Amid the cost of living crisis, schools and PTAs are in a difficult position. They must request funds from families while knowing that these same families may be facing financial challenges or receiving charitable assistance themselves. Meanwhile, the usual school calendar of fun events and celebrations may be unintentionally excluding children from lower-income families who cannot afford to take part.
A report from the Child Poverty Action Group found that the costs and challenges associated with fundraising events, non-uniform days, school fairs, special occasions and leavers’ celebrations are a frequent cause of concern for pupils.
Include, don’t exclude
So, how can schools and PTAs ensure that activities do not unintentionally exclude low-income pupils or put undue financial pressure on their parents? ‘It’s a difficult balance to raise money while keeping events fun, affordable and inclusive,’ admits Karen Wilkins from Kingsnorth School PFA in Kent. ‘We try to keep costs down while still raising a healthy income – for example, the PFA charges way less for teas and ice creams than other local cafés.
‘Because of the cost of living crisis, we’ve started offering families who are struggling free tickets to all our events. It’s done through the school’s family liaison officer, so parents don’t have to approach us.’
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This year, the PFA has adopted an inclusive ethos, and is committed to ensuring every child can take part in every event. They hand out slips via the family liaison officer for free ice creams on Frozen Fridays and offer free disco tickets for children who need them.
They have also set up an online Pay it Forward scheme that enables parents who can afford it to donate towards school trips for other children. This has proved especially useful for the costly Year 6 residential trip. ‘If you can allow a child to attend an event that they wouldn’t be able to attend otherwise, the whole school benefits,’ says Karen. ‘The message we’re sending out to our school community is that we are all important and we’re all included.’
Fun before profit
Crayke Home and School Association (CHASA) in North Yorkshire now offers a Pay it Forward option for all of its ticketed events. ‘It creates a bit of a pool of available tickets that we can offer to other families for free,’ explains vice chair Jade Bunker.
‘Because we’ve found that families who are struggling don’t necessarily come forward, we’ve also created a goodwill ticket, priced at £1 (because that’s the minimum you can charge on SumUp). Families where there are lots of siblings will often buy one normal ticket and then several goodwill tickets.’
CHASA has also had to think more about what is included in the ticket price. ‘We always try to keep our events reasonably priced and make sure it’s value for money, for instance by including crafting activities, a snack and a drink,’ says Jade.
Other PTAs are moving towards not charging for events at all. ‘The school received some comments that parents were being asked for money too often when times are hard and they are struggling,’ says Samantha Boyd, chair of the PTFA at Potton Primary School in Bedfordshire. ‘As a PTFA we have a strong focus on fun for the children, so we’re covering the costs of school discos from fundraising, whereas last year parents were charged £3 a ticket.
‘Our biggest summer event, the colour run, had no entry fee, and sponsorship was optional. We held a barbecue where the burgers and hotdogs cost just £2, to keep it really cheap, thanks to donations from a local meat factory and butchers. Between sponsorship and the bar and barbecue we still raised over £2,500.’
Success is now determined by the inclusivity of an event, rather than the amount of money raised. ‘Our bottom line at the end of each year isn’t just our bank balance,’ says Samantha. ‘It’s how many fun events the children have enjoyed without a huge expense to struggling parents, while still raising money for a cash-strapped school.’
Ten tips for poverty-aware fundraising
- Adopt a whole-school community approach to events. If you’re organising a fair, make sure all pupils get some free turns or tokens for activities so no one misses out.
- Be mindful of the timings of activities and events. Make sure they don’t coincide with requests for financial contributions from the school, such as money for trips.
- Set up a PTA pantry. Read how St Michael’s CofE Primary PTFA turned an old changing room into a free pantry for struggling parents.
- Make inclusion and affordability key considerations for all, rather than only giving targeted support to children from low-income families.
- Make it clear in all your communications that donations are optional. Don’t ask children to hand over cash in front of their peers.
- Ensure activities that benefit other charities, such as Children in Need, focus on a variety of ways for pupils to engage with the cause. Could they make a poster, sign a petition or run an assembly? Praise children and award prizes for ideas and enthusiasm, not just for raising money.
- Consider how many different charity, fundraising, nonuniform and dressing-up days you have across the year and when they take place. Try to reduce the number, space them out and give families plenty of notice.
- Put affordability and inclusion at the heart of your leavers’ celebrations. Archbishop Holgate’s School in York set up Project Prom, asking sixth formers to donate dresses and suits to be reused by younger students.
- Try to fundraise from sources other than children and families in your school. Apply for grants, ask local businesses for sponsorship and donations, or use online fundraising portals such as easyfundraising, which allow families to donate through online shopping at no extra cost.
- Listen to your school community. Set up systems for getting feedback from parents and children. Aim for a committee that includes a representative range of parents.
