Development
Old school ties
How can you encourage your recent leavers to continue to support the school? Tim Edge examines some strategies for staying close to younger alumni/ae and for fostering a sense of ongoing obligation to your school
Many alumni/ae rank their universities towards the top of their list of philanthropic priorities, with their schools featuring much lower down, if at all.
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Where the power lies
Tim Edge examines the most powerful elements determining the management and governance of a school and where development fits in
In any school community the three most powerful elements are invariably the head, the bursar and the governing body.
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A day in the life…
Jan Glover’s role involves implementing a strategic plan to raise funds for her school. Katie Cardona takes a look at her diary for insight into a typical day in the routine of Abingdon School’s development director
Early start: too much to do and too little time. Still dark when I get to the office, but it’s quiet and email beckons: the usual – everything from Viagra to local councillors saying how much they’d love to come to the Christmas Concert or not.
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Party politics
Fundraising events are popular in schools, but can distract from the bigger picture of reaching higher targets. Alison Graham cautions against focusing your efforts on a strategy that might not reap the rewards you intend
A common response in schools faced with the need to raise money is to propose a fundraising event. Many schools have active and enthusiastic parents’ associations that regularly run social events and other activities to raise useful sums of money for equipment and school projects.
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Facing up
Social networking sites have been taken up joyously by younger people, leaving the rest of us slightly bewildered. But, as Roya Ziai explains, there are ripe opportunities here for the school development office
Social networking sites have made a huge impact on many people’s lives, changing the ways in which individuals interact with each other and use the web. Since its launch in February 2004, Facebook has accrued 500 million active users, and is currently the second-most-visited website worldwide, after Google.
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Giving your all
Inspiring leadership is a necessity for a school’s success in fundraising. But what does this mean for school governors? Alison Graham reports on how they can play an active role in encouraging others to donate
Where schools are charities, governors are also trustees and therefore are financially and legally responsible for the well-being of the institution and its continuing strength. They are required to work for the long-term future good of the school and the pupils of tomorrow. With the head, they help set the strategy for the school, devise the plan to achieve that vision, including authorising all major fundraising campaigns. In any fundraising charity, the active involvement of trustees is instrumental to successful campaigns.
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Alright, guv?
Tim Edge begins a series of articles advising heads and governors on how to build a fruitful working relationship with the development office. In this edition he concentrates on the role of governors
Although governors have no operational role in the running of the school, they set the strategic tempo and framework. As critical friends, governors can play an important part in the development process and their knowledge of and enthusiasm for development work can be hugely beneficial.
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Leading from the front
New sources of non-fee income are critical for most independent schools in the current economic climate. Tim Edge examines the role of the headteacher in building and promoting a strong development culture
The constructive and active involvement of the head is pivotal to the development office’s effectiveness. Here are five tips for heads seeking to build an enduring and effective development presence within their schools:
1. Demonstrate that development is at the top of your agenda.
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Capital ideas
Times may be tight, but there are still donors who will contribute significantly to your cause. But how do you identify and engage them? Tim Edge shows how to lay the foundations of a successful major donor programme
In the current economic climate, the prospect of raising money from major donors seems almost counterintuitive.
Surely these donors, like everyone else, are reluctant to give, proving the adage that one of the first casualties in a recession is charitable giving?
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Testing times
There will be few independent schools that are not facing the future with anything other than considerable unease. Mark Jefferies advises to use this time to plan future fundraising campaigns
One of the biggest threats of this recession is the uncertainty about what is likely to happen because it sends us all into a state of paralysis. When others are hesitating is the time for those of courage to proceed, albeit with degrees of caution.
Development issues
Five-point briefing on fundraising: why do donors give? By Tim Edge
Donors give for a variety of reasons, some of them highly personal and idiosyncratic. During my time in schools
fundraising, I have identified some common threads:
- A strong motivating factor is a high regard for operational and volunteer leadership. Make sure that
charismatic school leaders play a full part in the fundraising process. Also, recruit high profile, persuasive and
successful volunteers to complement the activity of operational leaders.
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Development issues
Five-point briefing on key donor truths. By Tim Edge
Here are some universal truths for why people donate:
- Donors give largely for emotional reasons. Schools should, therefore, seek to match aspects of their development programmes with the unique interests and needs of each prospective donor.
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Development issues
Five-point briefing on smart marketing. By Tim Edge
- Do you walk the talk?
Many schools use bland marketing statements in their literature. For example, “St Cuthbert’s prides itself in its standard of pastoral care”. What is truly important is not the statement itself, but the way in which St Cuthbert’s can demonstrate, with use of actual examples, what it is that makes its pastoral care excellent and distinctive from its competitors.
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The heart of the school
Development offices are an increasingly important feature in fundraising in independent schools. Tim Edge begins a series of articles on the challenges faced by headteachers and governors when setting up an office
There is little doubt that schools development is a boom industry. An increasing number of schools recognise the need to establish a development office to raise capital and revenue funding. Development professionals also play a crucial role in helping to establish and support a “community of goodwill”, the active and well-informed set of school “constituents” that is essential to successful fundraising and marketing activity.
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Into the fold
Having followed last issue’s guidance on setting up a development office, let’s assume you have recruited an excellent candidate to run it. Tim Edge examines ways to make this new member of your team feel valued
Many development professionals, particularly those without schools experience, can find a school environment alien and forbidding. Structures can seem unduly hierarchical and bureaucratic; management and information systems might appear antediluvian when compared with those in their previous post.
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A tale of two bodies
Some independent schools have set up separate foundations to act as a conduit for charitable donations to the school. This can sometimes create unforeseen conflicts. Tim Edge outlines the pitfalls and advantages
Fundraising foundations are unique charities in their own right, with their own memorandum of articles and a board of trustees that is independent from the school’s governing body.
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Face first
After weeks of planning an approach to a prospective donor or sponsor, how can you convince them to support you at a face-to-face meeting? Andrew Maiden reveals the techniques that will increase your powers of persuasion
To maximise your chances of success, you must take control of the meeting to present the benefits of your proposal and ask for support in a structured way.
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Fundraising models
What are the pros and cons of continuous and periodic fundraising models? By Tim Edge
In recent years, a large number of UK independent schools have embraced the concept of an annual fund. The annual fund is a method of financing those second-tier priorities that are not allocated funding from the school’s operational budget. Donors from across the school’s ‘constituencies’ are asked to give a relatively small amount each year for specific, medium- to small-scale projects. Extensive use is made of volunteers to solicit gifts from constituency peer groups.
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Part of the process
The development office in the modern independent school: trends and imperatives, by Dr Philip Evans and Tony Bannard-Smith
Look back at any independent school in the 1950s. To me, and perhaps to a fair number of others in positions like mine, this time does not seem that far away. I was at school myself then: memories of long Friday afternoons can quickly come flooding back, with chalk dust hanging in the sunny air, rhododendrons blooming outside on Offa’s Dyke (for me, at least); and no examinations blocking the horizon, for modules had not yet intruded into education, with O-levels and A-levels being examinations that came and went quickly in two late summers of any pupil’s career. ICT would have meant nothing, apart from a probable typing error and league tables would have had something to do with your favourite football team.
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Two heads better than one?
As the remit of headteachers continues to broaden, might there be a better distribution of tasks assigned to them? Tim Edge reports on a new division of labour originating from the United States to help spread the load
In my career as a development director I have been privileged to have worked with some of the most talented headteachers of their generation. One frustration, shared by all, has been the requirement to deal with a plethora of diverse responsibilities, many of which they are neither instinctively drawn to nor trained to fulfil.
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