Wellington Methodist Church was facing a major fundraising challenge, the 30-year-old lift needed a £45k upgrade to ensure people could continue to access the building safely.
The church provides a space for a range of community organisations and services, including St John’s Ambulance, the local Pre-school, Makaton lessons, a toddler group, and a well-attended Clothes Swap for under-fives. The lift plays an important role in keeping the building – and these activities – open to all.
The upgrade would provide safeguards against spare parts becoming unavailable for the foreseeable future and include significant technological improvements to improve reliability and meet current legislative requirements.
David, a volunteer who got married in at the Church in June 2000, shared:
“The Lift is integral to the daily operations of the church, its outreach and community activities. It enables access to the first floor and facilitates the movement of equipment, supplies and personnel between the two levels. Without the lift, key meeting rooms and storage facilities can only be reached by stairs and this creates safeguarding and accessibility issues for vulnerable, disabled or limited mobility people”.
To help fund the refurbishment, church supporters organised a range of fundraising activities, including concerts, bring-and-buy sales, quizzes and a sponsored walk along the Tiverton Canal (pictured above). They also contacted their local MP and council representatives to seek support for the project.
Alongside these efforts, a volunteer fundraising sub-committee was established to pursue grant funding opportunities. Applications were submitted to several funders and, while not all were successful, the process helped refine the team’s approach and identify alternative sources of support.
Keen to explore every possible avenue while earlier applications were still under consideration, the fundraising committee was introduced to our Head of Development, Miranda.
Miranda reviewed their approach and helped them identify and prioritise other potential trusts and foundations, particularly funders with an interest in capital projects.
David explained how Miranda’s support complemented on the team’s approach to the challenge.
“Miranda has been a really useful professional contact for us. She gave us assurance that we were going about the fundraising in the right way. Identifying funders who are willing to support a project like ours can be quite time consuming, so Miranda’s knowledge helped us narrow down further options and focus our time where it was most worthwhile. She’s also offered to review future bids, which could be a great help as we continue with our fundraising.”
The fundraising sub-committee reviewed the additional suggestions and investigated those deemed most likely to be supportive of the Church’s objectives. Whilst some were eventually discounted due to strict qualification requirements meet, one to an anonymous donor has been successful.
The church has continued to build its income from a range of sources and their hard work has finally paid off with an £11,700 award from one of the earlier applications.
The Church Treasurer, working together with the Fundraising Team, which had raised over £10,000, shared that this had provided a significant amount of the money needed to move forward with the lift refurbishment.
Looking for advice on your fundraising activities or support with an application? Find out how we can help you here.
“Miranda has been a really useful professional contact for us. She gave us assurance that we were going about the fundraising in the right way.”
David, fundraising volunteer
