Parents, teachers, and guardians have the chance to unlock over £2.5m of free funding ahead of the back-to-school rush this September, the UK’s leading cashback platform has said.
Following an analysis of internal data, the UK’s leading cashback fundraising platform, easyfundraising has forecast £2.5 million in free funding will be raised by PTAs, schools, and other educational institutions in the 2026/2027 academic year.
The new data follows the substantial year-on-year increases in users raising donations for education-based causes since 2024, with a 20% increase expected over the next twelve months. Registered schools and PTAs can therefore be expected to raise up to £2,511,618.40 of funding for their cause in the next twelve months.
Sam Higgins, Head of Digital Performance at easyfundraising, said: “Following a deep dive into our internal data tracking back to 2024, our forecasting can predict that parents, teachers, and guardians will raise a collective two and a half million over the next twelve months via easyfundraising.
“The volume in donation rates and free funding available solely points to how much extra funding schools need across the country. To date, we’ve helped groups like this raise nearly £20 million, and the acceleration of fundraising is indicative of the issues emerging from the worsening cost-of-living crisis.”
Schools and PTAs are currently facing critical funding shortages across the country due to rising costs, inflation, and a growing demand to support student wellbeing. In fact, 57% of schools say that balancing the budget is currently their top challenge (ParentKind).
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said costs outpaced funding for schools in 2025-26, with spending incessantly growing in recent years. Government per-pupil funding has also failed to keep pace with inflation. Particularly, the cost of supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has increased (BBC).
Schools and PTAs are similarly finding themselves having to respond to the effect the cost-of-living is having on families and pupils, offering free breakfast or financial support with uniform costs and residentials.
Commenting on school funding, The Department for Education (DfE) has previously said: “While we recognise the budgeting challenges schools face, we continue to protect the core schools’ budget in real terms to ensure every child receives a world-class education.”
While the core budgets remain untouched, ring-fenced funding for sports has been part of the national debate since the School Sport Partnerships ended in March 2011.
Since then, schools, parents and guardians, have been increasingly active in fundraising to keep essential extra-curricular activities going in primary and secondary education – with a growing number turning to easyfundraising for help.
Easyfundraising, as the UK’s leading cashback fundraising platform, supports a network of over 190,000 charities and causes across the country, with the education sector making up almost 1 in 3 groups users can fundraise for.
When supporters sign up to easyfundraising and choose a school or PTA as the cause they want to raise for, the retailers they shop with via the easyfundraising website or app will automatically donate a percentage of their purchase to their cause, without adding any extra expense.
Sam concludes: “We’re proud to be able to support the education sector by giving them an avenue to fundraise – however everyone at easyfundraising is acutely aware that schools are spending more time and energy to combat the cost-of-living crisis than they were only a few short years ago.”
Visit the easyfundraising website to find or register a cause.
