The Farnborough Building Project - fundraising update
If we haven’t met before, I’m Amy ~ I’ve been part of Kerith Farnborough for around seven years and come most weeks with my husband Jonathan, and children Lucy and Joel.
When I was eight years old my family joined Kerith Bracknell and I had the privilege of growing up in the kids and youth groups there. I was able to enjoy the amazing facilities that the Kerith Centre and K2 building had to offer, but it was only in my adult life that I fully appreciated the hard work, generosity and sacrificial giving that had gone before me. The commitment that these people had helped me to develop a life-long relationship with God, to enjoy being at church, not feel embarrassed to invite my friends and (last but not least) meet my husband!
Fast forward 30 years and when Kerith Farnborough had bought the warehouse and launched our building project in 2024, it very much felt like the baton had been passed on. Together with the rest of the Kerith Farnborough community I now have the same incredible opportunity to create a space that will impact the community now and for the lives of many generations to come.
We have a big task ahead of us – but I’m excited to be heading up our fundraising efforts and I’d love to share some details of what’s been going on behind the scenes and how you can get involved in 2025.
Grant applications
Firstly, I’m pleased to share that a few weeks ago we submitted our first grant application for the building project fund!
As well as the planned gift days across 2025, I’ll be working with a small team of writers to submit grant and trust applications to request support for our building project fund. The landscape of fundraising through grant applications has evolved considerably over the past decade and we hope to be able to significantly supplement the amount we raise through giving, with awards from various grants and trusts.
Over the last couple of months we have identified over 20 grants that we are eligible for, so we hope to be able to share more news on any successful applications later this year. Most decisions take a couple of months, so there is an element of waiting patiently after the application has been submitted!
JustGiving page
We have also created a JustGiving page for the Kerith Farnborough Building Project (phase 1). This will allow you to track the live fundraising amount, give outside of gift days, and share among your friends, family, and other connections. Please feel free to post on your social media or share with any groups who you think might like to contribute. We will be keeping the page updated with any gifts given outside of JustGiving so it will always show the full amount that we’ve raised to date. Kerith Farnborough is fundraising for Kerith Community Church
As we work towards the fundraising target there will be times when we host fundraising events as a whole church community. However we’d love to encourage members of the community to have freedom and ownership to plan and organise individual and group fundraising activities. So, if you have any ideas, please feel free get on and organise your fundraising effort and link to this official JustGiving fundraising page using the ‘create a team’ function. Find out how to set up a team page for your own fundraising activity. Over the coming weeks we’ll add some fundraising ideas to our website, but if you have an idea already then please go for it!
I’m always happy to chat through any fundraising ideas that you have ~ feel free to grab me at church on Sunday or email me at amy.horne@kerith.church. Thank you for joining us on this journey; for your commitment to the vision we have for our community in Farnborough and for your faith and generosity in all the different ways you give.