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thisischurch.com
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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 |
1. Getting a project off the ground
1. Feasibility and Consultation
Let's start at the very beginning. The first most important thing is to establish real need. I wish I had a pound for every time I have heard people tell me that God was telling them to do a certain project and it needed funding, only to find that a little later that God had changed his mind and now they needed money to do something else. If you think that you have a need, then think carefully about what it is before you do anything at all. Prayer is a great place to start, but after that must come a lot of hard work. In order to access funding your church will usually have to make a huge investment of time and energy.
I would always begin with the local community, especially user groups and potential user groups. Identify the needs and think through what you want to do to meet them. This is the start of a feasibility study and you can include the results in your material seeking a grant. This will be vital later on to convince funders that you are meeting real need, not just looking to upgrade your premises or get extra help! Perhaps you can ascertain that there are 400 people under the age of 18 within a two mile radius of your church centre, and there are no facilities provided. That then becomes important information. It would then be good to go and consult some of them and make a survey. It is always a good idea is to issue a local questionnaire and keep the replies to show funders later. It looks impressive when you can show funders copies of the responses which you have received from real people. You have also got to be able to show that you have consulted with people like the parish council, councillors and the local authority.
If perhaps you want to obtain financial support to help provide resources for young people locally who are affected by drug taking, then build a file which shows that is a real need. Hold community meetings to discuss the problems and keep minutes, become involved with the local authority, build correspondence with local schools, youth authorities, police etc.
If you want to obtain financial support to build a community centre, then obtain letters from community groups who say they have nowhere to meet and keep them as evidence. Make sure local parents tell the dreadful tale of how there is nowhere for them to take their little babies and how they feel isolated in their homes. If a charity has cash to give away it is going to give it to people who can demonstrate that they have consulted widely and listened to real community needs.
2. Making plans
Inevitably some of the stages which I am describing will overlap, but having established your needs, it is now time to consider what could be done. You will need to show that your project is necessary, there is real need and you have discovered a way to meet that need in a way that nobody else can. Making a grant application is just like good decorating, it is the preparation at the outset which will determine the quality of the finished product. On March 9 we will open our new Centre, but it has taken six years to establish what the needs were, think through the plans, raise the money and finally to build.
Capital projects. Let us imagine that you have decided that the church hall needs a major refurbishment to meet community need There are activities which take place but the hall is rubbish, cold and uninviting. Some groups cannot come to you because the facilities are poor, the kitchen doesn't meet health and safety standards and the toilets do not comply with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act. Perhaps the first thing is to get an architect involved very early in the process to discuss what can be done. Consider consultation with more than one architect, it might even be time to change your church architect! Get expert advice about the work that is needed and the costs involved. If you are building or refurbishing a community centre, I would recommend that you visit good ones which are operating elsewhere and ask them what works. For instance, it is no good putting ordinary carpet in an area where people with learning disabilities eat their dinners. we always use Flotex in such areas, you can wash it down and it looks and feels good. Things like this are learned often painfully over many years! If you are fitting a kitchen I would always recommend stainless steel, it might look clinical, but after 20 years it will still look as good as new and be safe and hygenic. Most community centres have poor storage provision, we need to know that at the design stage, so get advice and get the plans right. Many church architects are poor at considering practical necessities of community centres, they design buildings but they never have to operate them afterwards.
A great architect is worth their weight in gold. I remember all of the good ones I have worked with because they listened to what we needed, and also because they inspired people to see what could be done. You need them to come up with really good drawings, not just plans, but art work - with people standing in them showing how the new facilities will look. On one occasion we constructed a wooden model to show people what the new building would look like. If everybody can visualise what is being proposed then there is more chance of getting the vital support.
It is good to have the plans out in the open so that comments can be made and adapted. As an example, even the best male architects don't always understand the complexities of how to use kitchens and helpful comments from previous future users can make a lot of difference. Once some good plans have been drawn up you can get some costings done to give you a target for your fundraising. If the architect has made good quality drawings and consulted with a quantity surveyor to get an estimate of the costs, most funders will accept that amount as the target. My advice would be to always go for the most expensive alternatives. These projects usually take the full budget and more and it is wise to be safe. Moreover if you ask for 200,000 and the funder gives you 10% you will get £20,000, whereas if you ask for £300,000 and they give you 10% you will get £30,000. In the end you might only raise enough to have the £200,000 project, but you will have a lot more chance of getting £200,000 if you set your target at £300,000. In the end you might just have to cut your project to the available funds.
Funding for other projects. If you have decided that you need funding for something which doesn't need any capital costs, perhaps for funding employment, then the same principles apply. Speak with other agencies, go and look at people who are employed doing the same things somewhere else. It is imperative that the project which you are starting is shown to be necessary and well thought out. At the moment lots of churches want to employ a youth worker, however, often little background work is done to identify what these youth workers are going to do, there is just a well meaning feeling in the church that we have got to help the kids. If you want to employ a youth worker then substantiate the need by consulting with other youth agencies and statutory bodies, and include evidence of that consultation. A background study should be completed in consultation with other professionals which clearly establishes the need and shows that professionals think your proposals are the right ones. Never ever submit an application for funding a job unless it is supported by the necessary documentation which shows you have carefully considered the project and that you have support from other agencies. It is also vital to show that you have the necessary credentials to be a good employer. I would always expect to include a job description and person specification, a copy of your equal opportunities policy and how you will provide training and supervision. It might add credibility to your application if you considered a partnership with another organisation who would be prepared to offer expertise in something like line management.
3. Getting the church support
After these initial steps you need to recruit support. The first people who must come on board are the local church. This is important because you do not want criticism coming out later, it is also important because ongoing support from local church folks will be needed later if the project is going to succeed.
All of the major church community centre refurbishments which I have been involved in have started with a gift day. If you need to raise £200,000, then funders are going to want to know what you have raised locally, perhaps 10%? If the church are supportive of the project and own it, if they are going to obtain a lasting benefit from the work, then it is only reasonable to expect that they will dip into their own pockets and get the ball rolling. If you want to raise £200,000, a target of £20,000 raised locally seems reasonable. Once people have given of their own money then they are locked in to the project and will support not only the development but the real community work which follows.
A target of £20,000 might seem a lot, but the first thing to do is break down the money you need into chunks. Issue a leaflet and ask people to offer support they can afford. They don't need to give you the money up front they just have to promise to give it to you! Of course if the giver is a tax payer then make sure they covenant their gift and you claim back the tax. I have always been astonished by the generosity of congregations. When we refurbished Putnoe Heights Church about 10 years ago, the congregation gave over £35,000 in a single day. Eventually we raised about £300,000 and now the church is really well equipped and welcomes over 40 community groups throughout the week. That money was generous, but it was also a sound investment by the congregation, because the church now receives about £35,000 every year in rent from community groups.
Here is an example of the kind of form I have given out, with the target amount broken down into chunks .
We need to raise £20,000 locally for our new community centre project -
Here is how you can help us
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3 people give 2,000, = £6,000
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5 people give £1,000 = £5,000
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10 people give £500 = £3,000
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16 people give £250 = £4,000
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20 people give £100 = £2,000
I know that there will be some people out there who will make excuses and say that I am unrealistic because some churches are just too poor to help out. The first parish where I began ministry 20 years ago was Bidston, a UPA in Merseyside, mentioned in the Faith and the City report. It had 80% + adult unemployment and the church faced closure unless it did something drastic. Eventually we raised about £160,000 to totally refurbish the church and give it a new lease of life in the community. However the first money came from the congregation themselves. They were poor, really poor, but they gave and their generosity was staggering. It is sometimes easier to get the widow to hand over her mite than it is to convince the fat cat to give you the same amount of money he would spend on a tyre for his new Jag.
Incidentally, one of the very best ways to provide impetus for a project is when somebody leaves the church a sizeable legacy in a will. This is often what gives people the initiative to want to do something new and special. It is always sound advice to encourage congregations to consider remembering the church in their will. You may find a copy of our booklet helpful, 'Are you willing?' This can be downloaded in Adobe. If you would like leaflets printed in colour with the name of your church included we can arrange to have these printed for you at a small charge.
Getting local support
Having identified your need, and got some money behind you, you must now speak to people outside the church to recruit support for the proposals. Many of these people will have already been consulted, but now you need evidence of their support in the form of written letters, and independent people of good standing who will act as points of contact for funders. I always ask a local councillor to provide a letter of support, and I include their contact details so that they can be telephoned. Remember to get as many people on board as possible, I have always found the local Council of Voluntary Service a helpful place, they will put you in touch with many helpful people and groups.