SERVOL obtains money to run its centres from a number of different sources.
Its Own Productive Efforts
All our centres are income earning. Our vocational departments build houses, do electrical, plumbing and welding repairs, cater for school feeding programmes and functions, print books and pamphlets. In recent times, with the slump in the construction industry revenue from these sources has fallen and has been replaced by revenue from training, manufacture of furniture and equipment for schools, agriculture, etc.
Local Fund Raising
SERVOL has its now famous "Poor Man's Christmas Dinner" each year, receives donations from well-wishers and deeds of covenant from business organisations.
Overseas Foundations
These played a very important part in helping SERVOL to operate its educational programmes in the seventies and eighties. Among those who were very supportive of our work were the BERNARD VAN LEER FOUNDATION and CEBEMO of Holland, HELVETAS of Switzerland, THE INTER AMERICAN FOUNDATION of the U.S.A., MISEREOR of Germany and SAVE THE CHILDREN of Canada.
This support has almost entirely ceased at date of writing and, at present, SERVOL depends to a large extent on Subventions from Government to pay salaries of teachers.
In 1991 SERVOL realised that it could not continue to depend on external funding to continue its educational and communitarian efforts. As a result it has embarked upon the establishment of an endowment fund built up principally on contributions from the private and public sector in Trinidad and Tobago with the generous assistance from the Bernard Van Leer Foundation. The objective is to make SERVOL independent of foreign assistance by the turn of the century.