When Nativity Academy at St. Boniface opens its doors next month for the 2009-2010 school year, 56 students will fill the seats in the school’s sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade classrooms.

The student population — about a dozen more than last year’s — represents the school’s continued “slow and steady growth,” said Ursuline Sister Paula Kleine-Kracht, the academy’s executive director.

Since its inception seven years ago, Nativity Academy, housed in the former St. Boniface School at 529 E. Liberty St., has provided a Catholic middle-school education to students regardless of their denomination. The students come from families whose income levels allow the youngsters to participate in the federal school lunch program, and they come to Nativity from eight to 10 of the city’s poorest zip codes.

Each year of its existence, Nativity Academy — like the families of the students it serves — has faced its own struggle to make ends meet. This year, despite the increase in student population, is no exception.

The downturned economy is an ever-present and foreboding reality for not-for-profit schools, even when their student populations are beginning to expand.

“Our financial stability isn’t predicated on the number of students in our classrooms,” Sister Kleine-Kracht explained. “Every year our financing is dependent on individual donations and grants. We’ve been blessed by the Mason family and by the Ursulines and Xaverians for financial support. But this year is no different from other years. It’s going to be a struggle.”

Last year the school was buoyed by the Angela Mason Foundation’s decision to grant Nativity $50,000 annually. Mason, a Christ the King and Bellarmine University graduate and entrepreneur — and her brother Steve — also agreed to accept applications to the Angela Mason high school scholarship program from Nativity Academy graduates.

It was all a very welcome shot in the arm for the academy, Sister Kleine-Kracht noted. But it hasn’t meant that the school is free from its annual financial concerns. Far from it.

Given the sharp financial downturn the nation’s economy took late last year, Sister Kleine-Kracht said she has a pocketful of worries about this school year.

“We can’t take anything for granted because a lot of foundations and individuals have just come to the end of their fiscal year,” she said. “We had a number of major donors before the market went south so badly last year. They’re just now evaluating their losses. So if we can squeeze through this year, through 2009-2010, I think we’ll be fine. I’m just a little more wary this year because of the financial situation.”

The economy is having a profound effect on most not-for-profit agencies and organizations in this community, the Ursuline sister said. “We’re obviously not alone in this; it’s the same story for all of us and it’s unsettling,” she added.

“I’m sure the Catholic community and the civic community as a whole are aware that these are difficult and hard times for all social service agencies,” she said. “We’ve already begun to hear from foundations that are saying, ‘We can’t award grants at last year’s levels.’ ”

This year’s budget for Nativity Academy will be about $850,000. The school has frozen the salaries of its principal, its six classroom teachers and the 18 others who serve on the staff. “We’re trying, like the rest of the archdiocese to be good stewards, of our resources,” Sister Kleine-Kracht said.

With the possibility of a decline in funding, the school is hoping to interest individual donors or families into becoming “sponsors” of Nativity Academy students. Those sponsorships come in two levels, the executive director explained.

“A $5,000 sponsorship covers the basic academic costs for one student,” she said. “A $10,000 sponsorship covers academics, extended day costs and the cost of the summer program for one student.”

That summer program — a mandatory two-week session for each grade level — was just completed. And Sister Kleine-Kracht noted that this year’s incoming class of sixth-graders will number 23 — 11 in the boys’ classroom and 12 in the girls’.

“And this year will be the first time Nativity Academy students will have graduated from high school,” she added. “These are our poster kids. They’re all students who have learned to work hard and who really value a Catholic high school education.”

Sister Kleine-Kracht also mentioned the help Nativity Academy grads have received from area Catholic high schools, who, she said “have worked really hard for us.”

The academy also received some assistance earlier this year from a group of seven young professionals who are a part of Leadership Louisville’s “Ignite Louisville” program. The team visited the school in the spring, according to Leadership Louisville’s Holly Prather, to help Nativity examine its effectiveness as an organization and to help improve the school’s internal and external communications efforts.

The team of Katie Greene, Michael Anthony, Chris McGarvey, Cash Moter, Tiffany Kelley-Jenkins, Ricky Lyles and Ben Slen held training sessions for the academy’s staff and recommended some changes to Nativity’s communication’s efforts.

“I think it was really beneficial, because they helped us identify some of our weaknesses,” Sister Kleine-Kracht said. “And there’s the added benefit of having them help us spread the word about Nativity Academy to the people of Leadership Louisville and the business community.”

Perhaps that word-of-mouth knowledge will help identify the academy as one of the area not-for-profit organizations deserving of continued financial support, she said.

“People and organizations are in the process of re-appraising their gifts for the coming year,” she said, “and we hope we’re among those who make the cut.”