Crowdfunding
LIBRARY OVERHAUL
Karl Handy, PTA Secretary, St Giles CofE Primary School, Halstead, Essex (74 pupils)
THE PROJECT
To turn our library into a room that becomes a learning hub central to school life. We were seeking funding for
books, storage and technology. The new library will have and will offer pupils and teachers the opportunity to everything listed on modern library software.
TARGET: £10,000 TOTAL RAISED: £8,054 NUMBER OF DONORS: 9
PLANNING: Within a couple of meetings we’d prepared the project, collated information and created some branded marketing collateral.
UPLOADING THE PROJECT: It was easy to upload the project to the CrowdfundEd site, and setting up payment details was simple. The site
LAUNCHING THE PROJECT: As we were fundraising for a new library, we launched the project with a bring-and-buy book sale, which raised £300. We set up a dedicated web link to engage with potential donors and our Twitter and Facebook pages were branded with our library appeal.
COMMUNICATION: Details about our activities and how much was raised were fed to our network throughout. We weren’t sure anyone was looking at the CrowdfundEd page, so didn’t bother to add updates. The newsletter was the channel that gave us the best results. Word-of-mouth was a big help, with publicity
SOCIAL MEDIA UPDATES: CrowdfundEd: Monthly Facebook: Weekly Twitter: Weekly School website: Fortnightly
Email: Fortnightly Newsletter: Weekly
MARKETING: Facebook was incredibly effective, and we in the future. Otherwise, most of our promotion was done local press got involved after attending our sponsored run.
OFFLINE DONATIONS: The PTFA donated £3,044 and the Earls Colne and Halstead Educational Trust gave us payments was a bit of a nightmare to begin with.
THE FINAL PUSH: The deadline was lost on us because we had stopped focusing on CrowdfundEd.
TIMEFRAME: The campaign ran on CrowdfundEd for 65 days, with our overall project running from Jan to Jul 2016.
REWARDS: We offered press releases, social media mentions, and signage.
OVERALL: Compared to other fundraising methods, our crowdfunding campaign ended up being very poor. The idea is good, but I wouldn’t run another project with CrowdfundEd in its current form. It needs to inspire people to donate in a more vibrant and visual way and be easier to set up, edit and add funds from different sources.
INCLUSIVE PLAYGROUND
Howard Rose, Director of Funding and Publicity, Balsall Common Primary School, Solihull (741 pupils)
THE PROJECT
To update and replace our indoor multi-gym in the school hall, and add a new trim trail to the outside space. The
apparatus will enable children to learn vital skills such as teamwork, problem-solving and tolerance, as well as
inclusive equipment will also open up play for children with varying degrees of physical ability and strength.
‘We set up our CrowdfundEd project page in June 2016 with the aim of launching six weeks before the end of the summer term. I enlisted the help of the PHSE Leader and School Council. They were all really excited and grasped the concept straight away – they came up with ideas, produced drawings and considered how to get the best use of the space available. I invited playground
suppliers to the school, gathering quotes and getting alternative suggestions, worked out a marketing strategy where we could target parents via Parentmail and Twitter. The children would also fundraise, and I would use my network of contacts via LinkedIn, the Solihull Chambers of Commerce, and our space on the online publication, The Best of Solihull. As well as this, I applied to the local parish council (and received a £2,000 donation) and had The
Lions and the Round Table on my hit list, too. While I had made good
progress, the School Council and the PSHE Leader were to work on the project. By the end of term, the teacher in question left. The School Council has
now formed a new committee, with two councillors from each year group – I was keen for the younger children to be involved, as they will get the most use from the equipment. With a new teacher leading the committee, we have a new impetus. A supplier has also provided vital input with regards to the layout of the playground, what will work best, and how we can get the best value for money. We plan to launch the
campaign in February 2017, and having had setbacks and jumped hurdles, we are now stronger, more focused and are determined to make this happen!’
CROWDFUNDED UPDATE!
Having carefully reviewed CrowdFundEd with our technology partners, Hubbub, and in light of new digital fundraising solutions entering the sector, we have decided to close the CrowdFundEd platform at the end of the spring term. We still believe that crowdfunding is an exciting and useful way in which schools can raise funds, therefore we will continue to work with digital fundraising experts to deliver targeted guidance and advice. If you have any questions about CrowdFundEd or require general crowdfunding advice, please call 01342 821336 or email
info@funded.org.uk.
FundEd SPRING 2017 23
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