Churches and cathedrals, or places of worship, have traditionally generated money through weekly collections from congregations and other gifts from members of the local community with an interest in supporting the church.
However, places of worship cannot usually generate sufficient income to fund major maintenance and repair work on buildings. They use fundraising activities to help finance these larger projects. These projects usually include a mix of grants from organisations like the National Lottery Heritage Fund, other trusts and foundations with a focus on places of worship, and contributions from the community through fundraising initiatives like bake sales, annual fairs, and other community events.
Craigmyle worked closely with several places of worship, including cathedrals, on a variety of fundraising campaigns. This included large campaigns to save York Minster from collapsing beginning in 1967, and the Millenium Appeal at Southwark Cathedral in 1997 where the campaign raised over £9million
A 1967 survey of York Minster showed that the cathedral was close to collapse, particularly the central tower.
By 1972, £2 million had been raised to strengthen the foundations of the building and the roof.
Once war damage had been repaired, a new appeal 'Save St Paul's' was launched in 1970 to raise £3 million to fund a variety of new repairs.
This included the nave roof, stone repairs and repointing, and strengthening the foundations of the towers.
Craigmyle were appointed as Appeal Advisors for the Millenium Appeal at Southwark Cathedral.
This appeal was designed to raise funds to improve visibility, accessibility, provide better visitor facilities and expand educational work.
Local churches were also supported by Craigmyle.
Capital projects in churches today are often about reimagining spaces for modern Christian worship and also increasing the potential of the use of the building by the community. This sometimes means creating more flexible spaces, and the removal or relocation of traditional pews and church architecture. This approach is not necessarily universally supported in church communities, making the fundraising for this type of project more challenging.
St Mary of Charity church in Faversham initiated a fundraising appeal in 1987 for restoration and repair work.
In particular, the Church spire was in need of repair, as well as the lead on the roof. The estimated cost of the project was £590,000.
All Saints Church, Hereford was in a serious state of disrepair, needing a £1.7 million development project to provide funds for restoration.
The church was supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and plans included a Café to generate funds.
After the successful redevelopment of All Saint’s, Hereford, the new lighting revealed a rude 15th century carving on one of the old beams. The vicar proposed the church generate further revenue by selling postcards depicting the figure but this was not supported by the parish council. A story about the carving went viral on Twitter/X in 2021.
Use the button to see an article about the carving in the Hereford Times.
Consultants at Craigmyle have worked with a variety of arts and heritage organisations on feasibility studies, capital campaigns, and management of appeals.
Campaigns included work on the restoration and modernisation of the Royal Albert Hall in 1960s, and a capital appeal for the London Architectural Library for RIBA in the 1970s.
The creation of the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) in 1994, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund, had a significant impact on the fundraising possibilities for heritage organisations such as museums, libraries, parks, monuments and places of worship.
The NLHF is funded through National Lottery ticket sales, and since its inception has awarded more than £9.2bn in funding to over 52,000 projects. As well as protecting and restoring buildings and spaces, NHLF projects often focus on people and communities and increasing the number of people engaged with heritage.
Craigmyle saw an increase in the number of heritage projects in its portfolio in part due to the impact of the availability of NLHF funding, and partly due to staff members with arts and heritage as an area of expertise.
For church clients, this meant that as well as being able to fund repairs to buildings and restoration of the fabric such as bells and organs, projects also focussed on building links with communities, welcoming more people into heritage spaces, setting up learning programmes, improving access and making spaces more inclusive.
Craigmyle worked with museums and other heritage organisations on feasibility studies, capital projects, and providing strategic advice.
The Salisbury Playhouse opened its new building in 1976, after the old building reached the end of its life.
Craigmyle developed the appeal campaign to raise £250,000 for the new building - although the appeal was not as successful as planned.
In the 1990s the Theatre Royal Norwich launched a campaign to modernise the theatre, which involved a sponsor-a-seat appeal. This was a popular method of fundraising in theatres. It cost £250 plus VAT for 4 years to name a seat.
