Pandemic has negatively impacted fundraising for 94% of schools
Melanie May | 29 October 2020 | News
A survey of school and preschool members of Your School Lottery has found that 99% have raised less money as a result of the pandemic lockdown.
Your School Lottery received 336 responses to its survey, sent out in July. With schools closed and the country in lockdown, 98% reported having to cancel fundraising activities, while overall, 94% reported a negative impact on their fundraising with 72% of these impacted very negatively.
Lotteries have provided a way to keep fundraising income coming in for 80% however, with the same percentage saying that this was the only form of fundraising they had been able to do during lockdown.
Looking ahead, the vast majority – 96% – expect their fundraising to continue to be impacted in the next academic year, with 80% saying the pandemic had affected the finances of their parents and community.
A previous survey, ‘A bridge too far?’, by Alison Body, Canterbury Christ Church University, and Eddy Hogg, University of Kent, found that 94% of schools felt pressurised to fundraise in 2018, up from 66% in 2016, with 43% of primary schools reliant on fundraising income to deliver statutory teaching activities.
Commenting in the report, Richard Manville from PTA+ (the membership body for Parent Teacher Associations) said:
“The survey bears out the problems all PTAs have experienced through the lockdown and the knock-on impact this will have in terms of the money they have to spend.
“Although this challenging situation is sure to continue for some time, PTAs are resilient and resourceful, and this comes through in the survey. I fully expect PTAs to develop strategies that adapt to this ‘new norm’.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.