The History of the UK school fundraising charity School Angel
School Angel was a UK fundraising charity set up in 2013 with the specific aim of helping UK schools to raise much needed funds which could be used for any purpose which directly helped the pupils.
The charity's charitable aims were:
The concept for the charity was the idea of Chris Cottam who had experience of website design, affiliate marketing and internet marketing in the hotel sector especially in the budget hotel sector in the UK.
The charity was set up to be uniquely self funding without ever relying on external sources of funding and this was achieved by the novel way it raised funds. This was done through affiliate marketing by creating an online shopping portal for parents and supporters of schools to use. This process involves people purchasing products online and the charity got an agreement that retailers would split thier profit and donate a small percentage to the school which the charity passed on in full.
School fundraising pages focused on four main retail areas ranging from all the big UK high street brands and including a large sector on travel and tourism especially hotels being principally Premier Inn deals and Travelodge discounted offers.
At it's height the charity was raising considerable sums of money for schools every year and additionally the charity made specific grants to disadvantaged children in the schools, these being funded by any additional donations made by either the public or fundraising events the charity hosted itself.
In 2019 Amazon decided to pull the plug on it's relationship with the charity which hit the revenues we could raise very hard and this was closely followed with the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 which resulted in many other retailers also either stopping or reducing their donation rate to very small amounts. The charity battled on for another year but eventually decided in 2021 that it could not guarantee financial viability going forward and therefore took the difficult decision to close down after fully paying out all of it's member schools and donating it's final balance to the Brathay Trust in Cumbria.
After the charity closed Chis has continued to work in his website design business including within the Travel sector and has since launched an independent travel based website which plugs the gap that exists within some hotel providers for providing clear simple information on the common services they offer such as Premier Inn breakfast times, Premier Inn WiFi service, how to cancel and amend bookings, discount codes and offers etc. Recently this service was also expanded to include Travelodge offering similar information on the Travelodge WiFi service, Travelodge pet friendly service, discount codes and Travelodge Superooms.
School Angel was a UK fundraising charity set up in 2013 with the specific aim of helping UK schools to raise much needed funds which could be used for any purpose which directly helped the pupils.
The charity's charitable aims were:
- "To advance the education (including physical education) of pupils at UK schools registered with the charity by providing and assisting in the provision of facilities (not required to be provided by the local education authority) for education at the school."
- '' To assist UK schools in advancing the education of school age children by developing their mental, physical and moral capabilities through leisure time activities."
- '' To assist UK schools in advancing the education of children suffering with mental and / or physical disability and including children suffering from social deprivation in such ways as the charities trustees think fit''
The concept for the charity was the idea of Chris Cottam who had experience of website design, affiliate marketing and internet marketing in the hotel sector especially in the budget hotel sector in the UK.
The charity was set up to be uniquely self funding without ever relying on external sources of funding and this was achieved by the novel way it raised funds. This was done through affiliate marketing by creating an online shopping portal for parents and supporters of schools to use. This process involves people purchasing products online and the charity got an agreement that retailers would split thier profit and donate a small percentage to the school which the charity passed on in full.
School fundraising pages focused on four main retail areas ranging from all the big UK high street brands and including a large sector on travel and tourism especially hotels being principally Premier Inn deals and Travelodge discounted offers.
At it's height the charity was raising considerable sums of money for schools every year and additionally the charity made specific grants to disadvantaged children in the schools, these being funded by any additional donations made by either the public or fundraising events the charity hosted itself.
In 2019 Amazon decided to pull the plug on it's relationship with the charity which hit the revenues we could raise very hard and this was closely followed with the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 which resulted in many other retailers also either stopping or reducing their donation rate to very small amounts. The charity battled on for another year but eventually decided in 2021 that it could not guarantee financial viability going forward and therefore took the difficult decision to close down after fully paying out all of it's member schools and donating it's final balance to the Brathay Trust in Cumbria.
After the charity closed Chis has continued to work in his website design business including within the Travel sector and has since launched an independent travel based website which plugs the gap that exists within some hotel providers for providing clear simple information on the common services they offer such as Premier Inn breakfast times, Premier Inn WiFi service, how to cancel and amend bookings, discount codes and offers etc. Recently this service was also expanded to include Travelodge offering similar information on the Travelodge WiFi service, Travelodge pet friendly service, discount codes and Travelodge Superooms.
how does school angel work?
- School Angel works with some of your favourite companies for booking hotels, holidays and shopping
- These companies have agreed to donate a portion of their profit to School Angel every time you use this site.
- Simply click from the shop icon on your school's page and we can track the donation from your shopping
- It costs you nothing to use the site and you are guaranteed to get exactly the same deal on your purchases using School Angel as you would if you visited the retailers' website direct.
- Unlike other school fund-raising websites which are run as businesses, School Angel is a charity, so all the profits go to help schools, and you never need to login, remember passwords or give us your email address. Just click in and out of School Angel in a second and we will make sure your donation gets right back to school.
- By using School Angel you really do make a real difference to your school without it costing you a single penny.
We are THE charity alternative to commercial fund-raising companies
We are the first charity in the UK to bring the power of big business fund-raising to help UK schools.
Every penny of profit raised through School Angel goes to help your schoolchildren.
Every penny of profit raised through School Angel goes to help your schoolchildren.
Generate more money than any other UK fundraising website can offer:
at least three times more money from the big high street brands
and a massive four times more from Amazon
at least three times more money from the big high street brands
and a massive four times more from Amazon
We collect no information from your supporters and have a super simple shopping site
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We also help disadvantaged children
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We also raise funds for disadvantaged children. These maybe children who suffer from a physical / mental disability or be socially deprived.
Uniquely, School Angel asks school teachers who know their pupils best to identify disadvantage, and the charity then helps with funding the appropriate resource. Help can range from the discreet funding of a school trip for a child otherwise unable to go, to funding a specialist piece of medical equipment enabling a disabled child to attend a mainstream school. |
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Timely intervention like this can make the difference between giving a child the chance to achieve their potential while at school, or that child struggling and perhaps failing during a time which is probably the most important of their lives - shaping the person they ultimately become.
Shop now to help disadvantaged children in the UK or find information on our grant scheme
