees as essential for the school’s long-term success. “Everyone in the school space knows that there are parents who are champing at the bit to share ideas with us. At the same time, we all know that most of us just don’t have the space in our day-to-day roles to hear each and every one of those ideas. For me to be dedicated to this mission is a game-changer. Hearing the ideas, what companies they’re associated with, who they work for, who their families work for, what

nonprofits they’re on the boards of, where they’re volunteering, what they’re hearing from another school they know—these are all incredibly valuable connections for us to make. I want Shore families to be on the front line of opportunity, not only so that they’ll understand the goals and become a part of the solution, but also so that the entire endeavor will remain organic and authentic to who we are.” Shore’s ongoing master-planning process will help guide this work. “The timing could not be better; the master-planning process and the revenue development project could not be more closely aligned,” says Cowan. “What we’re doing in both cases is auditing the current campus and looking for hidden opportunities—thinking much more broadly than the day-to-day use of campus facilities to imagine what kinds of resources a I can’t potential partner might want to see on our campus. This will inform wait to hear what how and where we invest, and people’s wildest dreams shape the kinds of transformations we pursue.” are for their students. Cowan is also eager What resources do they think for input from what she describes as a core groupwould impact our students? of stakeholders: employees. What types of partnerships “I can’t wait to hear what people’s wildest dreams are would dovetail with their for their students,” she says. curriculum? “What resources do they think would impact our students? What types of partnerships would dovetail with their curriculum? Just as we need to think of our families as a resource, we need to look to our employees in the same way. Shore teachers are immersed in professional development— they know what’s emerging around the country and around the world as best practice in schools. I want to hear from them: not only because it will guarantee the fit with our program, but also because it will allow me to bring that teacher with me to go talk to the laboratory, nonprofit, or business and say, ‘Here’s what we’re thinking, here’s what we can offer you.’” As an independent school parent as well as a professional, Cowan admits, “The Director of Revenue Development position called to my heart. It allows me to be part of a solution that I will see firsthand and that my kids will see firsthand. Shore is in a unique place: the school has made the bold decision to invest in this approach, the Board of Trustees sees the importance of it, the Head of School sees the importance of it. It’s really exciting. I believe that Shore will discover solutions that a lot of other schools will be able to use.”