How to Fund a Mintridge Project and Beyond
How to Fund a Mintridge Project and Beyond
Here at the Mintridge Foundation, we are delighted to be joining forces with Chameleon Training, and recently we caught up with their Director, Justin Smith who has written this guest blog for us.
The programmes offered by The Mintridge Foundation bring so much positivity and inspiration to our children; a belief and energy desperately needed now more than ever. I live in a town on the east coast of England, the historic fishing industry a shadow of its former self. Some of our school children lack ambition and aspiration; many struggle to see life beyond the town itself. Having spent most of my career working in schools in and around the area where I grew up, the impact the Mintridge ambassadors can have on our young people really resonates with me. That’s why I am absolutely delighted, and humbled, to support the Foundation in any way I can.
So, what can our schools do to raise extra funds to support vital programmes like this and beyond? How can we reposition ourselves so income generation is a sustainable activity?
Thoughts of finance and budget never stray too far from the minds of our school business managers and sadly the financial outlook for our schools looks as uncertain and volatile as ever. Whether we like it or not, we have to accept that income generation has to become a core strategic function for schools; central funding for improving campus infrastructure and the added-value experiences we can offer our children is increasingly under threat.
Beyond the classroom our ability to offer children additional experiences can be hamstrung by a lack of funding. By affording income generation the time and energy it deserves, we’re giving ourselves a real chance of freeing up resources to pay for these “added value” experiences.
In February 2017 Mintridge Ambassador and Channel 4 News reporter Jordan Jarrett-Bryan led a Silver Programme at a primary school. Mintridge were invited to give teachers confidence and ideas for providing inclusive sports provision.
It was here that the former GB wheelchair basketball player met two sisters, in Year 5 and Year 2, who were both left paralysed after a car accident. Up until this point both girls had participated in mainstream PE lessons at school with limited capacity and ability to join in with the rest of their peers. The Mintridge Foundation brought in a number of sports adapted wheelchairs and Jordan ran a session with all children using the chairs. Not only did this level the playing field for the sisters, but one teacher said it was the first time she had seen the older of the two smile and laugh since the accident some two years ago.
That wasn’t all, Jordan continued to mentor the sisters for the next six months. As an amputee and former wheelchair basketball player the girls were thrilled to be receiving advice and help from a relatable role model.
At the end of the six months the old of the two girls was so pleased with her experience with The Mintridge Foundation that she joined an inclusive sports club outside of school where she practices archery.
The girls have both grown in confidence and seen their self-esteem rocket.
The Mintridge Foundation returned to the school in April 2018 with double gold medal winning Paralympic archer Danielle Brown MBE and we were thrilled to see the girls’ progress had continued.
Danielle also had the opportunity to offer a few last pieces of advice before the older of the two moved up to high school through a further six months of mentoring.
Some enterprising schools and trusts are collaborating like never before to develop commercial partnerships and establish trading services, driving in new revenue and building skills sets. Nevertheless, the vast majority of schools lack the enterprising culture, capacity and resource needed for ventures of this scale.
I work with so many schools who struggle to make ends meet, their focus on delivering the core services with few resources available for added value experiences.
The soft underbelly of school fundraising
Research carried out by Dr Tim Brown of the University of Chester highlighted a £4bn loss of income for charities in the first few months of the Covid – 19 crisis Charities facing a fundraising crisis - an update. Most small charities generate at least 50% of their annual income from public events, much like our PTAs and Friends Associations do with their summer fetes, BBQs and other traditional fundraisers. Grant funding, is not immune, many national grant providers such as Sport England and The National Lottery have paused their traditional programmes to focus, quite understandably, on emergency Covid-19 related initiatives.
Those schools without a developed and integrated plan will rely heavily on occasional grant funding and regular donations to the PTA, driven predominantly by face to face activities. Covid-19 has brought home the stark reality that many have known for some time; an over reliance on grants and low level, ad-hoc attempts at generating much needed cash leaves us fragile and vulnerable. It is time to reset this outdated mindset. It was Einstein who said “In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity.” Now is our time to learn, adapt and innovate.
Learning from others
It’s extraordinary to think that over £1.8bn is collectively generated by schools in England each year through income generation activities. Much of this will be through the hard work of volunteers and supportive parents, making a tangible difference to the experiences we can offer our children. Equally an incredible £46bn pa is generated by the charity sector, 30% of which supports initiatives that improve the lives of children. In all, 60% of us gave to charitable causes last year. Whilst we cannot, and should not, compare education to the charity sector, there are lessons we can learn here.
The ability to engage with people on an emotional level is key. Identifying the triggers that motivate others to give their time or their hard-earned money, sits at the heart of all successful campaigns. Good fundraisers are, first and foremost, good storytellers. The ability to communicate a core fundraising story to key audiences is very effective at eliciting a positive response from potential supporters.
Our Wheel of Fortune – the ways schools can fundraise
Many of you may be familiar with the term “marketing mix” and in some respects we need a similar approach to our fundraising. Developing a plan that considers the whole portfolio of approaches, as per our illustration below, and facilitating the delivery of these via your website, is very effective and a far more efficient use of your time and resources.
We’ve ascertained that many of us place too much emphasis on event fundraising topped up with occasional grant applications. However, some may feel that their school isn’t in a position to generate great sums from lettings or from commercial services, but that’s not really the point here.
We’re pivoting away from the comfortable norm and looking towards an edgier, braver perspective. This takes time, commitment and belief but these unprecedented times may just give us the little bounce we need to get started. It takes time, it’s a cultural shift as much as anything.
I’m reminded of the book Jolt by Richard Tyler and his analogy with a two train tracks. You take two parallel tracks and shift one by just 1 ̊. 50 miles down the line the two tracks will be around 1 mile apart! Imagine that, just a tiny tweak can create such a reaction. Small incremental change, driven by a fundamental shift in how we think about income generation, can have a profound and long-term effect.
Funding your Mintridge initiative
As well as your sports premium or regular school budget, there are so many ways to drive new funds into your school as our diagram below illustrates. It’s really important to consider these – every school operates in its own unique environment but all of us can raise funds from some of these sources:
· Be Creative – considering lots of fundraising avenues helps build resilience when it comes to generating sustainable strategies. Over-reliance on traditional income streams can be restrictive and vulnerable to eternal influences. The pandemic has taught us to use our imagination, adopt new alliances with partners and broaden our approach.
· Storytelling underpins all good fundraising initiatives. The ability to emotionally engage with potential donors is key. Donor motivation broadly fall into two camps; emotional and rational. Some donors may feel experience a sense of duty or feel nostalgic towards their former school. Others may seek self-advancement or donate out of moral or issue-based beliefs. It’s a complex subject but ultimately whatever the motivation there is only one way to attract a donation – you have to ask for it. Remember, as author Paul Molloy (Fundraising: The Compton Way) always says, “Don’t get hung up on the academic side, fundraising is mostly organised common sense.”
· Simplicity enables people to help you without having to overcome unnecessary hurdles. Remove the barriers of support by digitising your offering and enabling “click here” donations via your school website. It’s easier now than ever with a plethora of “Just Giving” style platforms to link to your website and social media feeds. They’ll take care of your GDPR and gift aid requirements leaving you to concentrate on the important stuff……telling the story.
With imagination and a little bravery there’s no reason why we shouldn’t believe in ourselves and strive for wanting more for our school. The extraordinary support afforded to Captain Sir Tom Moore and his fundraising campaign demonstrated just how willing we are to rally behind a good cause. There’s no reason why your school couldn’t become the good cause for your community to rally behind.
You can read about the partnership announcement in the Newsletter for School Fundraisers, just here.
Justin Smith
Chameleon Training and Consultancy, March 2021