Schools want to offer the very best in education to their students, but funding is so often an issue. Rachel Gordon of The School Funding Service gives her 5 top tips on how to go about getting a grant for your school.

You have a great idea for a school project or innovative new practice, but the school budget is tight and you need a bit of cash to help you bring your idea to life. Does this scenario sound familiar? If so, my advice is don’t despair. Have you thought about applying for a grant to help you?

This article originally appeared in the September 2012 Innovate My School magazine.

It’s a familiar problem: you want to start a new project at your school, but there’s no money for the equipment or services you need.

Don’t dust off the rolling pin for a fundraising cake sale just yet. Believe it or not, you may be able to get what you need for nothing!

Organisations across the country give thousands of free items to schools and allow them to use facilities and professional services without charge. This isn’t a new phenomenon. Over the years, schools have received all sorts of freebies: from maps, books, cereals and giant chess sets to hedges, telescopes and even trees!

Setting up an after-school club, purchasing new books for the school library, updating computer equipment, and installing specialised playground equipment – these are all important projects for the creation of a diverse learning and social environment at school but they are often the first things to go when budgets are tightened.

Taking matters into their own hands, more schools and colleges are looking for new and inventive ways to boost their funds to support special projects and activities. The great news is that there are plenty of ways that your school can make money that don’t take up too much time or require sustained effort from school staff to organise and operate. The following ideas constitute a selection of easy-to-implement money raising schemes which, once they are put into action, you can sit back, relax, and watch your school funds grow, giving you that additional income to enhance the school experience for your pupils and local community.

Your school has decided to turn its hand to fundraising, but you are unsure about where to start. Getting started is one of the most difficult aspects of fundraising and it challenges all of us – from fundraising beginners to seasoned experts embarking on a new venture.

These initial feelings of uncertainty are easily managed with a planned approach to fundraising. It begins by answering two simple questions: why are you fundraising and what do you want to achieve?