St Peter's Morley

Back in 2023, the congregation at St Peter’s were all set to raise as much as £350,000 to redevelop the Church Hall into a public Community Centre. But the costs quickly escalated to over £1million and based on our experience, we advised this would be too much of a stretch. The team succeeded in trimming the budget to £790,000 then took a 3-month break for prayer and reflection to consider whether to proceed with the project.

The decision was a divinely guided ‘yes’, and the fundraising commenced in earnest. “It was amazing to witness the strength of faith in the vision,” says Amy Stevens. “In spite of shifting timelines, delays in planning approval and high local fundraising competition – the team was unstoppable.”

St Peter’s ‘Running Vicar’, Phil Harris, saw there was a mountain to climb and bravely tackled it with an endurance challenge of over 200 miles, equivalent to scaling Everest across four days. His efforts raised £75,000 towards the campaign and were followed by a string of major grants from Leeds City Council, Benefact Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Laing Family Trust. Funders could see the immediate and wider benefits of the project and were particularly impressed by the level of community fundraising achieved.

The final fundraising stretch

To satisfy grant stipulations, in January this year the project had to demonstrate progression. This required a bridging loan from the Diocese and, on top of £100,000 raised from the congregation at the start of the campaign, further major loan offers from church members. “The additional step up in support was extraordinary,” says Amy. “It showed just how much St Peter’s believed in the project, not just for the benefit of worshippers, but for the rest of the community, as well.”

Now, thanks to recent major grants from the Bernard Sunley Foundation and the FCC Communities Foundation, the incredible team at St Peter’s have finally reached their fundraising goal. “It’s a brilliant moment to celebrate,” adds Amy. “It shows that faith organisations can access major funding from secular grant givers, if the community benefit is clearly expressed. In St Peter’s case, it’s also a reminder that challenges are rarely insurmountable and - whatever your ‘Everest’ looks like - when you work as a team, the summit is always in sight.”

Get in touch

If your organisation is looking to take the next brave fundraising steps, you can read more about the full range of fundraising services we offer here. Or, if you’d like an exploratory conversation about your current fundraising ambitions and how a Gifted partnership could support these, get in touch.