School generating an income

[WelshMoth]

Our budget has been cut by nearly 200k. The Head is gutted but as honest as the day is long. In last meeting he said that if any of us had any ideas on how to generate an income, so that redundancies can be avoided, then let him know.

At the moment, we rent out our sports fields, gymnasium and pool.

Any ideas? I want to do my bit.

[painpaingoawaycomeagainanother]

I'd recommend having a few ebay accounts asking parents to bring in unwanted stuff/ pushchairs, clothes etc from home. This brings in weekly dribs and drabs of cash which amount to quite a lot. Maybe parent volunteers or governors could manage the logistics.

[WelshMoth]

Excellent. Thank you.

[Finickynotfussy]

Revision courses (run by you or other people), grant fundraising, voluntary contribution from parents, offer classrooms to Open University. Get staffing costs down by offering part time hours - if school has a genuine culture of supporting part timers, word wiill get round. Speaking as a former fundraiser, however, £200k is the amount you'd expect 2 full time professional fundraisers to generate in a year, so none of this is a quick fix.

[mrscog]

What about a stationery shop for students - you could buy in bulk then add a modest mark up?

[mrscog]

Our local school generates quite a lot of cash each year by running a beer festival in the locality!

[WelshMoth]

MrsCog I like both ideas.
Can I have more info re festival?!

[GotMyGoat]

Can you tell me more about the spaces you rent out - how often do you do these? could you offer additional catering services, run by the pta? I think space is one of the most valuable spaces schools have - but make sure these are being exploited all evenings and weekends possible - and marketing properly so there is no empty space. Car boots are very popular at weekends over summer - raising £5 for a car every weekend over the summer would be a fair bit of money.

[professorpoopsnagle]

A school I worked at rented out its premises as a film/tv location.

[WelshMoth]

Car boot every Sunday in summer. In back car park. £5 per car.

[mummytime]

My DCs school makes money by: Training Teachers, Training TAs, Training Cover Supervisors (although they don't actually employ them), running a training course for School Office staff. As well as costs for use of premises.

How often is the pool rented out? A local primary has different swim schools each night, and parties at weekends, and holiday courses (as well as a toddler course mid-week and charging other schools for school day use).

[WelshMoth]

Wow - you lot are immense'

[Littlefish]

Welshmoth - my dd's old school also runs a beer festival each year and raises between 7k and 10k a year from it, but it's a lot of work. If you're interested, I'll see if I can give you the details of the Facebook page.

I know it sounds silly, but at a previous school where I worked! the Headteacher was fanatical about turning lights off. We all laughed about it, but it saved so much money!

Have a look at www.easyfundraising.org. Parents sign up to it, nominate your school and then use it as either a search engine, or click through it to loads of sites like john Lewis Amazon, Sainsburys's etc. The companies then donate a small percentage of whatever you spend. Over the last 2 years I've personally generated nearly £100 for dd's old school simply by clicking through it for my online shopping. Imagine how much you could raise if you could persuade all your parents, governors, grandparents and staff to sign up!

[noblegiraffe]

Sell advertising space in the school? Maybe not McDonalds, but universities, colleges, local sports clubs etc?

Drive to cut costs - turning off lights as mentioned. Shutting down computers overnight. Reduce photocopying by projecting questions onto the board.

[MmeMorrible]

It wouldn't be a popular move but I think you need to look at the affordability of running the pool. Does the rental it brings in make a dent in the running costs?

[GotMyGoat]

yes - my old school closed the pool, and started using the public pool instead.

Reducing current costs is something I would really recommend - I was always so cross at work that we could only order from this particular stationary people whose cheapest scissors were £4 each... when I knew I could get a pack of 20 from the pound shop....

Energy efficiency and recycling - reducing waste programs, reduce spending on books and craft materials and see if these things might be sourced from within the community instead (printers scraps are great for offcuts of card - used to get loads for free).

[mrscog]

Littlefish are you based in N Worcs too? Op I don't have that much insight into how it's organised but there are about 50 different ales and it's on the local playing field in marquees. They have portal oops and security and live bands play. It's over a whole weekend, and you have to buy a glass for your admission (£5 for a half pint or £10 for a pint) and then you buy tokens to spend at the bar. It's quite a huge village event now (possibly too Big now for my taste!).

To help subsidise the pool could you allow advertising from swimming companies? Swimwear etc?

I also think the car boot is a good idea.

[Littlefish]

mrscog - yes I am!

You're right - it's £10 entry, which gives you a pint or half pint glass, and £ 5 of beer tokens. I can't remember how much the beer/cider is though. you come back to the entry desk to buy more tokens which means that the bar is cash free. There's also a wine bar where you can use cash or tokens.

This year, the also sold camping pitches in the next field.

[WelshMoth]

Not sure if the beer festival would work - it's an inner city comp with a high percentage of unemployment and poverty. Tons of Bargain Booze stores though

[mrscog]

Hmm possibly not - the area Littlefish and I inhabit is not exactly inner city. Back to the stationery store?! Presumably that could also have a positive impact on students who might not be organised enough to go shopping for pens etc?

I'll keep thinking :)

[Awks]

Is your PTA registered as a charity? If not then do so as you will have more success with Trusts then. Instead of panicking about raising money yourselves you need to a] set up (with charitable staus) your PTA/a fundraising/friends of group so they can lead on this and b] start to think about which bits of your services that you normally spend your school budgets on can be packed up into projects to apply for someone else to fund via the charity arm of your school.

And as someone up thread alluded to, I would be seriously unhappy with the performance of any of my fundraising team if they only brought 100k in each. It's absolutely achievable for you to be able to make a real dent in the deficit, with the support of parents and a Friends of group of volunteers. Dont panic though and waste time on stuff that's resource draining but brings in peanuts.

[WelshMoth]

You've all been magnificent. Thanks to you lot I can contribute some very realistic ideas.

I'll keep checking this thread just in case you have any more.

I value all your input

[WelshMoth]

Ah. The PTA has disbanded, basically because no one was supporting it or helping.

Great.

[Finickynotfussy]

Wow Awks, you must have terrific fundraisers! My experience was in the N of England though (and some years ago) so I expect targets are higher now. I agree though about not wasting money on small things - a competent grant fundraiser plus good cost control will make much more difference to the school's bottom line. It might be quite hard to convince governors etc of this, however, if they know nothing about fundraising.