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Who We Are
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Bill Murray
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Development Associates, L.L.C. got its start in 2002 when William A. Murray, a journalist, wrote two stories about two Catholic elementary schools in Atlanta struggling to remain open. Parents, parishioners and friends of one of the schools, Our Lady of Lourdes School, rallied and raised $600,000 in three months to try to save their school.
Murray could see that many Catholic elementary schools serving mid-to-low income families needed to develop alternate sources of support. They needed organized development initiatives. He accepted a part-time job as development director with St. Anthony’s School in Washington, D.C., and became the first development director to raise money over expenses there after a handful of predecessors had worked hard to develop support for the school.
In 2002, Murray decided to incorporate Catholic School Development Associates, L.L.C. in Maryland, using the doing business as name of Development Associates, L.L.C. As a former journalist, he understood how to place good stories about his clients in the media and how to produce cost-effective but attractive and informative newsletters and annual reports. With time, he came to understand how to effectively solicit in-kind and cash donations from corporations and individuals, and his outreach to foundations also began to bear fruit. In 2007, Development Associates, L.L.C., expanded its work to include public charter schools in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, in addition to the Catholic and independent schools it had worked with.
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