St Andrew’s Church and the Bristol North West Social Justice Hub continually pray, plan and dream of new ways to serve their community. Recently, thanks in part to help from the Diocesan Generosity team, they successfully secured £245,000 of grant funding. This will allow them to expand their building and, in turn, their missional presence and support for the local community.
Expanding support through the Spear Programme
The origin of the Social Justice Hub is the Foodbank, which began life in 2011 as a small operation, running out of a cupboard in Lawrence Weston. Since then, it has grown into a much larger operation and in 2019, following a renovation of St Andrew’s in Avonmouth, the charity moved into the old church hall. The move was accompanied by a vision of extending their support and providing a more holistic service, transforming the foodbank into the Social Justice Hub.
Moving into the Social Justice Hub building at St Andrew’s has allowed them to house an office, warehouse and a range of services, including free advice appointments, cookery courses, washing facilities for the homeless and a woodworking workshop to help tackle social isolation.
The Church and Hub are always looking to see how they can grow their support to meet the needs of the community. Their most recent plan to expand the support provided to the area is to establish a ‘Spear Centre’.
Spear is a national programme for 16–24-year-olds not in employment, helping them to realise their potential by coaching them to develop the mindset and skills they need to both get into work and thrive once they’re there. Thanks to generous support from local companies, which highlights the role of the Hub as a community organiser and pioneer of change, it will be launched in Avonmouth in the coming months.
Funding the vision
A barrier to launching the programme was that it would need a new space in which to operate. The church developed a plan to build a mezzanine floor in the main building, however the building costs for this project represented a significant fundraising need. Julie Cole, project manager at the Social Justice Hub, stepped up to the challenge and decided to pursue external grants to fund the project.
Julie reached out to Lydia Nash, Generosity and Giving Manager at the Diocese, to seek guidance on suitable funders and grant‑making bodies. Lydia was able to recommend a range of relevant funders, enabling Julie to move ahead with drafting multiple applications for the mezzanine project. Lydia then proofread some of the applications, offering feedback to strengthen the case for funding.
After several months, Julie was hugely successful with many of the applications, and the Church has now raised its target of £245,000, with building works set to commence soon.
Speaking about the fundraising process, Julie said:
'Grant writing is often a slow and demanding process, with success usually coming after multiple rejections. Each Trust has its own timelines and requirements, and with rising application numbers, many are tightening their funding criteria. For these reasons, Lydia’s advice was invaluable, especially when potential leads seemed to dry up.'
Lydia said:
'This project has been a joy to support as it is meeting a clear need in the local community and will expand the reach and impact of the Social Justice Hub. It is brilliant to be able to enable churches to better serve their community through unlocking funding like this.'
How Spear will transform lives
The funding and subsequent building of the Mezzanine floor means that the Spear Bristol West programme will be able to launch and serve the local community.
Those joining the programme will meet with qualified coaches on weekday afternoons in groups of 10-12 for 4 weeks. They will cover topics including interview preparation, CV and cover letter advice, presentation skills, confidence and mindset. They will also be able to access follow-up career support for up to 6 months. Statistics show the programme to have a significant impact on the young people who take part, with 75% who complete the programme not only getting into work or education but also remaining there a year later.
The building will also be available in evenings and on weekends, meaning that the Social Justice Hub can continue to pray and dream about other ways to serve the community.
How the Diocese can support with fundraising for your project
If you are looking at fundraising for a specific project, you can get support and advice from the Generosity team at the Diocese. Lydia can provide advice and resources on how to identify grant funders and create strong proposals, as well as how to set up online giving platforms, run community fundraising events such as quizzes and talk to your congregation and wider community about supporting the project.
Our church buildings team are also available to support you through the process of developing a project from an initial vision through to the point of being ready to seek funding.
Get in touch with the teams by emailing fundraising@bristoldiocese.org or church.buildings@bristoldiocese.org