Background Our Schools Fundraiser reported from school staff that bereavement training would be useful. Referrals by schools for individual support also increased. We identified that there was a link between the training we were offering and the fundraising opportunities that initiated the collaboration.

Aim To explore if collaborative working between the Family Social Worker and the Schools Fundraiser could positively impact fundraising.

Method The Hospice Schools fundraiser was invited to attend training offered by the Family Social Worker to inform schools about how invaluable their fundraising for our hospice could be.

Findings Education professionals met with the Hospice Schools Fundraiser and learned about events that they could take part in. We found that after the sessions, schools were very eager to fundraise for the hospice. We were invited to school wellbeing events, helping us to raise the profile of the hospice in the local community. The training sessions benefitted children, families, and educational professionals by raising awareness of bereavement support available and have also helped local charities develop their offerings. Raising the hospice’s profile within our community increased schools fundraising revenue stream. We found that educational professionals were not aware of the services available to them and wished that they had known sooner.

Conclusions and Future Plans The impact of this collaboration was two-fold with education professionals gaining in confidence in bereavement support and also leading to engagement with our Schools Fundraiser. We plan to use future training sessions, to advertise our schools fundraising and offer whole-school INSET sessions. This will ensure that we target decision-makers within schools.

Future aspirations include developing a joint bereavement support programme, with other local charities as well as adding a training resource package. More local schools have been engaging with plans to do fundraising events for the hospice.