Catholic Education Arizona CEO Nancy Padberg hosted Fasturtle Digital marketing agency CEO Eric Olsen to discuss the ways in which businesses can help change the lives of families of Catholic school students during Catholic Education Arizona's Creating Future Leaders Podcast on July 26. 

Corporate tax credit scholarships can help families who want to put their children in specific faith-based private schools but may not have the resources. Both Catholic Education Arizona (CEA) and Fasturtle Digital have ways to get the word out on these scholarships, which offer a low-income tax credit benefit to the businesses and families. 

"Catholic Education Arizona is a school tuition organization that uses tax credit contributions from individuals and corporations and turns them into scholarships for students," Padberg said during the podcast.

Eric Olsen | LinkedIn

This means any taxpayer in Arizona can choose to have their taxes directed toward the organization, which will then put the money toward creating scholarships for families to be able to choose where their child receives their education. Fasturtle Digital is a digital marketing agency in Phoenix that is heavily involved with CEA, among other organizations.

Catholic education is important not only to Fasturtle Digital as an organization, but also to Olsen personally. Approximately 10 years ago, Olsen's younger brother passed away and Olsen's son, who was then in first grade, was having a difficult time with it and tried to reach out to a teacher at his public school. 

"She said, 'We just don't talk about that here,'" Olsen said in the podcast. "It really made me question what we were doing. I always look at, as a parent or as an owner of a company, 'How can I put my kids or my employees in the best position to succeed in life?'"

Olsen and his wife then enrolled their children in Catholic schools for a better education and a more spiritual approach to learning. 

"What I've seen as far as the growth of my kids over the years is just incredible," Olsen said. "Just the empathy that these kids have for their fellow students, for their relatives, just the way that they conduct themselves is what it comes down to. I'm just really impressed."

Olsen said he wants to be able to provide this same opportunity to other families that may not want to keep their children in public schools but cannot afford to enroll their children in Catholic schools. If a family can't afford to put their children in Catholic schools, CEA is there to assist them with scholarships. 

"As a Catholic, I fully believe that we need to give back to the Church and give back to the different programs that help build our community," Olsen said in a CEA press release about corporate tax credits. "I always did that on a personal level and didn't look at it as something my company could do. Eventually, just learning that this is something we can actually do through the company in larger amounts, and the fact that it's going to support and help that many more children was a no brainer for me."