Our playgroup may have to close ...

[Lemon]

...if we do not raise £2,500 by Christmas.

We have just had an emergency meeting at our local village hall. It has been running for 31 years and the Chairperson was in tears as she explained the crisis. There have been such a low number of children this year as being a rural village we don't have a large population.

Both my boys went there and I can't praise it enough.

Apart from sharing with you my feelings I am trying to help by asking businesses to donate to our cause. It is tax deductable if given as a gift, so if you know any business that would be willing to help our young children, maybe some of your dh's work for large companies? £50 even would be such a great help. Thanks everyone. x

[smirnoff]

Robin have they applied for a sure start grant?

[squeakysue]

aww good luck, hope something can be done to save it :kisshands:

[smirnoff]

this page might be useful hunni..
http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED09%20Nov%202007%2010%3A52%3A56%3A893

[smirnoff]

and this one.. council grants..

http://www.norfolkcommunityfoundation.myzen.co.uk/grant/apply_grant.htm

[Patti odoors]

Is it a stand alone thing or is it run in the village hall?

[Lemon]

It is held in the WI Hall, so like a village hall I suppose.

Thanks Suzi, will have a look.

[Patti odoors]

Is it to cover rent, untilities and insurance etc? because if it is you are going to have the problem year after year. Would it be possible to move it to alternative premises?

The one I ran "belonged" to the local community centre so we only paid a nominal amount for rent/utilities, insurance was covered under the main policy. I ran the group on a voluntary basis so no wages involved. Subs were collected on a weekly basis of a £1 per family and the fee included drinks and biscuits for the parents and children. The money raised went to the community centre funds but I was able to buy supplies, christmas and birthday gifts at my discretion. We were also eligible for various grants from the local authority. We also held a community centre fundraising event each year and each group got to keep a percentage of the money it made from that.

The only alternative would be to write begging letters to all businesses in the area asking them for help or sponsership. If you have a specific reason i.e new roof they are more likely to ask help than if it is to cover annual costs.

[Lemon]

There really isn't anywhere else in the village that we could use.

It isn't the Mother & Toddler group is the a Pre-School type thing. We are writing to local businesses aswell. The trouble is we are so lacking children of the age group we need in the village at the moment (normally we have loads).

[Chell]

There really isn't anywhere else in the village that we could use.

It isn't the Mother & Toddler group is the a Pre-School type thing. We are writing to local businesses aswell. The trouble is we are so lacking children of the age group we need in the village at the moment (normally we have loads).

Can you advertise for children outside of the village? I live in a town but my DD goes to a village preschool. Many of my friends do the same.

[Lemon]

Can you advertise for children outside of the village? I live in a town but my DD goes to a village preschool. Many of my friends do the same.

Well, the chairperson has said she doesn't want to do this as she wouldn't like it if another village advertised here. I think because we are small villages it is tough and stepping on each others toes is a bit of a no-no! Good thought though Chell.

[Al1x]

Do you not have any local villages that don't have a pre-school?

[Chell]

Is it a group that could be advertised on www.whatsoneforlittleones.co.uk for free? Could you advertise on NM for free? Do you have a local Freecycle cafe or NCT group? Perhaps you could ask for donations or advertise for children on their group.

[redjay]

I work for a charity run, very rural village preschool. We are fortunate that we have our own building etc, but when numbers dip as they do from time to time things get worrying and we have had to cut some sessions to cut our lossess from time to time.

It is so worrying and sad to think of not pulling through. So far we have been lucky. Grants, fundraising and local support has pulled us through on more than one occasion.

Seek out as much info as possible re grants and apply for whatever you can.

Our best ever fundraiser was an auction of promises where we raised over £4,500.00 it was hard work, but well worth the effort. It helps if you have a good committee that are prepared to put themselves out.

Wish your group all the best and hope that you manage to get through the tough times.

[Ruthierhyme]

and this one.. council grants..

http://www.norfolkcommunityfoundation.myzen.co.uk/grant/apply_grant.htm

That sounds good .. Huge hugs Lemon & to everyone concerned.

Can you speak to all the creditors and see if they can offer an extention to the payment dates & is there a chance getting the local feeder primary/ies involved would help at all ?

More than happy to supply a raffle prize if needed ...

[spam]

A playschool I was involved in once had funds from the lottery. Other ideas would be to organise really easy fundraisers with the parents like sponsored walks. You could hold car boot sales there. Contact your local press and radio to run a story, write to every business and supermarket locally and ask for donations to hold a raffle. Ask local businesses to hold a mufti day or fundraiser for your cause. Ask for donations of unwanted gifts and stuff to sell at car boot. Target the clinics where pregnant people go to ask for fundraising help, after all it will be for their children. I have loads of fundraising ideas, P>M me for more. I hope this helps xx

[barefoot-jan]

Any news on this?

[Dino]

I was treasurer for a rural playgroup with struggling funds for 3 years. They have had two sustainability grants from sure start, have you spoken to your local sure start to see if they have similar schemes.

As someone above said, an Auction of Promises is a great fundraiser, quite a lot of work, but perhaps you could do it with another village organisation and split the profits.

Also jumble sales usally make £300-£400, easy to do.

Hope you find a solution, we always found that because of the lack of children, there was little help from adults/parents to do the fundraising.

Karen

[Jen]

Yes go for the sustainability grant from sure start, the last thing they will want is groups to shut, fingers crossed for you I hate hearing about groups closing.