002: Diversifying income streams in the COVID era

Independent schools have been increasingly diversifying their income streams, with more schools embarking on fundraising, hiring out facilities and setting up international franchises to supplement fee income.With all of these income streams now affected by the COVID-19 pandemic it’s important to have a structure for auditing each activity and assessing whether you have the right balance of diversified income.In this episode I’ll give you three simple steps to audit each of your income generating activities.Episode highlightsWhat is income diversification? (1:25)What does this mean in an independent school? (2:40)What’s changed in the COVID era? (4:20)The questions your school should be asking (5:10)Auditing your income streams in three steps (6:50)Step 1: What’s changed externally? (7:30)Step 2: Analysing your internal operations (10:20)Step 3: Making changes (12:55)Three steps for auditing your income generating activitiesStep 1: What’s changed externally?Use PESTEL analysis to identify which trends will affect each of your income generating activities (PESTEL = Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal trends)Which trends are temporary and which are permanent?Which present challenges and which offer opportunities? What is the potential of each income stream for our school in the short, medium and long term?Step 2: Analysing your internal operationsThis will look very different for each income generating activityHowever, staffing decisions will be key to all activitiesKeep reviewing furloughing decisions, based on their impact on future income generation potentialFor example, any reduction in development office staffing now will make it harder to maintain relationships with potential donors, which will reduce philanthropic income in future.Step 3: Decide on any changes in income streamsPlay to your strengths as a schoolIf you’re moving into new areas bring in partners or advisers to work alongside youResources and linksSign up to Juliet’s newsletter at www.consultjuliet.co.uk/signupFind out more about Juliet Corbett’s work with independent schools and discover a host of free resources for schools at www.consultjuliet.co.ukThank you so much for listening to The Independent School Podcast. I would be grateful if you could spare a couple of minutes to send me some feedback here. This helps me make the podcast as helpful as possible to listeners. Thank you!