WITH REWARDS RELATIONSHIPS
Developing successful lettings and funding initiatives begins with building good relationships, says director of income generation Kevin Yardley
Identify your key partners Start by listening to what your PTA or Friends’ group has to say. These people are motivated parents who have experience of school fundraising and, therefore, the kind of local connections and insight from which you can build. Develop your local awareness
and networks by dropping in on meetings taking place across your community, whether that be sports partnerships, council forums, arts and drama groups or creative people’s networks. Ask people running community groups what they need and what they like that already exists. This will help you identify local shortfalls or excess facilities, as well as who needs space and what kind of facilities work best.
34 SPRING 2022 FundEd Face to face contact is incredibly
important as you can make multiple connections and demonstrate your interest and enthusiasm in what is happening. We’ve had to make do on Zoom to some extent, but it’s not the same. I often go to Starbucks with my school logo visible, as people always come over and chat and this inevitably leads to new business. Most local authorities run a range
of forums, which may include a guest speaker and therefore function as a learning element allowing you to top up on CPD. Such forums often have breakout sessions, which are a chance to network and promote the school. For instance, I attended a Hertfordshire partnership event on the topic of support for social change. It included seminars with
local police officers and premier football clubs that looked at the impact of providing opportunities for young offenders. It was a chance to meet some amazing people and develop my contacts. Lots of schools continue with the
same hirers but when I started I wanted to make sure that we had the right fit for the school. I worked on developing my understanding of sports and other provisions across our area for six months before we fully launched our lettings business. By then, I knew exactly what was going on and what was needed, and I had built a broad range of relationships.
Why are strong relationships important? As part of your strategic plan, you need to align the facilities you have with any national and local undersupply, so that you can be confident about the opportunities for further development. At The Generations MAT, we developed a new 3G pitch because we knew it would generate income, due to the national shortage and local undersupply of floodlit training areas.
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