Tag Archive for: crowdfunding

Funding Opportunities For New School Playground Projects

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How We Can Save You A Lot of Time and Hassle When Looking To Raise Funds For Your School Playground Project

If you are looking to raise funds to pay for a new playground project at your school – this could be playground equipment, outdoor classrooms and shelters, safety surfacing, trim trails, forest school projects, sensory and communication spaces, gardening projects etc – then we have 25 years experience of helping schools find and raise the required funds to pay for our products.

But the first question we always ask of schools is this – how much time do you realistically have to give to this? Raising money is something that typically requires quite a bit of effort on all stakeholders’ behalves   –  researching applicable grants, reading all of the funding criteria, completing and submitting bids, knowing what makes a successful application or not, re-submitting if turned down originally etc.

But at the Hideout House Company, we can offer you a solution and a way round all of this. Firstly, we don’t just rely on one particular avenue for funding (e.g grants) as we feel that it makes much more sense to pursue a varied mix of initiatives so as to maximize opportunities and thereby reach your funding target a lot faster. Our proven method involves accessing grants (and we can tell you which ones we would recommend you apply for and which are applicable), crowdfunding, unique PTA fundraising ideas, company or corporate sponsorship, the exploitation of revenue generating streams (such as renting out your existing school grounds and facilities) and we can also offer part payment plans whereby you can pay in annual, monthly or termly instalments over typically three to five years. If you have already raised some money towards your playground project, then you can have the equipment installed now (and the children can enjoy the benefit of it immediately) but this gives your school the flexibility to pay in pre-arranged instalments over a longer period of time which can work within your budgets. Once we have your quote drawn up, we can easily give you some quotes for using this option.

We have built up many associations and partnerships with specialist companies who can help you with all of the above and we have proved that they work. We have also put together a comprehensive and informative page on our website which can be found on this link: School Grant and Funding

Basically, we can get you from A to B a lot faster and with far less hassle.

To see our comprehensive product range of school playground products, please have a look at our website www.hideouthouse.com

And then please get in contact with us so that we can talk through your project with you, offer some suggestions and advice and explain how we can help with funding opportunities.

The Hideout House Company

Tel: 01832 275902 or email: info@hideouthouse.com

 

 

 

 

Successful Fundraising for Schools

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The-Secrets-to-Planning-a-Successful-Charity-Event-A-First-Timer’s-GuideI cannot think of one school I have worked with these past couple of years who have been able to pay for our products entirely out of the school budget. Sign of these still austere times I guess. So increasingly schools are having to look to alternative ways of finding the necessary funds for their playground projects…and this is where we come in.

I am convinced that in order to be successful, the expression “where there is a will, there is a way” is of paramount importance because I have seen so many schools fall by the wayside because they have simply given up or not put in the required effort. And the other thing I am convinced of is that you need to think outside of the box when implementing your campaign and maybe go outside of your traditional comfort zone – and be a bit more commercially minded. And school governors need to understand this too.

But we also understand that school staff are busy and sometimes do not simply have the time to devote to the cause. We therefore work with schools on how to implement a strategic plan on how to raise the necessary funds and this can involve a whole facet of initiatives which usually run concurrently to maximise the chances of success.

  • We look at ways the school PTA can help fundraise but we like to come up with novel ideas which inject a breath of fresh air into somewhat fatigued traditional school fundraising events;
  • We advise on potential grants which could be available for your school project;
  • We tell you about renting or operating leasing possibilities for our products which now a lot of schools can take out on a typical 3-5 year lease period;
  • We tell you how to set up a crowdfunding website for your school to help spread the word and give your project a far wider audience;
  • We tell you how to approach local companies for financial support and donations;
  • We tell you how you can rent out your existing school facilities to earn a meaningful income (some schools we know who are doing this are getting approximately £30K a year for renting their premises and facilities);
  • We tell you about our own customer referral scheme whereby your school can earn commissions from the Hideout House Company for referring us to other schools;
  • We tell you about a scheme we have with the green energy supplier Ecotricity whereby your school can earn money each time someone switches to their tariffs

All we ask in return is that you are dedicated to the cause and are prepared to push the boundaries out a bit more than usual!

For further information about how we can help your school run a successful fundraising campaign, please contact Simon Fearnehough on 01865 858982 or email: info@hideouthouse.com

Our website is www.hideouthouse.com

 

 

How To Successfully Use Crowdfunding For Your School Playground Project

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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 timeframe 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.crowdfunded.org.uk

www.hubbub.net

www.crowdfunder.co.uk

And then you need to give us a call as we specialise in all kinds of products for school playgrounds including outdoor play equipment, outdoor classrooms, shelters, nature play areas, classroom buildings and growing gardens.

For further information, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01865 858982 or email info@hideouthouse.com

www.hideouthouse.com