School Notices, the digital fundraising and membership platform exclusively for independent schools, has raised 92 percent of their £700,000 fundraising goal on Crowdcube with 37 days still left on the site.
Established in 2014, School Notices provides member schools with a digital noticeboard, raising funds for their internal and charitable causes and a home for inter-parent and alumni business promotion. As well as this, the site offers member parents with a free trading platform for buying, selling or renting items and finding older children holiday or gap year work within a trusted and like-minded community.
Expanding has not been a problem for Clare Reid and Gordon Dawson, who both co-founded the site. By initially focusing on independent schools, the business was been able to target the high net worth sector to maximise value for both member schools and early business growth. School Notices is now profitable with over 57 member schools and 3,500 member parents.
With regards to their financials, the business has a promising future.
“Having funded the website development and business growth ourselves since launch in 2014, we are now a profitable business, with a proven model and are excited about the opportunity to scale. We have proved School Notices is a business that works for schools, their parents and businesses and we are now expanding into new markets with the launch of Uni Notices in Oct’16 and meetings with 5 schools in Asia in Jan’17 to develop the overseas markets.”
Every quarter, since Q4 in 2014, their compounded quarterly growth rate for registered members, schools and users is 46%, 63% and 107% respectively.
Interested in investing? School Notices offers 18.92% equity and will use money raised to invest in digital and their team to accelerate growth and expand advertising operations. They hope to continue to develop their digital platform, expand into more international markets and continue to grow the recently launched Uni Notices – where Trinity College, Oxford is already a member.