Last year the PTA became a registered charity which gives us access to many fundraising opportunities outside of those events organised at school. These school events will always be a priority with the PTA as apart from raising money for the school the events are also very much about the children's participation and enjoyment however with thousands of pounds being offered by various grant schemes gaining charity status means new avenues and additional funding can be sort.
Grants
In order to apply for Grants the PTA/School need to submit applications/bids for each specific grant. All grants require specific criteria and in the current economic climate it is vital to get these applications/bids right in order to be considered for funding. Although there is lots of funding out there, there are also lots of applications being made for each one. - We are looking for anyone with any fundraising/Bid writing experience (specifically within the grant sector) who might be able to spare a few hours to help put some applications together. We already have some Grant bodies sourced with the required criteria and much of the information needed is to hand.
Gift Aid -What is Gift Aid?
When you make a donation to a charity, (the PTA) that charity is able to claim back the tax that you have paid on the donation. This mechanism is called Gift Aid and amounts to an extra 25p for every £1 that you give.
How does it work?
If you give £10 to the PTA and you are a basic rate taxpayer (20%), you will have paid £2.50 in tax on the gross donation (to take home £10, you will have earned £12.50 before tax). Charities are able to reclaim this £2.50 back from HMRC.
What do I have to do?
You will need to inform the PTA that you are a UK taxpayer and you would like them to reclaim the tax on your donation. Please ask for a gift aid Declaration form.
Match Funding
The PTA with your help raises several thousands of pounds each year, this is done through school events, recycling, easyfundraising.com to name a few. Other ways you can help might be through the Company you work for or The Business you own. Several Companies run schemes in which they will match fund money raised by yourself for your chosen Charity (in this case school) We currently have 2 families at the school that do this through Mars and HSBC but there are many more companies out there that run the same schemes.
With both of these we raise the money by the parent in question simply manning a stall at either the Summer or Christmas fair or by being involved in another fundraising event in some way. Please have a look at the list of companies who run these schemes or check with your manager.
Sponsorship
If you own your own business or someone you know does and you are interested in Sponsorship there are several ways in which you can do this either by Sponsoring an event, product or project. - An example of this is New school sports kit is currently being purchased for when the children represent the school at different events. The cost of this purchase is being sponsored by a Parent at the School
Other Parents with Companies such as Serpentine Construction & Alpha Windows have sponsored School events.
We have several projects which would benefit from this same kind of funding/sponsorship so if your Business or the Company you work for would be interested in doing this please let us know. It is a great way to support the school and advertise your business in the process.