College secures new facilities following its first trust funding campaign
Howard Lake | 30 April 2015 | News
Barnet and Southgate College has opened a centre dedicated to learners with learning difficulties and disabilities and equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, following its first trust funding appeal.
The LLDD Centre of Excellence was formally opened on 23 April 2015 by former paralympian Baroness Grey-Thompson, following the initial success of the campaign, which was developed with assistance from the International Fundraising Consultancy.
The fundraising campaign has secured £280,000, which has funded equipment including a hydrotherapy pool, a sensory room, a wheelchair-accessible mini-bus, an independent living training flat, a drama studio, catering café and a sports hall with rebound therapy.
Fundraising ‘unusual’ for colleges like this
Stephen Forster, Director of Finance and Corporate Operations at Barnet and Southgate College said:
“As a sector, colleges have tended not to partake in large-scale fundraising campaigns. However, with ever-reducing statutory budgets, it is now essential for such establishments to reach out to alternative funding sources. The uniqueness of this project really helped with the success of this appeal.”
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He added:
“Sourcing funding to equip our LLDD Centre was a new area for the college. We didn’t have the expertise in-house to do this; and it’s a process that needs a careful approach, something we really couldn’t have done without IFC. We are well on our way to reaching our target, and I’m convinced that we will exceed it thanks to IFC.”
Funders who contributed
Funding has so far been received from The Thompson Family Charitable Trust, John Lyons Charity, Garfield Weston Foundation, The Wolfson Foundation and The Sobell Foundation.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.