Blogs/Vlogs

Funding – if you do not try or ask then you do not get!

8 May 2017

Having been passed a copy via LinkedIn the other day I read with interest the Summer 2017 FundEd newsletter from FundEd.org.uk.

This newsletter is an excellent resource for schools, and provides lots of thought provoking ideas and examples of how other schools have raised additional sums of money.

With funding getting ever tighter, academies need to be increasingly innovative to find alternative income streams. Would you have ever thought about some of these ideas covered in FundEd?

  • A small primary school raised £116k to match fund a CIF grant application. This was achieved by holding a variety of events and obtaining a grant from the local council.
  • A secondary school in West London generates over £70k per annum through monthly car boot sales on their large school playing field.
  • One school won £20k of laboratory equipment in a national competition. The FundEd newsletter contains details of competitions and campaigns.
  • A small rural primary raised £7k from a crowdfunding campaign in the local community.
  • The importance of using social media to reach out to potential funders.
  • A small primary school in the North East was awarded nearly £10k in grants from Awards for All which they used to develop their facilities into a Forest School.

There are also interesting articles explaining how to get more from your school facilities, which generally lie empty for over 50% of the time, and how schools can often benefit from using an expert bid writer.

Of course academies need to be careful with the potential tax and VAT implications if they are able to generate significant other income, but often any additional tax cost can be mitigated if structured in the right way, and at modest levels there is rarely a tax or VAT problem. Your nearest UHY academy specialist would be delighted to talk to you about the tax or VAT implications or any plans that you have for your school if you have concerns in this area. It is always preferable to think about these well in advance to leave time to implement any beneficial structure like a trading subsidiary, which can be required if you are really successful in generating additional income. To read more academy schools blogs click here.

The full Summer 2017 FundEd can be read here.

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