Social value and sponsorship opportunities in environmental education

Corporate Sponsorship and social value opportunities within the sustainability and energy teams at Leicester City Council

Further information

Throughout the year we have lots of opportunities to sponsor or provide added social value through contracts at Leicester City Council both through financial contributions and volunteer time.

We work with nearly 120 schools in Leicester City (nearly 100% of schools) which is tens of thousands of students. We also work with over 30 county schools through traded services. The impact is that we have positive connected with schools and the wider community including their parents.  We provide monthly eBulletins and termly newsletters to over 600 individuals where we promote sponsored events/activities.

Sponsors will have their branding published on all our documentation (flyers, programmes, PowerPoints and other publicity) for the associated project/events. We will also formally thank sponsors during our events. Sponsors are also welcomed to attend events e.g. the annual celebration event where they could be judges for the day.

We provide Sustainable Schools Leicester branding which can be used by your company to show your sponsorship of our projects and activities.  The services costs in the region of £170,000 per year to deliver across all schools in the city.

Below are some of the environmental education opportunities which would benefit from social value support or sponsorship:

Project delivery

• We would like to increase the reach of Carbon Literacy– deliver workshops to 600 primary and secondary students over an academic year we would like to work with at least 1800 pupils per year. Typical financial value £2000.
• We would like to work with schools that Declare Climate Emergencies – support on developing action plans which support schools accelerate towards carbon neutrality - 10 schools. Typical financial value £2000.
• We would like to enhance our Eco-Schools offer – Deliver a day of environmental education workshops for 5 primary schools - we would like to run 5 of these a year. Typical financial value £2500.
• We would like to increase our Climate Emergency action planning – work with 5 schools at a time to reduce food and packaging waste, energy use and engagement with pupils, parents and other stakeholders to look at opportunities for more plant-based meals – we would like to work with at least 20 schools. Typical financial value £5000.
• We would like our schools to be Plastic Clever Schools – work with 10 schools on achieving the plastic clever school award. Typical financial value £1500.
• We would like to continue to work with Trees for Cities on their Edible Playgrounds project. We have previously supported 5 Edible Playgrounds in Leicester. Typical financial value £10,000 per playground.
• We would like to increase the amount of Sustainable Urban Drainage (SuDS) in school grounds – creating wildlife friendly raised beds, ponds, and green roofs. Typical finance value varies – from £5,000 upwards.
• We would like to develop renewable energy workshops so students can learn more about the technologies which have been installed in their schools - including solar panel kits. Typical financial value - £200 for the kits.

Events and activities

• We would like to offer prizes for competitions through the year – we regularly run competitions for schools e.g. poetry and design work, which would be sponsored through a prize. Typical financial value between £100 and £500.
• We would like to offer prizes for school competitions – we run several competitions through the year for whole schools including Grow Your Own Grub and climate action fortnight. Typical financial value £50-£150.
• We would like to support the annual Grow Your Own Grub competition with support for collecting and dropping off wheelbarrows for the celebration event in Abbey Pumping Station – this could be provided in kind by a company providing a lorry and staff or funded. Typical financial value £1000 is not delivered by a company.
• We would like host a number of city-wide events which include at least 25 schools e.g. Great Big Green Month, Eco-Schools/Food for Life Celebration –2-3 events per year. Typical financial value £1000 per event.
• We would like to run training courses for teachers on becoming eco-friendlier and specifically for Carbon Literacy – we would run 3-4 of these per year. Typical financial value £1000 per event
• We would like to fund additional food towers to support a city-wide food growing programme. We are working with Rethink Food – a national organisation supporting the Global Goals and understand health and wellbeing in food. The food towers are loaned to schools to grow food indoors all year round. These typically cost £250 per term and contain all the resources to learn about food growing including seeds and medium.

• We regularly work with schools on the Litter Less campaign which focuses on litter in and around school grounds – we are always keen to have individuals and groups help with litter picking on these events.
• We regularly work with schools developing outdoor learning areas and improving school grounds – often via tree planting – we are keen to have individuals and groups help with tree planting and improving the school grounds.
• We regularly work with schools to enable their students to understand environmental impact and in particular green careers - we are keen for organisations to provide talks, speakers and workshops to engage in this exciting area 

Green Flag Eco-Schools sponsorship 

• We would like to financially support schools to achieve their Eco-Schools Green Flag – schools achieve their Green Flag every 12 months, in Leicester (which is number 1 for England) we have on average 70-80 per year. Green Flag sponsorship costs £200 per school, so would be in the region of £14,000 if all schools were sponsored, however we typically sponsor 5 schools at a time (£1000). From the academic year 2022/23, we will be able to access a reduced rate for Eco-Schools Green Flags at £150 per school. 

If you would like further information and sponsor one of our amazing projects don’t hesitate to get in touch.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Marc Tench
Sustainable Schools Manager
Marc.Tench@leicester.gov.uk or 0116 454 6746