With budgets becoming ever tighter, the need to source alternative means of school fundraising and implement successful school fundraising ideas is becoming ever more important. As we sell a whole host of products for the playground, we have worked with schools and their PTAs on successfully using tried and tested methods for raising extra money for our products. These include grant fundraising, crowdfunding, corporate sponsorship, revenue generating activities, novel school events and resources.

All of the above do take time but we can help in this aspect too as we are more than happy to work alongside you on your journey to raise these extra funds.

In this blog, you will see many articles and updates that we publish on the subject and we also have compiled a comprehensive School Fundraising Ideas Guide which you can have access to by emailing: info@hideouthouse.com.

You have to work at it though that is for sure but with so many variables now at a school’s disposal, the road to success has become infinitely straighter and shorter! There are grants coming available all the time (at the time of writing for example Tesco have just launched their plastic bag community fund which schools can apply for and which will fund capital items up to £12K as per link below)

http://www.groundwork.org.uk/Sites/tescocommunityscheme

How To Successfully Use Crowdfunding For Your School Playground Project

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Schools are beginning to use crowdfunding ever more as a successful way and means of raising money for their school playground projects. If you are not fully aware of what crowdfunding is, it is best described as asking a large crowd of donors to each make a small donation to your school – mainly done via the internet of course. It should be effective for schools given the fact that they have a ready-made network of people in their community – be they local businesses, parents, PTAs etc – who all have a vested interested in seeing the project come to fruition. You can also use a crowdfunding campaign to help raise awareness of your school and its vision and to create new partnerships and alliances.

To be successful though, you need to bear in mind the following:

  • Concentrate on projects which are more likely to motivate your local community to donate. Create interesting and compelling stories which very clearly demonstrate how all parties will benefit and prosper as a result. Crowdfunding is all about the sharing community and people power!
  • Be clear in your online communications – explain what the project is, why it is so badly needed, who will deliver the project, in what timeframe and who will benefit; get all associated costs together because you will need to have a target
  • Go for the low hanging fruit first – contact parents, local businesses etc
  • Use social media to its full effect. The average individual has 170 contacts on social media so you can easily spread the word very quickly through this medium
  • Get noticed – you need to make your project interesting and don’t be afraid to be creative. Give your project attention-grabbing straplines and spend some time doing exciting visuals to be used on your website, social media, blogs etc. Use video too – put together a short film (with the children’s involvement perhaps) explaining how the funds will be used, who will benefit and how. Crowdfunding sites with videos are far more likely to attract funding and to succeed.
  • Contact the local press and radio stations as they are always interested in supporting good local causes and will give your project much needed and welcome publicity
  • Consider offering rewards. Rewards are what you give donors in return for their donations. They give an added incentive for people to sponsor your school project – for example, a mention on the school website, offering the school hall for business meetings when not being used, tickets to the next PTA event, have their logo or name on the products if applicable etc
  • Last but not least, always say thank you and keep in touch – get the children to write thank you notes.

For a good example of a successful crowdfunding campaign, please have a look at the below link:

Brooke School crowdfunding campaign

There are some crowdfunding websites which specialise in school projects. These are:

www.crowdfunded.org.uk

www.hubbub.net

www.crowdfunder.co.uk

And then you need to give us a call as we specialise in all kinds of products for school playgrounds including outdoor play equipment, outdoor classrooms, shelters, nature play areas, classroom buildings and growing gardens.

For further information, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01865 858982 or email info@hideouthouse.com

www.hideouthouse.com

Funding For Mobile Classrooms

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It is possible for a school to take out an operating lease on a new mobile classroom building as a way of funding this capital purchase.

Key points of an Operating Lease

  • An operating lease is the only type of lease a local authority school or academy is entitled to sign
  • The maximum term for an operating lease is 3 years
  • An operating lease builds in a residual value
  • At the end of the initial 3 year lease, the school will have paid back approximately 85-90% of the original cost, plus interest.
  • The school then has the option to return the equipment/building, with no further payments or extend the agreement for one final year
  • If the school extends for a final year the quarterly payments will be charged at ‘fair market value’, typically no more than 60% of the quarterly repayments on the original 3 year lease
  • At the end of the fourth year the equipment is then abandoned to the school with no more rentals to pay, no title is passed to the school

So if your school is looking for a new mobile classroom building such as the one below, then this offers a very viable and flexible option to proceed sooner rather than later as opposed to having to wait for other funding alternatives which can typically take years – which sometimes a school cannot wait for because of pupil over-crowding issues.

For further information on the above or to talk to us about our mobile classroom buildings, then please contact the Hideout House Company on 01865 858982, email info@hideouthouse.com or visit

mobile classrooms

Mobile classroom

Mobile classroom

 

An Easy Way to Raise Funds for Your School Playground Project

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Last week we very kindly received an order for an outdoor classroom and some playground equipment from a school whose name I didn’t immediately recognise. On consulting the database, I noticed that the original enquiry was from two and a half years back but it had taken this amount of time for the good people of the PTA to raise the necessary funds of £10K. God bless them and no doubt that constituted many hours of organising events, fayres and much cake baking! Without PTAs, companies such as mine who supply products for the school playground would be struggling because we do appreciate school budget funds are tight and that this is the age of austerity.

But there is now an alternative as we could probably have got them the same amount of money in 6 months and all that they would have to have done is give us half an hour of their time to brief us on the project and their school and complete a 2 page check list. That is all! We have devised a proven track success in how to successfully raise funds and for the projects we have worked on this year, we have enjoyed a 100% success rate. If we are not successful, it hasn’t cost the school a bean apart from a bit of time.

PTAs can still run their fundraising activities concurrently with what we are doing as well.

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

and visit www.hideouthouse.com

A Novel PTA Fundraiser

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On my Google news alert recently there was an article which somewhat amused me. It was a letter from the PTA of a school in the United States (which was originally posted on Facebook by the mother of a pupil) asking parents for monetary donations instead of the traditional volunteer hours, baked cakes or walk-a-thons. See below for this letter which is written very much with a sense of humour in mind:

Click-image-to-enlarge

But it has obviously struck a chord as the post has now been shared over 165,000 times, they have got supportive messages from all over the world and it has been featured on major on-line news networks. People from other PTAs, as well as appreciating the humour and direct honesty, maybe understand and empathise how overwhelming and time consuming these undertakings can be and are now running a similar approach for their schools.

So maybe there is something to take from this? It is certainly fresh and amusing.

Or if you didn’t want to take this type of approach, please contact us as we have lots of other original and creative ideas which you could use – and not a cake needs to be baked either!

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

www.hideouthouse.com

How To Fund Your School Playground Equipment Project

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We have worked with numerous schools these past 16 years helping them raise funds for playground equipment projects so as a result of this, we have built up a useful knowledge bank of what works and how you can do this successfully and effectively. But sadly there is no easy magic wand which you can wave to immediately muster up the required pot of gold, these projects do take time and with dollops of determination and true grit on top! You need to think outside of the box as well to better your chances of securing funds faster.

You also need to bear in mind that for all of the options open to you as listed below, it might be a mixture of a few of them which gets you to your designated target so it is always best to initially put out as many rods as possible because you never know which big fish might bite first.

1) School Budget – this may sound completely obvious but if the school can donate any funds from its own budget or devolved capital budget, then this is a good start. It financially and psychologically gets you off the starting blocks but also a lot of funders like to see some sort of match funding (or at least a contribution) from the school.
2) Your LEA – put in a call to your local education authority to see if they are running any specific or relevant grant programmes for schools or initiatives in their area. For example, we sold last year an eco outdoor classroom with a living sedum roof to a school in South West London as there was a grant programme to promote cleaner and healthier air in the Borough.
3) Get your PTA on board – so much of our work nowadays comes directly from the efforts of PTAs, God bless them! If you have an active PTA, give them this as their next major project to raise money for but talk to us first about how we can devise some novel & creative fundraising ideas for you. For example, last year we worked with a primary school on developing a pedal powered eco outdoor classroom – so to raise money for this, we put together a pedal powered disco event where the children and parents had to cycle on these special dynamo bikes to produce enough electricity to power up the disco. If they stopped pedalling, so did the music! But more importantly it raised a lot of money because the event enjoyed a very high attendance (because it was novel and fun) but also the PTA charged for both attendance and got everyone to sponsor a bike rider. Plus the event was very relevant to what they were trying to raise money for.
4) Crowd Funding – this is the way the world is going and you need to be part of it. These websites are an excellent way of spreading the news about your project and message to a far wider audience plus you can constantly update them with news, initiatives, targets reached, videos etc. Have a look at the link below for a school in Norfolk who have done this really well and have actually gone over their target amount.
Crowd Funder Brooke School
There are also some other specialist educational crowd funding websites such as Hubbub.
5) Commercial Sponsorship and Donations – get together a list of potential companies you could approach who might donate some money towards your project. But I have seen so many schools do this really badly and as a result, consequently don’t get anywhere. The most important thing is to put yourselves in the shoes of the person or organisation being approached – how are you going to make them part with some cash to help you? We have actually published a whole paper on this subject matter and how you can do it successfully. Please contact us for further details.
6) Individuals – similar to above. Do you know of any local wealthy or benevolent individual who could help out? If you don’t ask, you don’t get. A school we worked with in Lancashire personally approached the owner and MD of a local oil company with the children listing all of the reasons why this new school playground equipment would benefit them. They were just as surprised as I was when he wrote back with a cheque for £10K attached!
7) Grants – this is a whole big subject worthy of a separate blog but suffice it to say there are numerous grants out there which could possibly fund or partially fund your project. But you have to know where to look for them and you have to know how to apply for them correctly. With the harsh winds of austerity blowing ever more into the educational sector, the competition for these grants has become ever greater. But we have a lot of experience here and without wishing to brag, we took on six school projects earlier this year to see if we could help them access grant money to pay for our products we had quoted for. Five of them we have successfully helped get the required funding for – so not a bad hit rate.

So if you would like any further advice on any of the above or if you have a specific upcoming project in mind, then please contact us as below:

Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982 or email: simon@hideouthouse.com or visit School Grant Funding

PTA Fundraising Ideas

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As we spend a lot of time nowadays working with PTAs, we have deliberately made it our business to try and help these good people of the world raise money for their school (and our products!). And without wishing to brag, we have been rather successful at it and have recently secured funding for quite a few schools for outdoor classrooms for example.

But we have also devised novel fundraising events such as pedal powered film or disco nights where you have to pedal on special bikes to create electricity for the music or film. So you get two bites of the cherry as it were – a sponsored bike ride and a novel night out which you can charge people to come to.

We have a special arrangement too with the green energy supplier Ecotricity where you can very easily earn money for your school. And as part of our overall service, we can help you with grants which support schools and our type of products.

And not a single cake needs to be baked!

If you are interested in working with us or hearing more about the above, please contact Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982 or email simon@hideouthouse.com

www.hideouthouse.com

Grants and Funding for Outdoor Classrooms

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Just Sit Back and We Will Do All The Hard Work!

As we sell a lot of classroom buildings in their various guises, we have made it our business to understand and research how a school can raise the necessary funds to pay for them. And it needn’t cost you anything – just a bit of your time and dedication is all that we require!

This past quarter, we have successfully helped five schools raise enough money through grants and other fundraising means to pay for our outdoor classrooms. All it cost these various schools was an hour of their time and we did the rest. And if you can factor in the efforts of your school’s PTA, then even better.

We deal with schools every day and at the moment, there seems to be a shortage of two vital elements – direct funding from the Government for projects such as these and a teacher’s time to try and find other alternative means of funding them. But we can help you and have so far proved to be rather successful at it. You can then get on with what you do best.

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

or visit grant funding for schools

How To Buy A School Classroom Building

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mobileclassroom_13       mobileclassroom_14

I think it is fair to say that we have had quite a lot of experience over the years in working with schools when they are looking for a new classroom building. And so we thought we would put together a very brief list of the sequential “steps” to help you facilitate what sometimes can be quite a daunting task.

Step One

Be very clear about what you want this new building to “do” and what you require within it – i.e. does it need internal WCs, how much actual classroom teaching space do you require, do you need to have extra storage space, is a kitchenette area with sink and microwave required? Is it just going to be used exclusively by the school or is there a wider community use for it perhaps (this can sometimes be quite important if you are looking for external funding). So have a clear project plan in place and establish any local need if so required.

Step Two

Once you have decided upon the above, you now need to get the initial buy-in from your Governors to proceed further. Without this, you are just going to be wasting your time and those of potential suppliers. I have been on many visits to schools where we have put together quite detailed plans and quotes and only to be later told that the Governors would rather spend the money on something else having not originally been consulted. It can be quite frustrating.

Most important – how are you going to pay for it?? Like above, I have been involved on some many projects where this has not really been addressed initially and it really needs to be. You therefore need to identify as to whether there is money in the school capital budget, can you lease the building perhaps, research if there are there grants available from the local education authority (we keep hearing so much about how the Government are pumping millions into the whole classroom shortage problem) and whether there are non Govt grants which might fund your project – especially if there is a wider community use for your building.

Step Three

At this stage you now need to start to look at potential suppliers for your school classroom building. Have a look at their websites, ask them for testimonials from previous schools they have supplied, see whether they will come out and do a free initial site visit. Ascertain what kind of overall service they can supply – e.g can they offer a complete turn-key system whereby they will undertake all of the associated project work such as applying for planning permission, filing building reg applications, install baseworks, connection of all necessary services etc If so, they will need to give you a comprehensive quote

Step Four

Once you have received in all of the quotes and undertaken as much as due diligence as possible, make your decision as to which company you wish to contract with. Now you need to file a planning permission application to your local authority as no building work can be done until you have this. In some instances a building regulation application can be filed at the same time to the building control officer in order to save time.

Step Five

If you are planning on siting this new classroom building onto an existing playing field area at the school, you will also need to check whether you have to file for Section 77 Approval and details on this can be found on the below link:

https://www.gov.uk/school-land-and-property-protection-transfer-and-disposal

If you do, you cannot start any work until you have authorisation.

Step Six

Once you have all of the above approved, agree a build schedule with the supplier/contractor and make sure that it is stuck to!

Step Seven

Move in!

If would like to discuss how we can help your school with your new classroom project, then please do contact us.

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

or please visit school classroom buildings

 

 

It’s All Good Radio Show

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Just before Christmas, the presenter and producer of “It’s All Good Radio Show” Debbie Hyde very kindly interviewed me for her radio show to talk about what we as the Hideout House Co are doing as a company and how we successfully work with schools in the UK to help develop their eco school strategies, activities and outdoor learning programmes.

This interview can be heard by clicking on the below link: (my interview segment is about 19 minutes into the show if you wanted to fast forward)

For further details on Brooklands Radio and this stimulating and informative show, their website can be found at:
http://itsallgoodradioshow.com/
For further details, please contact Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982 or email simon@hideouthouse.com
www.hideouthouse.com

 

Crowdfunding For Your School Project

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I recently came across a company who supply solar panels to schools and who very interestingly told me that a lot of their installations are now paid for via crowdfunding initiatives.

So in your quest for the Holy Grail of funding, this is certainly something that you should consider.

I have therefore done some further research on this and found a specialist crowdfunding portal for educational projects called Hubbub.
For those of you who are new to this phenomenom ( I was!), it is becoming an increasingly popular way to raise money for projects or products such as ours. Basically it gives you an online portal to promote your project for people or organisations to give money to..but please bear in mind, there is not a ready database of people who are suddenly going to start writing you cheques as soon as you post your project on Hubbub, you have to work at it yourself too.
Have a look at their website to see how it all works and I have indeed spoken to one of their executives Jonathan May today. He is more than happy for you to email him if you want further details or have any questions. His email address is jm@hubbub.net
I personally believe that this is a very good idea and worth looking into if you are still trying to fundraise.
For further information, please contact Simon Fearnehough at the Hideout House Company Ltd on 01865 858982 or email simon@hideouthouse.com