Income Generation That Matters
Practical income streams that enhance your Trust's priorities and reputation and are compliant
Budgets are tight, cost pressures are sticky, and “just fundraise more” is not a strategy. This session looks at realistic, scalable income opportunities for trusts, and the governance and finance controls needed to do them properly. We focus on what works in practice, what usually wastes time, and how to build income activity that is ethical, compliant and worth the effort.
In this session we explore
The income generation landscape for trusts, what is realistic, repeatable and aligned to charitable purpose
Decision filters that keep things disciplined: margin, cashflow timing, risk rating, governance workload, and opportunity cost
Practical routes to income, including trading activity, partnerships, lettings, grants, sponsorship, and community-facing services
Compliance essentials: charity duties, procurement conflicts, VAT considerations, trading subsidiaries, and reputational risk controls
How to avoid “random acts of fundraising”, and instead build a trust-wide pipeline and framework that school and central teams can use
What usually fails, why it fails, and the warning signs that something is becoming a distraction
Take home points
A clear framework for evaluating income ideas like an investment decision
A shortlist of trust-appropriate income streams, with the pros, cons and governance implications
The non-negotiables for compliance and reputational protection
A simple model for tracking performance, cost, and return on leadership time
A practical “stop doing” list, the common time sinks that deliver little value
This session is for
Trust leaders and central teams responsible for strategy, finance, operations, governance, compliance, estates, and stakeholder engagement, including those leading income generation activity across schools and services.
