Voluntary donations from parents/ carers

[smogsville]

Hi Everyone

I’m trying to find out if any comprehensive community schools actively seek voluntary donations from parents/ carers.

Our DCs’ primary does (monthly standing order) but it’s a voluntary aided church school so is obliged to find a portion of its funding from the church/ families.

Locally a couple of state secondaries do ask - and in a fairly insistent way. One is a grammar, the other a religious school. Anecdotally I hear that the majority of parents get on board with these requests which tend to suggest/ stipulate a particular amount, sometimes totalling more that £2.5k per year (again, paid by monthly standing order). As result both schools have serious extra money to invest in smaller classes, staff and equipment - making a material difference to the quality of the educational experience. Compared to private fees it’s a drop in the ocean.

My question is - do any community comps do this, or is it a blanket no because of sensitivities around asking parents do contribute? I want to raise it with our head and would love to be able to share some examples of schools in exactly the same
category that are doing this. We are doing all usual PTA fundraising and having fun at events but the money raised is negligible compared to what regular donations could achieve.

Thanks in advance.

Ours won’t as they are concerned that families who genuinely couldn’t afford it would either

• donate - putting themselves in hardship , or
• not donate and feel bad about it.

i think it’s really honourable of the school not to ask, but there’s plenty of families who could and would donate. So School compromises by sending at most one email per year asking for funds towards a specific project. But they’re clear it’s voluntary.

Thanks @StillProcrastinating yes I understand that point of view. Perhaps it’s all about the wording so that the message gets through that no one should donate if it’s going to lead to hardship but giving the opportunity for those fortunate enough to be able to etc etc. Is your school a community comprehensive?

Yep - comp.

@smogsville you are wrong to assume that "both schools have serious extra money to invest in smaller classes, staff and equipment - making a material difference to the quality of the educational experience."

There are two things going on here:
1.Voluntary Aided (VA) schools have to contribute 10% of any Capital costs, e.g. for fixing the roof, or building a new classroom. In reality this is administered at diocesan level, so voluntary contributions from school parents are pooled and put towards capital cost contributions for all schools in the diocese. If there is a deficit, these funds might also be supplemented by the donations of churchgoers. That said, many VA schools have converted to academies, so no longer need to contribute 10% to capital costs. If they've done this, they will be able to use the money for other purposes, which brings me onto ...

2.Other schools which collect parent donations should not be using them for operational costs for delivering the curriculum like teacher salaries or equipment. That would be very poor accounting because the funds can't be relied on (I've heard of at least one school leader who was sacked for mismanagement when he did this). However, it's very common to use donations for extra-curricular activities and extras like playground equipment.

The comp where I am a governor uses it to supplement the costs of school trips for disadvantaged families, keeping the extracurricular clubs free (even when run by external providers), buying books and furniture for a library, plants for classrooms or school grounds, etc, all of which enhances the school for everyone. Many of the trips wouldn't run if it wasn't for this fund. Parents get one letter about the fund per year, no more.

Some schools go too far. I know a grammar school that persistently tries to persuade parents to contribute, and expects people to answer yes/no to the question of "Will you donate?" before they've even registered. They are using part of the fund to pay for a fundraiser (not sure if full or part time) who arranges communications and events for alumni to try and tap them for donations. It seems to work though, as they do get some significant 6-figure donations that other schools could only dream of. They use it to maintain and invest in their extensive sports facilities.

Son is at a comp - been there since year 7 now in sixth form and we have never been asked for any donation. We have to pay for reward trips but that's about it.

I think having a school fund to which parents can voluntarily donate either regularly or one off is not uncommon these days. The primary school I am a governor at does, and the secondary comp my daughter went to does. Parents can either donate on a one off basis or set up a direct debit. We do however live in a reasonably affluent area, so maybe the feeling is that most parents wouldn't mind at least being asked.

I've never heard any particularly negative sentiment about it and nobody would actually know who didn't and who didn't contribute.

The money is not spent on staffing or day-to-day essentials for the school though. The school funds in both cases are spent on things like outdoors equipment, upgrading IT such as iPads.

Agree - all the local primary schools and secondary schools near us do this now. I was and am still upset by this as feel pressure to contribute. We constantly get pressure from the schools my children are at to donate to the voluntary fund.

While I understand that schools are struggling massively with funding - parents are struggling too. The government ought to be funding schools properly in my opinion and this should not be necessary. I don't blame the schools - the government is very much to blame for this!

@conditionality I know and understand all this (DCs primary is CofE) and you're right about what schools are allowed/ not allowed to ask for, in theory. The examples I'm referring to are what's actually happening though. One of the websites of the school in question talks about the voluntary contribution being spent on (among other things) staffing and resources of formal education. I'm not saying this is necessarily the right way to go about things, but it seems to be working for them, no-one's stopping them from doing it and the pupils are presumably benefitting.

Sounds like overall, no comps so far are being quite as "activist" about it as the two local non-comp-but-still-state ones I mentioned in my OP. Ours does have the option to contribute but it's scarcely referenced - not the same as trying to create a culture of donating and (reasonably) reliable revenue stream.

@smogsville the Head of the grammar I mentioned came from the private sector and seems to view the grammar parents as a cash cow because they are getting a relatively elite education but don't have to pay private fees. This approach probably works for many of them, but I don't see how 50 reminders a year is better than 1 - those who want to contribute will contribute, and those that don't or can't will just roll their eyes and dig their heels in.

Our school raises loads of money every year. They simply state the average amount of money they hope to raise per student and people use that as a guide for their donation. It’s one of the reasons we love the school. It is well supported by the parents and we don’t deal with year round fundraising.

the money isn’t used directly for teachers and classroom essentials. It goes for things that technically count as extra. What that does do is allow the school to focus its entire budget on the essentials.

Ours doesn’t thankfully, they just have an Amazon wishlist that parents can buy bits for school from. Absolutely no pressure though- it’s just mentioned on SM and the occasional newsletter from time to time.
The first primary my eldest was at was Cof E and they had a monthly contribution, but it was about a tenner I think.

My son’s school had just upped their voluntary donation suggested amount to £200 pcm. This has doubled in 4 years, they must be really feeling the pinch with pay rises etc

£200 wow - is that a state or private school...primary or secondary?

State secondary - relatively new free school

@ChocHotolate that’s interesting thank you

@conditionality not saying any of this is ‘right’ but a partially selective near us raises £35k every year from donations and PTA events. Affluent families happy to give as not paying fees.

@Ponderingwindow are you able
to give an indication of how much you raise in a year? Useful to have some benchmarks.

Mine goes to a small church state primary and they ask for £50/year

@smogsville £35k pa? Is that for one class, one year group, or an entire school? If across a typical senior school of ~700 DC, that's £50/child, so consistent with what @roses2 mentioned but a long way from the £2.5k/year or £200pcm mentioned above.

@user149799568 whole school.

yes the £200 per month could be properly useful money even if only a minority went for it.

This is a very interesting thread. My child's primary school doesn't ask for donations, but the PTA is fairly active in raising money. My eldest's secondary school does ask for voluntary donations from any parents that are able, but its very targetted for a specific need, eg. school trips, art materials etc.I have no idea how much money this raises for them.

My borough has falling pupil numbers and primary schools have been closing. This fact and the complete lack of adequate funding from the government is really squeezing school budgets. There is very little left for extras...

Have just completed the online registration information for yr 7 in September and one of the qs was will you make a one off donation or standing order? I just said no as don't have any spare cash in account right now, but in hindsight probably should have just asked my DH as he's the higher earner. Did feel a bit weird as the response will be there on the form they read with all the other registration information! Highly regarded comprehensive in a relatively affluent area. My friend said the local catholic secondary told them they are expected to contribute when she filled out their paperwork, I think she said £260 a year. Our primary won't ask for anything. We don't even have dressing up days or hardly any trips they would have to ask parents to fund as very conscious of the cost of living.

Thanks all for your contributions on this. Interesting to see what different schools are doing. There does seem to be a certain squeamishness at some schools about asking parents for fear of putting people under pressure when they're not in a position to contribute which is emphatically not a sensible way forward. But in a reasonably affluent area I feel quite confident that many of us who are able would be up for contributing in the hope of collectively reaching a meaningful amount that would then benefit all the children.

Yes it is interesting.

However, I would say there could be some people who have the money but are ideologically opposed to idea.. and to be honest I don't blame them. I would probably be in that camp if we had any spare cash to consider donations like.

I would also suggest that just because an area appears reasonably affluent does not mean the intake of the local school is full of children from affluent background. In my opinion these voluntary donations are the thin of the wedge...

@privatenonamegiven don’t disagree with you in theory re thin edge of wedge. In practice - I know our area well, appreciate that catchment doesn’t mean everyone able to contribute, know that some will be opposed ideologically (while probably doing bugger all to lobby MP for better funding) but believe that enough would be willing and able to make a difference and help the school to be better resourced. Ultimately that’s what I’m interested in.

Our primary school doesn't, they do some events throughout the year but its always very clear that donations are optional and stuff is very affordable ie school dicso £1 with sweets included. I actually wouldnt mind donating something every month because we can afford to, but would feel weird approaching them to offer.

@smogsville absolutely get you’re saying and appreciate the difficulties schools are in. But it still irks me, as this kind of thing leads to some schools being able to provide much better education and experience for children.. while I’m not begrudging those children, what about the other children, we end up with a three tiered education system. How are things going to change? Clearly this isn’t a question for this thread - I’m just saddened by the whole situation.