School Grant Funding

If you have come here and are looking to find school grant funding for the type of products which are featured below at the bottom of this page then before you even start, you need to ask yourself this one big question:

HOW MUCH TIME DO I REALISTICALLY HAVE TO COMMIT TO THIS?

Do It Yourself

If the answer is lots, then great and we have put together (below) a Fundraising Guide which should help you. It lists details on school grants as well as advice on other ways and means you could look at to raise money for your playground project including crowd funding, leasing, renting out your existing premises, sponsorship etc. And we also publish a blog which regularly features news and updates on school grant funding initiatives.

Get Some Help

If the answer is not a lot and you need some help, then you need to give us a call/contact us. We will talk with you about how we can help and how you can benefit from our 20 years experience, knowledge and contacts in this area and thereby save you loads of time.

Funding Guide

Approaching Companies For Sponsorship or Donations

Approaching Companies for Sponsorship or Donations

Some suggested tips:

PUT TOGETHER A SHORT VIDEO AND STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD

I cannot stress how important this is and one of the ways you might want to do this is by working with us on putting together a short video featuring the children/staff and our product and talking about why the project is so important and why this product is right for your needs. You can email this out to these companies and perhaps also feature it on the school’s own website and PTA social media pages.

But always think of a new, perhaps emotive angle to aim your pitch at. Let’s say for example, you are wanting to have some new trim trail play equipment and you are interested in our products which are made out recycled plastic. Talking primarily about the environmental aspect therefore could be the angle to come in at in this instance – our own video on this range very much talks about the environmental benefits of this material rather than the product itself – you can click on this video link to see this

LAST BUT NOT LEAST – DON’T GIVE UP IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED! NOTHING IS EASY BUT WHERE THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS ALWAYS A WAY.

Crowd Funding

In addition to or as an alternative to school grant funding, 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 time frame 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.donatemyschool.com

www.crowdfunded.org.uk

www.hubbub.net

www.crowdfunder.co.uk

Renting Out Your School Premises

Nowadays many schools – because funds and budgets are becoming ever tighter – are beginning to realise that they need to find alternative means of raising money for their playground projects. And what better way to do this than raising much needed extra revenue by opening up their facilities for community use. If you’ll excuse the expression but it is basically “sweating the asset”!

Allowing sports halls and meeting rooms for example to be used outside of school hours can bring in an average of £30-40k per year. Think of a local football team for example who might want to use the school’s pitches and MUGA facilities for training in the evening or at the week-end, ditto local badminton or basketball teams, karate/yoga/drama/dance groups who might want to hire your hall or classrooms, culture events at the week-end if you have a staged area…the list can be quite comprehensive. Children’s parties as well and oddly enough you already have a pretty good target market already for this! Classrooms can be used for adult education or week-end supplementary schools.

Of course your revenue generating opportunities are determined by your school’s location and what facilities you have (generally sports facilities such as sports halls and floodlit all-weather pitches, MUGAs are most sought after).

For many years though the time and costs involved in the administration (and not to mention the marketing) to let out a school’s facilities meant that the profit for additional revenue has only been minimal. And of course that scarce resource called time needs to be factored into the equation!

However we have come across an excellent company called the Kajima Community who are changing all of this by making the whole process simple and profitable – whether schools are looking for an effective booking system or a more comprehensive marketing service, they are able to help and take all of the hassle out of the above. They have seen an uptake in their service more than double in the past year as schools need to adapt to maximise profitability of their premises…which will happen more and more in the years to come.

They offer two schemes as per below:

BookingsPlus – where they provide an online system for you to market your facility, administer bookings and collect online payments. A video has just been added to the website which gives a flavour of how the system works.
Bookings Guru – where they carry out the whole marketing and administration function on behalf of the school to ease the administerial burden. After a site survey they are confident that they will be able to guarantee you that we will be able to cover our fee with new bookings and offer you a free service.

Their website is:

http://www.kajima.co.uk

Top Tips For Your School Grant Funding Application

This is assuming that you have already made the decision as to which organisation or organisations you are going to approach for school grant funding for your playground project. When you receive the application form, it can always seem a little daunting at first but don’t worry, they are not there to trip you up!

Here are some points to consider before you start making your application:

Take some time to read through the whole pack to ascertain what exactly is required from you and pay any special notice to the guidance notes.

Find out if there is a specific deadline for submission and diary this.

Re-read the information pack again highlighting anything you did not understand initially.

Discuss and agree with your team and any other project stakeholders.

Check the format required for submission e.g email, post, uploading to a website portal etc

Be sure to be neat, concise and tidy as you are not alone – your application will be competing with many others.

Don’t automatically assume the fund provider has any knowledge of you or your project.

Don’t try to build a project around the criteria set out. Do answer your questions in line with the criteria.

Remember that school grant funding organisations too have to meet their objectives, consider how your application might help them, and hopefully they will be able to help you.

Provide as much information as possible and make sure that you make a digital or hard copy back up.

As long as you have given yourself enough time for the required submission deadline, there is no need to rush it as this is when mistakes are made and important issues overlooked.

Allow yourself plenty of time and don’t leave it to the last minute to complete.

Be clear, concise and unambiguous and never use jargon at all.

Discuss your application with your team and any other stakeholders in the project.

You might need to re-draft if necessary but double check and then check again before sending off.

Maybe get someone else who is not connected with the project to read it through as well.

Never start a project before it is approved and you are given the green-light go ahead.

Generally speaking, all funding bodies will require the same information, albeit in slightly different formats. They will want to know:

What your project is about

Who will be involved

How you know it is realistically achievable

How your project will develop

How much it will cost

What the outcomes and outputs are, how it will make a difference

Who it will make a difference to

How you will monitor progress

If your application is successful:

Read the terms and conditions of your contract carefully

Make sure you understand what you are signing up to and if in doubt speak directly to the funding organisation

You may be asked to sign and return an official agreement, contract or copy of the acceptance letter

Note any interim deadlines e.g. return of quarterly monitoring forms

Ensure your acceptance letter gives you the necessary approval to start your project

If your application is unsuccessful don’t think you have failed! Ask for feedback and try again.

List Of School Grant Funding Providers

We have researched and compiled a list of grant providers within the UK and for easy reference have divided this up into the following sections:

The Hideout House Company Ltd cannot take any responsibility and makes no warranties, representations or undertakings about the content of any website accessed by hypertext link and links should not be taken as an endorsement of any kind. The Hideout House Company Ltd has no control over the availability of the linked pages.

Watermark Award

www.wessexwater.co.uk/watermark

This is a grant scheme, launched by Wessex Water in 1993, to help fund environmental projects in the region. It enables schools and other organisations to apply for financial help when carrying out projects. Organised by the Conservation Foundation, grants from £100 to £1,500 are awarded quarterly. A Watermark Gold award worth £2,500 is made to one project.

Greggs Environmental Grants

www.greggsfoundation.org.uk

Small grants up to £2,500 and large grants up to £10,000

The Ernest Cook Trust

www.ernestcooktrust.org.uk

As well as offering a wide-ranging programme of land-based learning for children and young people, the Ernest Cook Trust gives grants to registered charities, schools and not-for-profit organisations wishing to encourage young people’s interest either in the countryside and the environment or the arts (in the broadest sense) or aiming to raise levels of literacy and numeracy.

The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation

http://esmeefairbairn.org.uk/

Aimed at improving the quality of life in the UK, primary interests include education, learning, the natural environment and enabling fuller participation by disadvantaged people in society.

EDF Energy Green Fund

http://www.edfenergy.com/products-services/for-your-home/our-services/green-energy-fund.shtml#

The EDF Energy Green Fund exists to help develop micro-generation technology through funding of schemes in organisations with a social purpose. These projects must be located within England, Scotland or Wales. Organisations which have benefited or could benefit from funding do include schools and community groups.

UK Power Networks Power of Giving Scheme

http://www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/internet/en/community/power-of-giving-scheme/

Ashden School Awards

This year we are focusing on work to reduce and manage demand for energy. In particular, we’re looking for pioneering enterprises and programmes that are demonstrating achievement in any of the following areas:

Demand reduction: through energy efficiency technology or behaviour change, including work to reduce fuel poverty.
Demand response: helping reduce peaks in demand and absorbing surplus renewable energy generation.
Energy storage: using technology to store surplus energy at times of low demand and release it when demand is high.
Smart grid technology: giving greater information and control to consumers and suppliers of energy.
Local renewable energy generation: particularly hydro power and anaerobic digestion.
Tackling fuel poverty: through energy efficiency or behaviour change.
Creating low-carbon buildings: through creating new buildings or retrofitting existing buildings.

https://www.ashden.org/programmes/less-co2

B&Q Waste Donation Service

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/corporate/content/environment_ethics/ethics/community/waste_donation.jsp

Eon Energy Trust

https://www.eonenergy.com/About-eon/Community/energy-action-fund

This trust focuses on community investment and employee volunteering activity on three key areas – education, supporting vulnerable consumers and working with communities close to our sites. They also support charitable organisations nominated by colleagues through their Employee Community Fund, Charity of the Year and payroll giving initiatives.

Awards for All – Big Lottery Fund

http://www.awardsforall.org.uk/index.html

Awards for All gives groups a quick and easy way to get small Lottery grants of between £300 and £10,000. They fund projects which address the issues, needs and aspirations of local communities and people. They fund a wide range of community projects aimed at developing skills, improving health, revitalising the local environment and enabling people to become more active citizens.

Big Lottery Fund Community Programme

http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/prog_reaching_communities

Community based programmes to bring the local community together and improve the lives of people that live within it. There are particular categories for local communities and community wildlife.

Veolia Environmental Trust

http://www.veoliatrust.org/

They are committed to supporting community and environmental projects across the UK. These include improving community halls, creating new play areas and skate parks, and restoring green spaces.

Waitrose Community Matters

http://www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/inspiration/community_matters.html

Each branch of Waitrose has £1,000 to share out between three local good causes each month. The scheme will consider supporting welfare organisation, community groups, schools and local divisions of charities.

Biffa Award

http://www.biffa-award.org/home

Biffa Award is a multi-million pound fund which awards grants to community and environmental projects across the UK. The fund’s money comes from landfill tax

credits donated by Biffa Waste Services. Biffa Award is managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT).

The Prime Foundation

https://www.primeplc.com/foundation/

The Prime Foundation is a charity which supports community projects in neighbourhoods where they built new schemes.

Whenever a new building is completed and occupied, we make a donation to the Prime Foundation fund. Local charitable organisations can then apply for grants from the fund to pay for or contribute towards community projects.

A wide variety of local projects are funded, such as a sensory garden for a community special school, new kit for a junior martial arts club, park benches for a conservation group, set up costs for a new women’s health advice centre and two supported holidays for a disabled child and his parents.

The Tesco Community Fund

The Tesco Community Fund supports projects throughout the UK which bring a major benefit to their local community

https://www.groundwork.org.uk/national-grants/grants_tesco-community-grants/

REGIONAL GRANTS

REGIONS

East Midlands

www.eastmidlandsairport.com/emaweb.nsf/content/communityfund

Heathrow

https://www.heathrowcommunitytrust.org/need-funding/environmental-and-sustainability-grants

Scotland (The Climate Challenge Fund)

http://ccf.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/

Worcestershire

The Duckworth Trust

http://www.dwt.org.uk/

The Duckworth Worcestershire Trust, a registered charity, was established in 1998 for philanthropic reasons by the former chairman of Worcester Heat Systems, Mr Cecil Duckworth. We are dedicated to the conservation, protection and enhancement of the natural and built environments for the people of Worcestershire. We also aim to relieve poverty amongst those who are disadvantaged.

Testimonials

“I write to firmly endorse the Hideout House as a provider of quality products. Hideout House became known to us around 18 months ago through a partnership they have with Ecotricity, one of our generous sponsors.

We were very interested in the environmental attributes of their products that in so many ways enable learning outside of the classroom. We were interested in a hexagonal, cedar constructed outside classroom to act as a base for our outdoor activities. The cost however for a small charity seemed prohibitive at the time. I’m not saying that it was expensive as the quality and environmental attributes speak for themselves, it was just we felt low on a list of needs where more urgent financial resources were required.

Simon suggested we speak to some funding organisations he was aware of to see if they could help us out. We did so and they took details of our potential users and uses. It was an incredibly easy process. Very soon after this we were awarded a grant which covered the full amount of the cost of the building.

We did have some additional complications as our landlord required full planning permission and then also flagged up the need for a soil survey but these were unusual requirements and were beyond the control of Hideout House. Once all the permissions were in place the construction team moved in an erected the building in under two days. This team was incredible, they worked fast and efficiently and accommodated all our requests regarding keeping access open and safe for other centre users.

In conclusion I will say that the whole experience was an amazingly positive one. We have ended up with the premier outside classroom which is being used regularly for our schools activities and indeed can be hired for private children’s parties so is bringing in a small amount of revenue.

If required we would happily show any potential Hideout House customers our fabulous building and talk them through the process and how positive our experience has been.

Yours Faithfully

Paul Woodmin, Head of Green Britain Centre, Norfolk

“Having read an email from the Hideout House Company, my interest was piqued and I contacted them. As a result, we now have a fantastic outdoor shelter/classroom which sits beautifully in the school surroundings. The whole process was completely painless. The whole funding issue required little input from ourselves as Simon certainly knows his stuff and his advice was invaluable. The successful response from the Big Lottery Fund did not take long in coming and the build itself took one and a half days. The whole process took six months from initial contact to project completion. That doesn’t happen often in schools.”

Sheilagh Peacock SBM, The Winchcombe School

“Simon was really helpful from start to finish with his overall advice for our quest for funding. He was always easily contactable, either by e-mail or phone, making sure we were happy with his suggestions and keeping us posted with alternative ideas. In our opinion, his help made all the difference in our successful bid for funding.”

Site Manager, Morden Primary School, London

“We have used the Hideout House Company to successfully help us for an outdoor library and they have recently helped us with a second project at the school. His expertise and knowledge have made this hassle free. We will continue to work with the Hideout House Company in the future.”

School Business Manager, Gateford Park Primary School, Worksop

Operating Leases, Rental Plans and Pay Later Schemes

A lot of schools are increasingly looking to find alternative ways of paying for their playground equipment and outdoor classrooms under Department of Education guidelines. We have an association with a specialist educational funding company who are able to offer various packages including part payment plans and pay later schemes and who currently deal with over 3,500 schools in the UK who trust both their product and service.

These plans allow schools to have the benefit of the equipment straightaway but gives them the ability to pay for them over an agreed period of time – typically 3-5 years. Part payment or deferred payment plans therefore allow schools to budget in terms of what they actually need as opposed to what they can currently afford.

Fixed payments over the agreed period allows schools to have a financial certainty with no nasty surprises. There are options for monthly, quarterly, annual or even termly payment schedules to suit various budgets and financial scheduling.

Please contact us for further details.

Corona Virus Covid 19 Grants For Schools

As a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, there are now quite a few grants which have become available to schools and UK educational establishments to help them. We have researched and compiled a list of such grants and if you would like to receive a copy, please email us on info@hideouthouse.com