ROBOTIC SPACE MISSIONS

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

RESOURCES

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

ORGANISING EVENTS

FUNDING BODIES

USEFUL CONTACTS

 

PLANNING

FUND-RAISING

VENUE

HEALTH AND SAFETY

PUBLICITY

BOOKINGS

RUNNING THE EVENT

EVALUATION

FUND-RAISING

The following tips are based on an interview with Mark Walton, Deputy Headmaster, Belvidere School, Shrewsbury (markwalton@belvidere.shropshire.sch.uk).

Former Head of D&T at Belvidere School, Mark Walton has been very successful at attracting sponsorship from local businesses to finance the purchase of new equipment and consumables for design, technology and science teaching in his school. His efforts recently culminated in a large grant from Alcoa Systems (U.K.) Limited for the construction of a purpose-built D&T centre at the school, equipped with electronic whiteboards and other state-of-the-art IT equipment. The school’s Alcoa Centre features several classrooms and IT suites, one of which is devoted entirely to LEGO RoboLab and Control Lab activities.

Whilst Head of D&T, Mark pursued every idea and opportunity for attracting publicity and donations of money, equipment and supplies to his department. He considers that his department’s long track record of successful fund-raising and innovation was crucial to attracting the large grant from Alcoa.

Mark’s Fund-raising Tips

• Develop links with local papers, radio and TV, and make the most of every opportunity to publicise your department’s activities and achievements. Enter (and win!) regional and national competitions, to create opportunities for publicity.
• Letters to parents are more effective than mailshots, for developing links with local companies. Remember that many of the parents and other relatives of your pupils are employees of local businesses and will probably be willing to assist you in your fund-raising efforts.
• Request sponsorship from companies with which your school does a lot of business, e.g. utilities, stationery suppliers, photocopier contractor, etc. They are likely to respond favourably (for fear of losing your school’s business!). Remind them that all donations to schools are tax deductible.
• Liaise with the Business Services section of your County Council, who can provide you with details of local companies. Don’t restrict yourself to businesses near your school (Alcoa is based in Telford, 15 miles from Shrewsbury).
• Do a mailshot to all medium and large enterprises in your county, and follow that up with phone calls. Many such enterprises have a community budget, but their funds are usually allocated at the start of each financial year, so timing is very important. (Mark did a mailshot to approximately 300 local enterprises one September and followed that up with about 200 phone calls over the next few months. From that he received about 30 responses, 10 of which led to meetings, resulting in 2 grants.)
• Run a Technology Disco each term (this can raise about £400 per disco).
• Sell surplus/obsolete equipment (e.g. old lathes, etc.) through ads in local papers.
• Source consumables (e.g. wood, plastic, textiles, electronic components, etc.) from local companies, and swap surplus items with other schools. Storage will be a problem if you are offered large quantities of surplus materials.
• Purchase unused LEGO Technic and MindStorms sets from final-year pupils (make sure you get letters of permission from their parents).
• Apply for training grants from the European Community (e.g. Socrates), DWP (e.g. Building Bridges), etc.  -  staff training is vital, and expensive!
• Apply to DfES for specialist school status. If successful, DfES will provide roughly £500,000 over four years, but your school must raise £50,000 in local sponsorship. Your application must include detailed proposals for collaboration with local primary schools, and other forms of community outreach. (In some areas, the District or County Council leads fund-raising efforts for specialist school status.)
• Once you have well equipped classrooms and IT suites, hire them out to local businesses during the school vacations (Belvidere School passes on to its D&T department half the proceeds from hiring out the Alcoa Centre).
• Exchange services with other schools (Belvidere School uses a local private school’s swimming pool in exchange for classes from that school using the LEGO resources in the Alcoa Centre).