VAL was contacted by The Reverend of St John’s Church Donisthorpe who was due to retire, to obtain support for the Church in writing grant applications. We then worked closely with The Parochial Church Council (PCC) to look at funding options for the capital transformation which included; toilet facilities, kitchen, and a new heating system.
VAL carried out a funding search for them producing various options which were then reviewed and discussed. Thereafter PCC representatives attended VAL’s ‘Meet the Funder’ event, where they met with the representatives from The Natonal Lottery Communty Fund. VAL reviewed their future development plan which accompanied their stage 1 bid to the reaching communities fund. Once it was confirmed they could progress to stage 2 of the funding process, we supported the PCC alongside The National Lottery representative with various aspects such as a read and review of their stage 2 bid and how to approach the community angle of the project via a steering committee.
With the help and guidance from our sector support team the Church has secured £235,000 from The National Lottery Reaching Communities Fund and several other funders granted almost as much again to provide a multi-use community space within the village of Donisthorpe.This will enable the church to be completely transformed so that local amenities can be provided by other local organisations. At the same time providing a warm and safe place of worship.
The PCC has quoted:
“Project Heart was conceived over 8 years ago, its purpose was to change the use of a village church into a broad spectrum multi use community space whilst still functioning as a church. The cost has escalated to almost £750k. With the help and advice from VAL, we have approached at least 15 funding bodies and succeeded in raising the funds needed. The experience that VAL shared with us along with training at a range of seminars has been most useful.”
We look forward to seeing the transformation.
For details of Project Heart – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZkCEoe4huADuF16FiaSRPw/videos
Voluntary and Community Group Support
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