Over the past three years, we’ve raised more than £67,000 in grants – not bad for a PTA team at a small primary school! We wanted to offer more support to the school, but with a limited number of parents, we realised we needed to seek external funding. This focus on applying for grants has been hugely important.
Thanks to our grant money, the PTA has been able to provide a shepherd’s hut classroom, refurbish the playground surface and replace a climbing frame. It worked to stay local. All of our successful applications have been from organisations in our area, such as the council, charities and local businesses, including airports that offer grants.
My top tip for finding grant opportunities is always to be on the lookout. Who are your local charities? Who has given grants before? You’d be surprised at what you might find. For example, we received two grants because I noticed a plaque in a nearby hall that thanked the funders of a refurbishment project. From that plaque, we got the names of the funders, looked them up on the Companies House website and emailed them. I had never heard of these organisations before.
- Find local grants
- We achieved our ambitious target with local funding
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Our school is close to Hever Castle, and we also secured a grant from the castle’s former owners. It’s all about tapping into local knowledge – so far, we have only applied for a few of the big, national grants.
One reason we’ve been successful in our grant applications is we have a clear vision of what we want to achieve. We work closely with the school, so we know what is needed, how much each project is going to cost, and the expected impact.
For the shepherd’s hut, we needed extra space to provide areas for interventions and breakouts. It was easy to demonstrate how it would be used. With the climbing frame, we needed something in the playground that catered more for the older children. Think about the unique aspects of your school: does it have a high number of children with special educational needs? Is it in a rural area? Are there grants you can get because of these circumstances? Being a registered charity means we can apply for awards that aren’t available to all PTAs or to schools.
We always invite donor organisations to visit to say thank you when projects are complete. That way, they can see the impact for themselves. It’s essential to build these relationships, and we are so grateful for their support.
Amy House, chair, PTA and Friends of Hever School, Kent (159 pupils)
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