WHAT IF…?


When it comes to establishing relationships with businesses and community organisations, it pays to be creative, says Howard Rose


W


e all hear the same clichés endlessly repeated: ‘let’s think outside the box’, ‘try


some blue-sky thinking’, ‘look further than the end of your nose’. Well why not make it much simpler and just think, ‘What if?’. Most of my problems as


director of funding and publicity at a primary school trust in the West Midlands would be solved by a bottomless pot of money – money we just don’t have. So when Im asked i I can fi nd something, get something or provide something, I ask myself:


n What if…I look for a sponsor that would match my need?


n What if…I look for a business that might help?


n What if…I make the call or send the email?


n What if…I can help them satisfy their CSR policy?


n What if…the school could get some great publicity?


Now, I know many people


will say that it can’t be that easy, but it really is. Of course, not everyone says yes, but then again, not everyone says no. Be polite, ask to stay in touch and move on to the next name on your list. Opposite are four recent examples of things I was told would not work. I just thought, ‘maybe, but what if…?’


‘Together, we had established our own Skills Day. This has since become an annual event, with aeronautical engineering a particular highlight’


34 AUTUMN 2019 FundEd


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