Funding and finance
for the Chisholme Institute
This collectivity of support means that the School is owned by no-one and everyone...a very small amount, given regularly, makes a huge difference over time.
The Chisholme Institute is a registered charity and is funded entirely by its supporters. There are no large endowments or benefactors underwriting the Institute. The School has to balance its books every year and funding comes from three main sources of income: Long-term giving through covenants, student fees, and one-off donations. Each of these has been of vital importance, especially covenants. More about how our finances work.
Current Appeal
As an estate with many buildings, and serving many people in different ways, Chisholme has many areas which could benefit from support, but today we would like to focus on one particular opportunity which can achieve obvious benefits:
Mains Electricity for Chisholme – saving £9,000 every year.
Generating electricity is one of the biggest of our expenses and in 2010 cost £17,000, £326 every week. If we had been connected to The National Grid it would have saved us around £9,000. This year the saving would be approximately £10,000.
Grid connection is now much cheaper and has become an economic possibility. To supply Chisholme with mains electricity will cost approximately £40,000, giving an expected payback time of under five years.
We are looking for pledges of either £500 or £1,000 and at present have £19,000 promised. Can you help to fill the gap?
Other Appeals
Donations to any of the following projects will be very gratefully received and very much appreciated.
Buy a Tree for £1
The Meadburn Plantation
As you enter Chisholme, the plantation to the right of the drive and which runs up to the Monument was recently offered for sale to Chisholme for just under £8000. An interest free loan was given to allow the Institute to purchase it. We are now looking for donations to repay this loan. The cost of a tree on the plantation is about £1. £100 will buy 100 trees. If you are able to help, please buy as many trees as possible.
Gate Lodge Extension
Upgrading the gatelodge to provide an extra double room, a studio and a bathroom. This will be a timber-frame extenstion, with all the wood sourced from the estate, and processed at Chisholme.
Steading Refurbishment
The Student and Guest accommodation in the Steading has been upgraded over the years and now a further refurbishment is needed. Amongst other items new bedding, carpets and some furniture is required. The total cost is in the region of £2,000.
Emergency Lighting
We are required to install emergency lighting in the House and Steading to comply with current Fire Regulations. £4000 is needed for this project.
Polytunnels and Greenhouse Refurbishment
The garden occupies a fundamental place at Chisholme and provides an abundance of nutritious organic produce. It is lovingly attended by staff, students, guests and volunteers whose work is greatly valued and appreciated.
Two new polytunnels are now needed at a cost of £1,000 each and the greenhouse needs re-building at the cost of a further £1,000.
Secondary Glazing
Many windows in the house and steading are suitable for secondary glazing – in particular those which are never opened. Using a simple DIY system (already in use in the meditation room) it would cost £50 or less per window. Would you like to adopt a window?
A modern stove for the Meadhall
The current wood stove in the Meadhall is too small for the size of the room, and loses in the region of 50% of its heat up the chimney. A modern woodburning stove could heat the Meadhall – possibly with some heat left over for the library above – thus giving the room adequate warmth which would be independent from the central heating system of the rest of the house. Cost £1000 - £2000 .
How our finances work
The Chisholme Institute is a registered charity and is funded entirely by its supporters. There are no large endowments or benefactors underwriting the Institute. The School has to balance its books every year and funding comes from three main sources of income.
The first is from a covenant scheme where, at present, 76 people, former students and supporters of the school covenant between £5 and £200 per month. This contributes £27,000 per year, and gift aid is generally available on this, increasing the figure to approximately £32,000. To download a covenant form, please click here.
The second source of income is from student fees and guests staying at the School. In 2010 fees and donations for courses came to £85,000.
The third source is from the greatly appreciated generosity of well-wishers through Gifts and Donations and in the year up to April 2011 the Institute received nearly £29,000 in donations. Again, Gift Aid of 20% is generally available on these donations which increases the value of these gifts to £34,800. To download a gift-aid form, please click here.
An invisible generosity which the school receives is through its staff and its volunteers who give unstintingly of their time and their support. There are no 'salaried' staff positions as such in the normal manner. The Institute staff are in fact voluntary workers, some of whom receive a subsistence payment to allow them to be full time at the school. There are, therefore, no large wage payments or people receiving even medium, let alone large salaries. An indication of this is that the equivalent of the whole wage bill for the School last year totalled £32,000 and its staff numbers totalled 14.
Without such unstinting generosity, both in time and donations we would not be able to do so many of the necessary things that are needed to keep the School and the Estate running.
Everything given to the school will be applied directly to the specific appeal, there are no deduction for administration, or any other costs. We hope that you will feel able to help support one or more of the various appeals below and look forward to thanking you in the near future.
