The Church Farm School is pleased to announce that it has selected Christopher Kramaric to join the school community as its Chief Advancement Officer, effective July 1, 2024. Christopher joins CFS from the Woodlynde School, where he served most recently as Assistant Head of School for External Affairs, overseeing fundraising, marketing/communications and admissions. As a member of the CFS Administration, Christopher will lead the school’s Advancement efforts, including fundraising and stewardship activities and events, alumni and community relations and marketing and communications.
During his four years at Woodlynde, Christopher doubled overall giving to the school, grew returns on their annual gala eightfold, successfully closed a $7M+ capital campaign and built a major giving program that supported the creation of multiple new spaces, including a media room, ceramic studio, outdoor classroom and makerspace. Prior to Woodlynde, he worked as Director of Development at Philadelphia Theatre Company and Director of Corporate Communications and Foundation Relations at The Franklin Institute.
At CFS, Christopher will oversee the Director of Alumni and Community Relations, Director of Marketing and Communications and Development Coordinator, while working closely with the school’s Administration and Board of Directors to expand philanthropy to and awareness of Church Farm School’s unique, 106-year-old mission of “preparing a diverse group of boys in grades 9-12 with academic ability and good character to lead productive and fulfilling lives by making a college preparatory education financially accessible.” Nearly 100 percent of Church Farm School students receive generous financial aid from the school, and the school is 95% young men of color.
“We are so excited for Christopher to be joining the CFS community,” says Tiffany Scott, incoming Interim Head of School. “In addition to his wonderful career achievements, we found his enthusiasm for his work and his bold ideas contagious.” Says Christopher, “The story of the past few months is one of growing ever more enamored with Church Farm School and the people who claim it as their own. I am honored to be asked to serve as the school’s first Chief Advancement Officer. As a first-generation student raised by a single mother just down the road in Coatesville, I find Church Farm’s founding ethos and continued commitment to equity deeply resonant on a personal level. On the professional front, as someone passionate about using philanthropy and storytelling to steward and transform institutions that will outlive all of us, I can honestly say there is no place I would rather do that work. When you consider the clarity of vision among the school’s leaders, the unique mission, the brilliant scholars and expert teachers in these halls, the extraordinary resources left by those who came before: Church Farm School is poised to reach new heights in its second century. I am excited to begin this important work, and I look forward to partnering with Griffins past and present for the sake of Church Farm School, our scholars and the vibrant future that awaits.”
After spending his early career teaching on both sides of the Atlantic, Christopher trained as an ethnographer and historian in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Yale University. Originally from Coatesville, he holds a B.A. from Boston College, an M.A. from the University of Freiburg (Germany) and an M.Phil. from Yale University. Christopher lives with his partner and their dog in the Overbrook Farms neighborhood of Philadelphia.