Capital Campaign
Frequently Asked Questions

Our school was built for a different era of education. Today’s students learn through collaboration, creativity, hands-on exploration, and differentiated instruction. To support this more dynamic educational model, spaces that once served as traditional classrooms have been thoughtfully reallocated for:

 

While these programs are essential to providing a high-quality 21^st-century Catholic education, they have reduced the number of traditional classrooms available for grades K-8, creating a real and growing need for additional space.

 

At the parish level, Nativity is also experiencing growing participation in faith formation, sacramental preparation, evangelization, and life-long discipleship. The Christian Formation team currently operates within the existing school footprint, demonstrating the need for dedicated ministry space that supports formation while also relieving pressure on academic areas.

 

As Figure 1 illustrates, our school building includes 31 classrooms. Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, our parish school will serve three sections of kindergarten through fifth grade.  As enrollment continues to grow and a third section is added to grades 6–8 over the coming years, the existing facility will no longer have sufficient classroom space to support three sections at every grade level. This capacity will be exceeded by the 2029–2030 school year.

Our Day School early education program plays a vital role in Nativity’s future. Since becoming licensed in 2019 to serve children ages three to five, the program has continued to thrive. Classrooms are consistently full year after year, demonstrating strong demand among families for a faith-based preschool environment. The Day School also helps introduce young families to Nativity, creating a natural pathway into our parish, school, and broader faith community.

 

The modular classrooms are approved under a two-year special use permit with the City of Leawood, with the option to renew the permit for another two years. While they help meet our immediate needs, they are not a permanent, long-term solution for our growing school and parish. They provide important short-term relief while parish leadership continues planning for a permanent solution that best serves our students, families, and ministries.

Planning study feedback showed that expanding educational and faith formation spaces is one of Nativity’s top priorities. It also indicated that the parish could raise $13 million to $16 million through a three-year campaign. With this feedback, parish and school leaders, along with the Building Committee, focused the project on the most urgent and realistic needs: A two-story expansion of the educational and faith formation spaces.

 

A vast majority of planning study participants affirmed the need for additional educational and faith formation space, while also encouraging parish leadership to carefully consider the size, scope, cost, and long-term sustainability of the proposed expansion. The revised plan reflects both the community’s strong support for expanded educational and faith formation space and its desire for a practical, sustainable path forward.

 

The educational and faith formation expansion is the first priority because it directly addresses the most immediate facility needs identified through the planning study: additional permanent classroom and faith formation space. Replacing the temporary modular classrooms with a long-term solution will help Nativity better serve students and families, support continued growth in the parish school, and strengthen the spaces needed for youth and adult faith formation.

The new 20,000 square-foot two-story expansion will better serve students, families, and parish ministries by providing:

Our architects and builders will ensure the educational and faith formation expansion meets our needs while keeping current market pricing in mind. Based on today’s market, the estimated cost of the project is $16 million. Construction pricing can fluctuate, and until a contract is signed, this estimate is our best projection.

This estimate also includes “soft costs” such as architectural and engineering fees, site preparation, fixtures, furnishings, and other essentials needed to deliver complete, usable spaces.

 

Based on the feedback received during the planning study, our commitment is to align the project with anticipated funding, address our most pressing needs, and ensure responsible stewardship of parish resources. If construction costs increase, parish and school leadership will prayerfully consider responsible adjustments so the project remains realistic, mission-focused, and financially prudent.

 

Before construction can begin, we will need to follow archdiocesan requirements regarding pledges, cash received, project approval and financing. The parish will need to have 100% of the cost pledged and 50% cash received in order to begin construction.

 

The parish does not have any debt.

 

Parish and school leadership reviewed enrollment trends, parish demographics, facilities utilization and long-term facility needs as part of the planning process. In the past five years, our parish has grown by 15 percent; our K-8 school has grown by 81 percent; and our Day School (early childhood) has increased from 29 to over 100 children. Based on new family registrations and infant baptisms, we project this growth will continue for the next three-to-five years. Our vision for the educational and faith formation expansion is not simply to respond to today’s pressing needs, but to build for our future as responsible stewards of our parish and school resources.

In 2023, a steering committee was formed under the leadership of Fr. Mike Hawken to begin the master planning process. Members of the parish councils, organizations and leadership, along with school faculty and administration, met to discuss the needs of our evolving educational programming and growing parish ministries. Facility updates and expansions were identified and shared in our recent campaign planning study. Parishioner feedback from the study revealed our first priority: and educational and faith formation expansion.

  

The two-story educational and faith formation expansion addresses our most immediate and highest priority: permanent educational and faith formation space. At the same time, parish and school leadership has considered building placement, site use, playground space, parking, and future school and parish needs to ensure the project fits responsibly within the broader campus.

 

One important benefit of the Educational and faith formation expansion is that by adding new classroom and faith formation space, we will have the opportunity to renovate or repurpose existing classrooms in the original school building for STREAM education, student support services, non-traditional learners, and small-group instruction. These renovations will be completed as funding allows.

Every registered parish and school household will be invited to prayerfully consider supporting the campaign with a pledge that is meaningful to them – a gift above and beyond offertory support. For our campaign to be successful, we will need broad participation from across our faith community – parishioners, school families, alumni families, faculty and staff, and grandparents. Every gift – no matter the level – will help make our vision a reality.

 

Following the weekend of October 3 and 4, every registered parish and school household will receive a campaign packet in the mail. The packet will include a campaign case statement detailing the project, an appeal letter, and instructions on how you can make a pledge.

 

Yes! The Building on the Heart of Nativity Capital Campaign is structured over a three-year pledge period to allow you to spread your commitment over a period of time rather than making a one-time gift. Often, this approach helps make participation more manageable and allows families to discern an amount they might not otherwise have considered with a single payment. Pledges can be paid in annual, semi-annual, quarterly or monthly installments. However, if you prefer to make a one-time payment, you can indicate that on your pledge card.

 

Yes! Individual pledge amounts will be kept confidential and managed with care by parish staff who are responsible for campaign administration.