‘We raised £130,000 in one year for a new MUGA and LED lighting’
Colyton Grammar’s head of development Emma Styles provides a step-by-step breakdown of her school’s campaign
The context Established in the east Devon countryside in 1546, Colyton Grammar School is a state secondary academy with 1,030 students. In 2016, the school decided to employ a dedicated development officer on a part-time basis in order to generate income to help meet its funding needs. The trustees had seen how effective the development function was in raising funds in the independent sector – and they had the vision to create a pioneering state school equivalent. I was recruited to drive fundraising, communications, alumni relations and to build a culture of philanthropy. Over the past six years, the
Development Office has built a strong working relationship with the Parents’ Association (PA), extended the alumni network and created a culture of giving through a number of campaigns and appeals. We have a regular giving annual fund that all parents are invited to participate in, with a 28% uptake at the moment.
The MUGA appeal In 2021, we decided to replace the old AstroTurf with a new MUGA all-weather pitch and install new LED lighting. The Raising Our Game appeal was our largest ever, with a goal of generating £130,000 in funding over one year. Being able to draw on the relationships and funding streams we’d developed over the previous five years was therefore extremely helpful.
Case for support This was built around three main themes:
10 SUMMER 2023 FundEd
1 To deliver a safe, modern multi-use games area to replace the old pitch 2 To improve our energy efficiency with new LED efficient lighting for school and community use 3 To make Colyton Grammar School a sports destination for students and community. We highlighted how health and
safety concerns were restricting community use of the old pitch. As we partner with eight local primary schools, we also made the case that having a new pitch would enable these partnership events to carry on. Further, we focused on the wellbeing benefits for our students of having access to lunchtime, club and extra-curricular sports activities.
‘We highlighted how health and safety concerns were restricting
community use of the old pitch’
OUR FUNDRAISING PORTFOLIO STUDENTS Our student media execs created a campaign video in which they talked to other pupils about how much they used the pitch for lessons, fixtures and recreation. The video explained why the new pitch was needed and how it would be able to host hockey, tennis, football, rugby and cricket.
PARENTS We provided the Parents’ Association with key messages to ensure communication around the appeal was contiguous. The school shared the story across our community, while the PA backed up
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