As so many schools nowadays need to find alternative ways of funding our products outside of the main school budgets, I thought that I would put pen to paper as to how I would go about this if I were a school business manager or head teacher. And this information is based on our extensive experience of working with many schools over the years where we have witnessed both what to do (and which typically works) and conversely what not to do (and which in the main doesn’t work).

So let’s say we are trying to raise a nice round figure of £10,000 for one of our Hideout House outdoor classrooms with all of the eco optional “trimmings” such as mini dipping pond, planters, water butt and guttering and renewable energy pack (wind turbine/solar panel/power unit and energy meter board).

The first thing I would do is to implement a strategy which combined a whole variety of fund raising opportunities rather than just relying on one specific initiative and work on them all together and at the same time i.e. spread the net a lot wider and create as many opportunities as possible because not all of them are going to pay off unless you are very lucky. So you need a Plan B, C and maybe even a D all running concurrently. The amount of times I have seen schools just apply for one grant, get all excited about it, sit back and wait for ages until they get a response and then one day the letter falls on their desk with a big, fat resounding “not this time I am afraid” You can almost hear the air being deflated from the tyres!

It goes without saying that you have also got to be passionate and dedicated if you want to get your hands onto this money. It is not going to be simple; you have got to fight for it. When I go and see schools to talk to them about funding opportunities, I can almost predict when I drive out of the school gates as to whether the project will come off or not. Those that do materialise are predominately driven by people whose passion you can see in their eyes and are visibly excited about the project. You know that they are going to stop at nothing until the children are enjoying their first outdoor lesson in their shiny new Hideout House classroom. Those who say, “well if I’ve got the time”, “do you just fill out a form and they send you the money?” will usually fall by the wayside pretty quickly.

So now we have set the scene, here would be my plan:

Ascertain firstly whether the school has any school budget funds which it could donate towards the cause – the reason being is that it immediately gets you off the block and gives the project immediate momentum, it provides the starting red ink for the “funds-raised–so-far” thermometer graphic you will no doubt be using for inspiration and motivation….. and grant providers and third party donators always like to see what the school is doing themselves towards the overall war effort

• Grant funding. The good news is that there are quite a few grants out there who can and will fund our type of product but which one to choose? You can spend a lot of time filling out loads of application forms which may or may not yield you the required results. I would therefore invest quite a bit of time initially researching which grants were going to be the most relevant to me and I would also see whether there were any local grants I could tap into as these tend to be not so competitive. For example, we had a recent order where the school had got the money from a local borough grant to promote cleaner air and sustainable living. Another school who received a grant to promote the arts so they used our buildings as an outdoor stage, seating area and amphitheatre. Be prepared to be creative and be prepared to be inquisitive. For the majority of grants, a lot of them are community based so you would need to be very clear as to how the local community was going to benefit from this wonderful new outdoor classroom of yours.
• I would then call up all of my local schools to find out if they had had any success with applying for grants and find out which ones. Get the school networking going because this could undoubtedly save you quite a bit of time and effort.
• Once I had drawn up my oh-so-heavily researched list of potential grant providers, I would then apply to say two or three initially and I would make sure that all my applications stood out and were creative. You are not alone in your application.
• I would then ascertain whether it is worth talking to and recruiting a grant funding consultancy who work on a no win, no fee basis – so they only are paid if they are successful in securing you the funds and this would be on a commission % basis. The advantage being they know the market, they are incentivised to get you the money and they know the push buttons funders are looking for. This would give me more time perhaps to start putting on some further legs to my £10,000 chair.
• Immediately get the PTA fully on board by them raising money through their traditional means but I would come up with something a bit different and unique in order to overcome the usual fundraising event fatigue. This for example could be a pedal powered disco or film night where the children have to pedal on dynamo bikes in order to power up the disco or film so that you can create extra funding opportunities by getting them sponsored as well as charging for entrance! This is something that has not been done before so its very originality would put you in good stead for a high attendance and thereby create more money generation opportunities.

I would put together a comprehensive and professional presentation pack for submitting to companies for corporate donations towards the project. But I have seen some horrors of these type of documents in the past – tatty letters on school letter headed paper which just simply ask for some money for the school’s new playground or outdoor classroom.

• Mine would contain clearly identifiable reasons why the school wants the product and how it will benefit from it, what it will mean to the overall welfare of the school and the children, how it will benefit both the environment and the local community and how it will teach children all about sustainability and eco awareness for future generations – but just as importantly I would highlight what is in it for the sponsoring company. I would get the children involved in this document too – have them describe in their own words why this outdoor classroom will mean so much to them plus it is so easy to shoot video films nowadays that I would actually do this by submitting a video presentation. This also makes it far more “real” and will perhaps have more of an emotional appeal or pull. I would use it as a classroom exercise too – make it a fun and educational resource for the children because if they have some sort of ownership of the project, the more effort they will probably put in and the greater will be the reward
• Remember you are approaching businesses, not charities so if you can identify some clear commercial benefits to them then all the better.
• For example, I would state that we would be approaching the local press and media once the classroom had been installed and that they would be getting a mention and perhaps a photo opportunity in the local paper. I would set up a special page on the school website which listed profiles and website links to all sponsoring companies – inform companies about the existing traffic to your site and the potential PR exposure and networking opportunities to all parents and the local community. Give them a special mention in the school newsletter, let them have a sign up in the reception area with a business card dispenser, perhaps even give them favourable rates for renting out the school premises for business meetings, seminars etc. Mention these companies on the school blog – these are all things which hardly cost the school any money but which could have tangible commercial benefits to a local company. Big this up as best as you can.
• My strategy would be to approach local businesses as you stand a better chance of talking straight to the owner/MD then – and I would initially target companies who have some sort of natural affinity to the product. So for example garden centres, renewable energy companies who sell solar panels and solar heating systems to homes etc.
• Find out too the names of any parents of the children at the school who own local business – always a very good starting point. And talk to existing suppliers to the school to see if they would donate any funds.
• I would ask for different levels of donations to allow for a greater level of participation (starting at £300 and going up to £1000) and maybe correlate this to the above mentioned benefits i.e. the more money donated, the bigger the benefit package

By incorporating all of the above simultaneously, you have effectively given yourself four bites of the cherry here – tapping into some existing school funds, accessing grants, PTA fundraising activities and corporate donations – which I believe would significantly increase your chances of getting the target of £10K a lot more secure and faster.

We can help with all of the above and not only that but you can actually earn money from the Hideout House Company once you have our products installed as we will automatically enrol you into our Customer Referral Programme. For every sales lead you send us (for example your local schools) and which turns into a firm order, we will give you a 5% introductory commission. You scratch our back, we will scratch yours!

For more information, please contact Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982 or email simon@hideouthouse.com

The Hideout House Company Ltd

www.hideouthouse.com