The past few years have been difficult for the so-called King of Grants. Colin Harris secured more than £1.7 million in grants money to supplement his school’s income during his 21 years as headteacher of Warren Park Primary School in Hampshire - a track record that led to him being profiled by TES in last year’s EdBiz supplement.

Though Harris retired last summer, and now works to support teachers and school leaders, he is all too aware of the challenges schools face as they try to emulate his grant-winning prowess. “It’s a different world to 10 years ago,” he says. “Looking for grants has become more difficult as all groups tighten their belts.”

The financial situation that many schools find themselves in at the moment is a genuine cause for concern. A recent survey carried out by the headteachers’ union NAHT revealed that nearly three-quarters of school leaders believe their school budgets will be “unsustainable” by 2019, citing rising payroll costs - driven by increases in national insurance and pension contributions - as their biggest financial pressure.

With leaders economising wherever they can, it is not surprising that many are desperate to secure funding to support extracurricular activities and enrichment projects, which are often the first things to go when cuts need to be made.

However, according to Harris, obtaining a grant is not as easy as it used to be. “We have created a situation whereby a lot of schools are not now the centre of focus for their community. Sadly, schools sit there in isolation,” says Harris. “We are told that pupil premium will support this and deprivation funding will support that. When I used the term ‘deprivation’ in the past, it was viewed as an issue; I now think it is viewed as an excuse.

“Grants are harder to get for two main reasons: a lack of funding and a lack of belief that there is an issue in the system.”

Clare Gilhooly, interim chief executive of education charity SHINE, does not think that lack of funding itself is the problem but rather that the current climate of austerity is creating fierce competition between schools.

“It is less about how much money trusts have access to. For example, we have actually increased our funding. Trusts do still have money to award, but because the financial situation is difficult for everyone, it means that there is more competition for what is available,” she explains.

In addition, Gilhooly says, the rise of academies has made it more difficult for maintained schools to compete for funding as academies can be a simpler choice for funding providers. “Many trusts don’t feel comfortable funding schools directly and would rather go through a charitable organisation. Academies may have charity status, which makes them easier to fund,” she adds.

The situation is clearly more competitive than it used to be, but there is still money to be had if schools are prepared to be enterprising and look beyond foundations and charities.

Lee Elliot Major, chief executive of the Sutton Trust and a trustee of independent grant-making charity the Education Endowment Foundation, suggests that school leaders should not be afraid to approach local businesses and individual donors.

“I do think schools could do more to explore the possibilities of attracting external income,” says Elliot Major. “Many schools have simply not asked, and I’m afraid the reality is that they will increasingly have to treat external fundraising as a serious part of their efforts to balance the books and provide the best possible education for their pupils.”

Making the most of alternative funding streams, as Elliot Major suggests, is par for the course for many independent schools, which often rely on fundraising to keep their fees competitive.

Tim Edge, development director at Headington School in Oxford, says that while school leaders shouldn’t rule out applying to larger organisations as well as smaller ones, they should always check the grant criteria carefully first.

“Schools can apply directly to trusts and foundations for funding but only when the plans of the school match the funding criteria of the grant-giving organisation,” he says. “Many grant-giving organisations will attach caveats to donations, for example, by stating that they will only support capital projects that are also set up to benefit the school’s immediate local community in a material way.”

Such caveats apply to grants allocated by organisations such as The Big Lottery Fund, the largest community funder in the UK. Last year, it distributed about £700 million to 12,000 projects using money raised by National Lottery players. It welcomes applications from schools, providing they can prove that their project meets the guidelines.

“The activities we fund must take place in addition to curriculum and statutory services,” says a spokesperson for the Big Lottery Fund. “Some of the grants we have recently awarded include projects that bring together older people and pupils to reduce isolation and increase understanding between generations. We have also funded after-school safer-cycling initiatives and homework support sessions.”

The specification that funding can be awarded only for projects that are strictly extracurricular is a legal requirement for many organisations. Gilhooly explains that trusts cannot fill gaps in state provision, not only because it could lead to investigation by the Charity Commission but also because doing so would set a dangerous precedent. “It will send a message that the government can just cut, cut, cut,” she says.

Therefore, when applying to an organisation such as SHINE, schools can improve their chances of success by making it clear in their application that the money will not be used where government funding has been rolled back.

A healthy dose of realism will go a long way, too, Gilhooly adds. “We want to see that schools will not just keep coming back for more and more funding. It needs to be sustainable in the long term. It’s better for a school to do something smaller that they can make larger in the future,” she says.

Organisations also want to fund projects that are not reinventing the wheel, so school leaders should do their research and make sure that their initiative is original before submitting an application.

The way to do that is to get out there and network with the wider education community. By finding out what other schools are doing, leaders can identify opportunities to collaborate and perhaps even share resources for the common good.

“We do like to see schools working together,” Gilhooly says.

It’s true that schools are all in the same boat when it comes to pinching the pennies. So working together, as Gilhooly suggests, might be the way to reduce competition and help those grant pennies to stretch a bit further.