The most obvious way your school will benefit is financially. Your local businesses, community groups and clubs will be able to promote themselves on www.heartland.co.nz for a small fee. And 50% of any income you generate from these local and regional listings will be paid to your school, for you to spend in whatever way you choose.

What do the figures actually look like?

Basically you get half of the income we generate between us. Businesses pay $80 for a basic one-community listing and a further $25 each for any extra communities they want to list in. Groups pay a flat rate of $30 for one community. So for every business you get involved, your school receives at least $40 and for each group listed you get $15.

This is how it all stacks up:

If you get 50 businesses and 15 clubs or groups to list then your school will receive $2225.

If you attract 80 businesses and 30 clubs or groups then it would increase to $3650. If 20 of those businesses list their business in 2 neigbouring communities too, you'd get an extra $500.

Sounds good? We think so!

Now you may feel your community is too small to attract that many businesses. But sit and think about it for a minute. Think of all the businesses: the shops, the horse dentist, the hay contractors, the hydraulic repairman, the shearers, the home kill business to name a few.

Now think about the town-based businesses that service your community - the valuers, lawyers, accountants, doctors, midwives, washing machine repairer, milking machine repairers... Makes you realise there are actually a lot of businesses operating in your community. They will want to reach new customers using your Heartland community website too.

We know that if you have the time to really get in behind, you will be able to raise some pretty rewarding sums. We provide you with an extra comprehensive Action List which gives you loads of ideas you can try if you have a little bit of spare time or a few volunteers to help.

People in your community will be able to list their property for sale on Heartland free of charge.

They can supplement this advertising by buying a Heartland "Property for Sale" sign to nail to their gate. The sign is made of corflute, like other real estate signs, and people just need to write their phone number and property website reference on the board with a marker pen.

You can use this as an on-going fundraiser - we give you the first two boards free. After that you can buy them from us at cost price ($6) and sell them yourselves at a recommended price of $30 (one-off signs cost around $70 retail). We just take the cost of the signs you order off your next payment from us.

A thriving community is always a good thing but it can also help your school roll - it can attract newcomers to your area.

People are increasingly using the internet to gather information to help them make decisions. They are looking for jobs and business opportunities on the internet and are also researching areas, communities and potential properties to buy.

Your Heartland community can give potential newcomers a snapshot of what it is like to live in your area. People can see what facilities you have and how active and strong your community is. Schools need to attract people into their area to ensure that school rolls are regenerating and Heartland is one of the ways you can achieve it.

A strong community is also a source of support for you. Heartland will provide a central place where people can share information, sell items, find things locally and promote local events.

This will help generate a think local, buy local attitude. People will invest in your community more, and hopefully get involved more. A better connected community means a more self-sufficient and supportive community.

Heartland runs regular competitions for its members and for participating schools. This means that every month your school could win a range of practical items from computers to sports equipment vouchers. All you need is people in your community to use Heartland and to keep an eye on our Competitions section.