6 October 2025 | By Dave Hall
The most effective input from a fundraising consultant usually comes very early on in the project – even six years prior to completion.
That was the case at St Cleers Chapel in Somerton, Somerset (pictured above), where broadcaster Rev Richard Coles is the teaching pastor. The chapel has been part of the town’s Christian heritage for more than 60 years. In 2014 the elders realised an extensive building project was required and were presented with an estimate of nearly £850,000 by a local architect.
Time passed and attempts to secure grant funding yielded nothing. Several chapel members felt that a more modest plan could achieve the required benefits and asked David Saint, founder and then chair of Action Planning, to help them put a realistic fundraising strategy in place.
David travelled to Somerton to deliver a two-day workshop to share his experience of church capital appeals, set out a realistic fundraising strategy and work with chapel members to build a case for support. It was 2018.
Dr Andrew Quayle, Chair of Trustees, remembers it well.
‘David gave everyone a realistic idea of what the project would entail,’ he told CRE News. ‘The money wasn’t just going to come from big donors or grant giving trusts. He said you’ll only raise about 10 per cent in grants – the other 90 per cent needs to be raised by church members themselves. This turned out to be very prophetic.’
In 2022, restoration work began. Working to David’s plan, the congregation had raised sufficient funds to convince five or six grant organisations to put in around £30,000 – in addition to some very generous individual donations.
At the end of 2024, six years after delivering his workshop, David received a letter from Dr Quayle, informing him that the renovation project had been completed.
‘We now have a lovely, refurbished and equipped building with which everyone is delighted,’ wrote Dr Quayle.
‘Consultants don’t often get to hear of the final outcome of their input, so it was a joy to be told that the project had been successfully completed,’ said David, ‘and that the workshop had helped the members develop a sense of what might be achievable.’
- Action Planning are on stand G3 at CRE 25
Photo: St Cleers Chapel in Somerton, Somerset
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