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A very warm welcome to all of you from Birkdale Parents Association (BPA).
We are all parents of boys at the school, who meet every two months during the academic year.
Our aim is to advance the education of the pupils in the school by supporting the school with fund raising events, social events and activities. We always appreciate any interest new parents might show and would love it if you decide to join the BPA; we always welcome new and fresh ideas, help, and support. This doesn’t necessarily mean hours and hours of your time, it can simply be the odd couple of hours, as and when you can.
Contact us via email
[email protected]
We have held a number of events throughout the school year: Cake Sales, Wine Tasting Evenings, Mufti Days, Dinner Dances and Quiz Nights.
All the events are good fun and have generally been very well supported, but we need fresh and new ideas on how we can continue to raise funds to help support the school. We have also introduced the 200 Club, a great way of continuing to support BPA and of course the school (see below for full details)
Where the money we raise is spent is very much agreed as a group; and in consultation with the school itself, taking into account its current needs and requirements. Just a few examples of things we have contributed to are:
Lego Education for ICT, Animal Cages for Science, Food Technology Equipment, Defibrillator and Sports Equipment.
Some of the parents reading this will be aware of what we are and what we do and will no doubt have contributed in one way or another – so a big thank you from the BPA.
This is an ongoing venture by the BPA, to raise funds for the benefit of all the boys at Birkdale High School.
To make this a success, we really need your support.
Up to 200 people buy one or more “shares” per year. Half the total sum raised goes to the BPA and the other half is distributed on a quarterly basis to the winning ‘shareholders’ whose numbers have been drawn. There will be four prize winners per quarter.
Membership
The cost of each yearly share is £24 (£2 per month per share) Shareholders may hold more than one share.
Shares
Each share is numbered and that number belongs to the member to whom it is allocated, for as long as he or she is a paid-up member of the 200 Club.
All share numbers are included in each quarterly draw. The draw will be made by at least 3 BPA members. Prize money depends on the number of paid-up shareholders that quarter and the prizes will be allocated as follows, based on the income paid into the 200 club in that quarter:
The draws will take place in March, June, September and December each year.
To join the 200 club you can set up a standing order for either £2 per month or an annual payment of £24, per share. The standing order should have a payment date of 1st of the month (or as near to that date as possible). Alternatively you can pay the annual amount by cheque or a BACs transfer of £24 per share. Cheques can be sent into school in an envelope addressed to the BPA.
Many companies throughout the UK offer employees the chance to boost their fundraising efforts by ‘matching’ the money they raise. It really is money for nothing, and we could double the amount of cash we raise with your help. Want to know how? Read on…
Match giving or match funding is a simple way of maximising the fundraising efforts of individual BPA volunteers. It is an informal, albeit corporate, arrangement between a company and their employee. Not all companies offer matched funding but those that do will pledge a sum of money relating to the amount their employee has raised for or donated to the charity of their choice. Some organisations will match fund on a £ for £ basis, others will stipulate what they are prepared to give. It is likely that an upper limit will be applied along with certain criteria, such as the recipient organisation being a registered charity. Some companies will also pledge time and resources instead of money, thus enabling their employees to support a cause during their working week, or offering a tangible service such as the opportunity to print posters, programmes, newsletters and so on.
We need you, parents, to ask your employers if they currently operate or are interested in setting up a matched giving scheme. Maybe some of you work for the same organisation and can collectively approach your employer. A quick internet search will also give you a list of organisations that have been known to match fund, so this may be a good way to identify employers in your local area that you can approach. Once the company has agreed to match fund, they will probably ask you to complete a request form. If this is not the case, ask the company to put their pledge in writing to us. Ensure that your association formally acknowledges the contributions made by companies and their employees.
Unfortunately, while we’d love to be able to provide a list of companies offering match funding, it is fraught with too many issues – some companies have certain criteria in their small print (i.e. where it’s only offered to full-time staff after two years service), or the schemes change too often for us to be able to keep any such list up to date. Generally speaking, banks and building societies, insurance companies, supermarkets, utilities providers, phone companies and car manufacturers are known historically to offer match funding schemes.
A match funding scheme can be adopted by any company no matter how big or small. Barclays for example offer their employees the opportunity to match funds they raise for their chosen charity up to £750 per year and this is available for three activities a year! And Aviva, in response to feedback from their staff has introduced a ‘£Plus’ matching scheme. This gives Aviva employees the chance to raise funds for any registered charity in which they are interested and to receive matched funds from Aviva in support.
