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