Creating Value In Schools
Having previously worked as executive business leaders in trusts, both Emma Gray and Helen Burge now support school business leaders through coaching, training and consultancy. They are fans of risk management, internal scrutiny and sustainability. This blog is an extract from our longer conversation, Unbound SBLs: sector support and striving for excellence. Emma Gray: One of the things that most surprised me in the latest school business professional survey results was the number of school business leaders who felt that income generation was their responsibility, or their sole responsibility. That seemed really weird to me because it's got to be a shared responsibility amongst everybody in the school. And I would include all the stakeholders, trustees or governors, staff, and anybody concerned. The whole community should be advocating for the school and the income and making sure that they're getting the full amount. The school business leader is responsible for checking that the income they're expecting is being received. I grant that, but to say I'm responsible for income generation in its totality was surprising for me. Income generation is something that doesn't get to the top of the list enough Liz Worthen: It's a big pressure, isn't it, just to put on one person? Justin Smith spoke to us a while back about optimism and opportunity in fundraising, and I know he's very much of the view it's about an income generation culture. It's something that you want students getting involved in, teachers, staff, and yes, you want that buy-in, that leadership from the top, with governors and trustees. Helen Burge: I wonder though, Emma, whether there's a bit of confusion about what income generation means. Maybe a school business leader feels that because they're creating the budget, and they are ensuring that they're getting the right money in from government, they're thinking that's their responsibility, whereas we are thinking of it as a bigger piece, which is that additional income that can be generated through lettings and grant applications and things like that. And I do wonder whether that aspect does come under the SBLs role. Also it might be an appraisal target, or that they are desperately trying to generate that additional bit of income for a project that they know is going to have a transformative effect within their school. When I was a school business leader, I felt that it was my responsibility to generate the additional income, to do those nice-to-have projects. I didn't think it was my sole responsibility to generate all of the income. I think, does that make sense? The two different approaches? I definitely did always check my census and make sure that my pupil numbers were correct. I also think my opinion about income generation is that it's something that doesn't get to the top of the list enough. There should be a strong value associated with it amongst the senior leaders in a school and the value that can be created, not just financial, and I just feel that it is an area for development. Schools are often taken aback by what the benchmark is. I know that Justin Smith is doing some wonderful work. He's doing a masters' at the moment, and he is absolutely passionate about income generation. We know that already, but also he's looking at the culture and leadership piece around it. I think that could be really interesting. Contribute to culture and income generation research Justin Smith would love to have your help with his masters’ research! Do you have a responsibility for income generation in your school? Have you got 10 minutes to fill in a survey? To make his research as strong and representative as possible, Justin would very much appreciate input from professionals like you. Survey into school culture and the impact on income generation – Fill in form The findings from this study could help schools and trusts become far better equipped to respond to ongoing funding challenges. Thank you! Emma Gray: One of the benchmarks that I use as an SRMA when I go into schools is income generation or self-generated income. The benchmark is six to 10% of total revenue income, which is actually quite a lot of money. Schools are often taken aback by what the benchmark is. If you imagine that this benchmark is set from experience of schools across the country, then there are obviously going to be some schools who are better at generating that additional income. If you've got that aspirational target… then it does keep it more to the forefront. But, if every school sees their self-generated income, which is everything that is not a grant income or high needs income, everything else – including catering, lettings, donations, exams income, all the other things – that should be about six to 10% of your total revenue income. Which per pupil is quite a lot of money. Then as Helen said, more and more schools are putting an amount of income generation almost as an aspirational target onto performance appraisal, so that you can say, well, I aspire to raise an amount of money, and it can be that everybody has that responsibility to increase income in the school. People look a little bit aghast because Helen's right, it is often seen as the last job to do. But actually when you think of all of those really nice things that we'd like to have in schools, which we just cannot afford, if you've got that aspirational target, if it is in your head that you do need to do something, then it does keep it more to the forefront, I think. Helen Burge: I agree with you, Emma. I feel that it is tricky to apply for grants, and there's hoops that you have to jump through sometimes. But, if schools have a real clarity about what their ‘nice to have’ or social value projects are – thinking sustainability again! – it doesn’t have to all happen right away or in this academic year. You have to have that strategic vision. If you’ve got that clarity about what you want to develop in the next three to five years, then you can spot where there's a grant opportunity, or where there's an opportunity to work closely with a supplier. And you might have governors that are working for a large organisation which gives employees paid volunteering days to give back to the community. So maybe you can tap into them, or it might be that you tap into someone who’s really good at writing concisely and can help you put a good grant application together. But you have to have that strategic vision, first of all, about what that social value is, or that’s the project. Liz Worthen: Absolutely. Say you’re looking to improve biodiversity on your school site, and you want to plant more trees. It might be that your local authority has got a tree scheme, and so actually you might be able to get some of those things for free. Then if you can get one of your local suppliers to support you in helping with the actual planting, great. I would say you can also see income generation in terms of people giving their time or volunteering for you. All of those things actually are helping you contribute towards those goals. Listen to the full conversation (33 minutes)
Top takeaways
Who’s responsible for income generation?
Valuing an income generation culture
Benchmarking your self-generated income
Clarity in your strategic vision and ambitions
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