Tarbiyah Academy
A Fund Development Project
Tarbiyah Academy stands as a beacon of academic excellence and Islamic identity in Maryland, the state’s first Islamically oriented International Baccalaureate school, serving 215 students in grades K–8. Yet behind its mission-driven work lay an urgent financial reality that threatened to constrain everything the school had built.
When Oaktree Institute first engaged with Tarbiyah, the school faced a convergence of pressures that demanded immediate strategic action. Without a permanent facility, long-term growth and donor confidence remained limited. And despite a passionate, mission-aligned community, the school’s fundraising capacity had not kept pace with its ambitions.
These weren’t isolated problems, they were interconnected symptoms of a fundraising infrastructure in need of transformation. Tarbiyah didn’t just need a plan. It needed a fundamental shift in how its leadership thought about, approached, and executed donor engagement.
Oaktree Institute designed a four-phase engagement model tailored specifically to Tarbiyah’s context, honoring the school’s Islamic mission while applying best-in-class fund development strategies. Rather than a generic playbook, every element was customized to Tarbiyah’s donor community, board composition, and capital aspirations.
The first step was Discovery & Assessment where Oaktree began with a comprehensive intake process: structured worksheets, document review, and two in-depth discovery meetings. This phase mapped Tarbiyah’s existing donor data, revenue streams, board capacity, and organizational assets. This identified both immediate opportunities and systemic gaps that would shape everything that followed.
We then moved on to Training & Skill Building which was a 2-hour virtual primer equipped school leadership with foundational fund development frameworks before the in-person intensive, ensuring participants arrived ready to engage.
The third phase was a Full-Day Strategic Workshop where Oaktree convened Tarbiyah’s seven-person core team at the Muslim Family Center for a hands-on, full-day workshop. Participants built a real, actionable Fund Development Plan and a concrete implementation timeline before leaving the room.
The final phase consisted of Coaching & Implementation where nine dedicated one-hour coaching sessions translated workshop commitments into measurable forward motion; keeping the team accountable on major gifts strategy, donor stewardship, crowdfunding execution, and campaign storytelling.
Every phase of the engagement culminated in concrete, usable assets. Tarbiyah’s leadership walked away with a complete fundraising infrastructure:
Fund Development Plan — A fully customized plan with clear donor segments, fundraising priorities, and campaign milestones aligned to the school’s mission and capacity.
Board & Leadership Training — Practical skill-building in solicitation, donor stewardship, and campaign governance — turning board members into confident fundraising partners.
12–18 Month Implementation Roadmap — A detailed action timeline, complete with a donor cultivation calendar and integrated communications assets ready for immediate deployment.
Major Gifts Strategy — A pipeline approach and ask framework developed specifically for Tarbiyah’s high-capacity donor relationships.
Crowdfunding & Storytelling Assets — Compelling narrative frameworks and digital campaign tools to engage the broader Muslim community and beyond.
Role Assignments & Campaign Ownership — A clear structure ensuring every campaign had a designated owner and lead, so nothing fell through the cracks and accountability was built into the work from the start.
Annual Gala Planning & Strategy — Hands-on support in planning, organizing, and structuring Tarbiyah’s annual Gala, including a pre-Gala fundraising strategy that helped the team raise more in advance of the event than they ever had before.
Support Sessions — Nine sessions ensuring that strategy didn’t stall, with real-time refinement of asks, prospects, and engagement tactics throughout implementation.
IMPACT & EXPECTED OUTCOMES
The Oaktree–Tarbiyah engagement was designed with a clear theory of change: build internal capacity now so the school doesn’t just survive this financial moment, but emerges from it stronger and more donor-resilient than before.
Short Term: Clear fundraising priorities established, board readiness measurably improved, immediate donor engagement tactics deployed, and the operating gap actively addressed.
Medium Term: A viable capital campaign plan in place, a strengthened major-gift pipeline, deepened donor relationships, and crowdfunding campaigns launched.
Long Term: Financial stability achieved, a path to a permanent facility secured, a self-sustaining fundraising culture established, and an empowered leadership team capable of sustaining growth and mission impact for years to come.
