Justgiving to the rescue of Camberwell Choir
School
"We simply wouldn't have got through the last year without Justgiving."
Camberwell
Choir School faced a funding shortfall last year. School
co-ordinator Claire Cozens had to raise urgent funds to ensure
the school could continue its Saturday music sessions for children
and young people.
Fundraising is just one aspect of Clare's wide-ranging role
at the school so she looked to Justgiving to help her raise funds
fast without adding to her admin burden.
She persuaded a volunteer teacher at the school to create a
Justgiving page to collect sponsorship for his Blenheim Triathlon
attempt. The page enabled him to collect 60 individual donations
totalling £2,810, including £595 in Gift Aid.
Justgiving processed donations online, automatically reclaimed
Gift Aid on every eligible £ and paid funds direct to the school
at the end of every week — so the money was available to the
school straight away and Clare was saved the time-consuming task
of handling cash and cheques and manually reclaiming Gift Aid.
"I'm really pleased Justgiving is there," said
Clare. "We simply
wouldn't have got through the last year without it. If people
were unable to give to us online, and I had to sort out piles
of cheques, it just wouldn't have happened."
Clare's Justgiving membership also paid dividends when the school
received an unsolicited donation through the site.
"A lady left £500 in her will for a music / arts project in
South London and the executors of her will found the school on
Justgiving and made the donation,"explained Clare.
"The money— which we wouldn't have got without Justgiving— enabled us to buy five more violins and loan them out for a small
fee, so five more children in South London can have violin tuition.
We've occasionally had other one-off donations through Justgiving,
including one for £250, which I follow up by sending the donor
our supporter newsletter."
Clare is now proactively promoting Justgiving to all her supporters.
"I transferred my own offline standing order to Justgiving because
the automatic Gift Aid reclaim saves me so much time, and I hope
others will follow suit,"she said.
As Camberwell Choir School proves, Justgiving can be invaluable
for schools that need more funds but less admin.
Encourage existing and new supporters to
donate and raise funds online, and Justgiving will take the strain,
leaving you free to put your feet up...or at least get on with
all the other important things you have to do.
www.justgiving.com/camberwellchoir/raisemoney/
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