When the academy programme was launched in 2000, sponsors were required to provide 10 per cent. of the capital costs of a new building up to a maximum of £2 million. We have since moved to an endowment model of sponsorship, and sponsors will, as the norm, establish an endowment fund worth £2 million (or £1.5 million for the fourth or subsequent academy for sponsors of multiple academies). The Department does not distinguish between sponsorship commitments made by private sector donors and those made by charitable organisations.
There are at present 47 open academies. Of these: two academy trusts had met their full sponsorship commitments before May 2006; one is a former city technology college which is not required to provide sponsorship in the form of a capital contribution; and one is providing sponsorship under the endowment model of sponsorship, leaving a total of 43 academies with commitments to provide a contribution to capital costs.
Over the 12 months ending 31 May 2007 sponsor contributions to capital costs amounted to £13,202,000, an average of £307,023 over the 43 open academies described above.
Sponsors' donations contributing to capital costs are normally made over the lifetime of the building costs of the project, so in the majority of cases a number of payments towards capital costs remain to be made.