Opinions

The same hymn sheet?

Bursars want to save money and development directors want to spend it. Is this is a fair assessment? Alison Graham urges bursars to understand and support the development team’s long-term role in supporting the school

In development, what is the bursar’s role? The flippant answer would be – there isn’t one. Donors want to meet the principal or the chair of governors, not the finance director. Yet the support of bursars is critical to successful development and they can contribute immensely to that success.

Development directors have opposing viewpoints to bursars: we are outward-focused, looking to long-term goals with wide horizons. Bursars are focused on balancing this year’s accounts and keeping a close watch on cashflow. We need time to build relationships with prospects, yet the bursar must secure income to allow the teaching and learning needs to be met. Bursars are often the project managers of major building works, and their detailed financial information and budgetary modelling are vital for our conversations with major prospects. We too like to see firm budgets and specific building plans firmly adhered to: changing the parameters halfway through upsets us too. We’re on your side here, bursar.

A catalyst for change?
Forward-thinking bursars are often instigators and drivers of development, encouraging their governing body to embrace it as they perceive the long-term benefits it will bring. Others have been the stumbling blocks and often seem to be in downright opposition to development, unwilling to invest, seeing only risk and a high cost centre, especially at the outset.

Admittedly, development is not cheap and is never a quick fix. The set-up costs are not small and it requires time to grow organically to foster close relationships with prospects. Like any new business, profits are rarely realised within the first three years and it is unlikely that many approaches for gifts can be made within that time. So the first challenge is to be able to sustain this level of resource to reap what can be huge and continuing rewards in the future. Gently starting a legacy programme has minimal costs, but will demonstrate that people believe the school is worth supporting by pledging bequests.

A bit of reassurance
Some recent figures may reassure those uncertain of whether to commit resources to a development programme. Crowe Clark Whitehill’s benchmarking survey of independent schools will be extended this year with the Institute of Development Professionals in Education (IDPE) to include development and fundraising statistics. Initial data gathered in 2009 already reveals some fascinating points. The independent school sector now raises £100 million per annum from fundraising (a sum that has tripled over the past 12 years).

More interestingly, the data shows that schools with professional development staff directing the fundraising are bringing in significantly more than those without: on average a sum equivalent to 2.8 per cent of net fees as opposed to 1.3 per cent without professional staff. Within that average, the surplus ranges from 6 per cent for a large boarding school to 2.5 per cent for a prep school with professional staff: 1.1 to 0.8 per cent without. With the annual surplus in many schools of 8-10 per cent, a development contribution of a quarter of this is welcome income. The fundraising-to-cost ratio of 4 or 5:1 is creditable in view of donor-focused work that requires much individual attention (with consequent higher staff costs) rather than mass market programmes that are common in the mainstream charity sector.

These are just the initial, short-term gains. Building a strong and sustainable development programme means that a school will reap substantial financial rewards for many decades, and should ultimately be able to create an endowment to support its work throughout this century and beyond. The figures indicate that ROI is robust and achievable, so let us hope that even more bursars will be ready to support development, reassured that it is the wise course that minimises risk and generates income.

Alison Graham offers development and fundraising advice through her consultancy, ÆGis4Consulting. Alison can be contacted via alisoninkent@waitrose.com or 07903 077685. 

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