A realistic reappraisal sees long-awaited chapel renovation completed

Background
St Cleers Chapel in Somerton, Somerset, has been part of the town’s Christian heritage for over 60 years. A converted L-shaped barn, it had been added to on a couple of occasions, largely through the efforts and generosity of chapel members.

In 2014 the elders realised a more extensive building project was required. Among other things, a wall was becoming unstable, the roof needed repairing and the boiler and electrics needed upgrading. They went to a local architect, who drew up a proposed renovation plan with an estimated cost of nearly £850,000.

Dr Andrew Quayle, a retired local GP and Chair of the Trustees, was one of several chapel members who felt that a more modest plan could achieve the required benefits and that a realistic fundraising strategy needed to be put in place. Attempts to secure grant funding had yielded nothing up to that point. Having heard David Saint speaking at a Stewardship conference in 2018, Andrew asked him to come and share his experience with the congregation.

Brief
David was asked to deliver a two-day workshop at St Cleers Chapel to share his experience of church capital appeals and set out a realistic fundraising strategy for the project.

Process
On the first day, David explained the purpose and structure of a fundraising strategy, delivered some statistics on where the money usually comes from and focused on the importance of asking for, as well as praying for, donations.

“Something that really resonated was David saying you’ll only raise about 10% in grants – the other 90% needs to be raised by church members themselves. This turned out to be very prophetic.”

On day two, he recapped the key points from day one and went through a speech previously delivered by Richard Coles, the chapel’s teaching pastor, responding to Richard’s calls to action with some salient fundraising truths. He then organised groups to work on building a case for support, following which he asked everyone in attendance to write down what they would be prepared to give towards the project. He concluded with a 10-point action plan.

Outcome
In 2022, building work began on what was eventually a £470,000 restoration project for St Cleers Chapel. Working to David’s plan, they had raised sufficient funds to convince five or six grant organisations to give around £30,000 to this. There were some very generous individual donations as well.

Crucially, they found an architect, Hiraeth Architects in Cardiff, who understood their fundraising ceiling, cut their cloth appropriately, and cut back still further when the building estimates came in. “They were willing to play around with plans until we had ones that both worked, and we could afford, and we now have a lovely, refurbished and equipped building with which everyone is delighted. It’s enabled us to expand our work, for example, with children and toddlers. We’re already seeing the benefits of it.”

Consultant’s insight
The most effective input from a fundraising consultant usually comes very early on in a project – with the result that we often don’t get to hear of the final outcome, and our input is usually long forgotten when the building project has been completed. So it was a joy to receive a letter, some six years after we ran the workshop for St Cleers Chapel, to be told that their project had been successfully completed and fully paid for, and that the workshop had helped the members develop a sense of what might be achievable.