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Get Your Money

These pages are a resource for clergy in the Diocese of St Albans seeking funding for church and community based projects.

There is much great work going on around our diocese, it is also true that much of it is so good that it could attract substantial financial support and we are sometimes missing out.

There are many charities and charitable trusts which exist to support great work and good causes. Our churches are often at the forefront of the best work which is going on in our communities, it is right that they receive a fair proportion of the funding which is available.

Most of the information which you will need is available on or through these web pages.

 

After an introduction, there are pages here which cover the fundamentals of accessing grant funding

• recognising a need for  a project

• getting your organisation up to scratch

• how to complete a pack of information to send off

• writing a letter of application

• who you could apply to

Hopefully after reading this information you will be encouraged to have a go at applying for money for your church and community based projects. You will also have a better idea of who to apply to and what they are looking for.  I recognise that there is an enormous amount of work involved in the process which I describe. For that reason these pages include links to a huge resource of material which we have produced for use in our church community centre; policy documents, employment contracts, business plan, annual reports etc. All of these may be copied and used as a basis for your own material. I have also included copies of successful sample application forms which we have sent to grant making bodies. All of this will make your task much easier. Good luck!

If you get stuck, then feel free to email me charlesroyden@gmail.com

Simply click on the links below to navigate to the required pages

Introduction

1.  Getting a project off the ground

2.  Sorting out the management

3.  Making an application pack - policy documents

4.  Writing a letter of application

5.  Who to apply to for funding

Introduction

Last summer I sat on the terrace of the House of Commons sipping champagne to celebrate winning a huge amount of money in a national competition. I was with my church leadership team from St Mark's and we were excited that because of the money we had won, our project to build a new community centre could now go ahead. However, in spite of the marvellous occasion, we were also sad. We had been awarded a second prize and promised £225,000, but we had hoped to reach first place and receive the jackpot of £250,000. It seemed ridiculous to be at all disappointed but now we were trying to work our how to meet the £25,000 shortfall.

As we stood and spoke with folks watching the boats go by over the Thames, I began speaking with a person I knew who was involved in providing funding from another charity. I knew that in a few weeks time they would be considering awarding money in their next round and I was surprised when he suggested that I should put in an application. Surely by now they would be overwhelmed by applications from other community centres, churches and community groups? He said that applications had been slow, in fact there had been very few indeed and they would struggle to have enough!

His was a charity which specialised in funding capital project for community facilities. I thought of all the churches I knew who would benefit from having additional funding to pay for community facilities which operate inside their buildings, new boilers, cookers, extensions etc. Fundraising efforts are all well and good, but when it comes to major refurbishments, then we all need the big money that these charities can provide. The tragedy is that many churches are doing excellent work in their communities, but they are not accessing some of the funds which are available to help. 

Over the last 20 years of my ministry I guess I have raised well over a million pounds of funding for my own churches, and I have helped other churches get many times that amount for their own projects. So these tips are provided as an encouragement and a resource. I don't have all the answers, but in just the last two years I have accessed about half a million pounds from charities and grant making bodies - so I must know something and such help as I can offer is my way of giving something back. Hopefully by reading this, churches which are seeking funds for important projects will be encouraged to get extra money from charities and grant making bodies. Let's try and make sure that churches are well represented and get their fair share of the money which is handed out.

There are two types of funding which are available to most churches, we can call them secular funding and religious funding. Let's deal with each of them in turn.

Secular funding. If you are looking for money to improve your own church facilities or for a faith based project, not for the wider use of the community, this is not really for you. Secular funders are not stupid and they will spot projects that are seeking funds for religious purposes. It is dishonest to try and access grants for community use if you are really seeking money for Christian mission.

However if you really want the church buildings to be a place where all are welcomed and you believe in the importance of the church being at the centre of the community life, then there is money out there to help. If you are seeking to provide community facilities without discrimination, then you have every reason to expect that there are people who will support you. The conversation needs to take place among your members to establish what you are seeking to provide. In my own church I have been fortunate, the congregation decided to make the altar narrow enough to fit through a normal door, so that it could be stored away during the week. This has enabled us to release our church building throughout the week for community use. The big church meeting only lasts for a couple of hours on a Sunday, I could never justify having the place unused for the other 166 hours! When funders know that the amount of time the church is used for religious purposes is so small, then they can see the merit of investing in our buildings. When secular bodies are convinced that we deeply care for our communities and we are not seeking opportunities to make converts, then they are prepared to join in supporting us financially.

It might be that you are looking to employ somebody to work in developing a new community centre, in that case there will be some grant making bodies who will support that. However if what you really want is somebody to church admin, then you have took at a funder who will share your faith stance.

Religious funding.  There are charities which are quite prepared to give money to churches and offer financial support for mission, because they share our Christian vision. Most of what I say in relation to applications seeking funding from secular bodies is exactly the same for religious bodies. Even if a charity shares your religious goals, it is still a competitive environment and you will have to demonstrate why you should have the money instead of somebody else. Our own diocese has grant making bodies, they will give money to causes which have specific religious motivation, they even positively encourage it. However you will need to make your case, you will need to establish why your project is the right one for them to invest in. You will need to demonstrate that you have done your homework about the need, that the project delivers good value and that you can be trusted to spend the money.

It's going to be hard work

For every 100 applications you make, you may only obtain a positive results on only 2 or 3. To get an application together for a project may take an investment of months of work. If your church doesn't have good systems and policies already in place to make you a  credible organisation, then you will have to go back to the beginning and start now, before you apply. You will have to think through how you consult users, management structures, health and safety policies, equal opportunities policies. We will discuss all of these later, but you do need to understand at the outset that your church organisation must be able to withstand scrutiny and convince funders that you are professional and a safe pair of hands.

Even when the systems are in place, somebody needs to put in hard work just to get one application pack off the ground with all of the correct information. When I make an application to grant making body there is a lot of stuff which has to be brought together. I usually include a letter of application or the application form, but this is supported by copies of all policies in operation in our organisation,  a business plan, annual report, accounts, architects drawings, letters of support, pictures and anything else which I think might just tip the balance in our favour. Most of these will probably end up in the bin, but one or two will just make our project stand out from the rest of the herd. Of course they will all be made on environmentally friendly, recycled paper - in accordance with our sustainability policy. After that first application has gone out, it is not just a case of copying it to lots of other charities, each subsequent application will still need to be tweaked and made appropriate for the grant making body that you apply to.

This might seem like too much work, and for many churches it is. That is the reason why many churches never take advantage of the financial support which is available. However I have always found that the requirements placed upon us to meet the stringent requirements of some funding agencies have helped us to sharpen up our act. If you can satisfy the demands of the discerning charities, then the chances are that you have got good systems in place, that you can demonstrate an ability to recognise the needs around you and show how you can make a real difference.   

It might be worth saying at this point, only carry on reading if you are prepared to invest the time and energy to get your project right. 

What is a charitable trust ?

There are many thousands of grant making Charitable Trusts in the UK. These funds have usually been set up by either a private individual, a group of people or businesses who wish to improve the conditions of life in the community. They invest a capital sum and the income that is generated is then distributed under the terms of a 'Trust deed'.

Here is an example of three that I have found to be supportive

Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales
Lloyds TSB are a grant-making Foundation and make grants to registered charities to improve the quality of life for people in local communities. The income comes from shares held in Lloyds TSB Group. They are independent of the Group, and twelve Trustees decide the policies of the Foundation. They welcome applications from all sections of the community, especially small underfunded charities in the areas of disadvantaged and disabled people to enable them to play a fuller role in the community. They support a wide range of activities which fall within the broad areas of Social and Community Needs and Education and Training.
For further details and an application pack contact
East of England Regional Office. Lloyds TSB Bank plc 28-34 Risbygate Street, Bury St Edmunds,  Suffolk IP33 3AH Tel 01284 750168
or visit the website www.lloydstsbfoundations.org.uk

The Tudor Trust
TheTudor Trust will fund applications that work in the areas of youth, older people, community, housing, relationships, mental health, substance misuse, learning, financial security and criminal justice. These priority areas run until the end of March 2006. The Trust will consider funding core costs, project, building and equipment costs related to your project.
For further details and an application pack contact
The Tudor Trust. 7 Ladbroke Grove, London W11 3BD. Tel 020 7727 8522 or visit the website www.tudortrust.org.uk

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
They will fund projects that work in the areas of Arts and Hertiage, Education, Environment and Social Change(enterprise and independence). They will consider funding core costs as well as project costs. They also runs a Loans Programme to organisations in the UK Voluntary Sector which is run in co-operation with Charity Bank. Loans will be made in the Foundations areas of priority and interest.
For further details and an application pack contact
The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. 11 Park Place, London SW1A 1LP. Tel 020 7297 4700
or visit the website www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk

Are you ready ?

The pages indicated below in our menu will provide all of the information which you will need to help you start preparing to make an application

Simply click on the links below to navigate to the required pages

Introduction

1.  Getting a project off the ground

2.  Sorting out the management

3.  Making an application pack - policy documents

4.  Writing a letter of application

5.  Who to apply to for funding

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