Stop the clock competition makes new national list of Top 25 Fundraising ideas for churches
· The creative idea of a stop the clock competition used by St Mary Magdalene church in Cwmbach, Aberdare to raise money for the church is featured in the national list of Top 25 Fundraising ideas for churches.
· The launch of the list and top tips for church fundraising follows a competition run by leading church insurer Ecclesiastical in 2015 to find the most innovative ideas used by churches across the UK to raise much-needed funds.
An innovative and creative fundraising initiative by St Mary Magdalene church in Cwmbach, Aberdare has been included in a new national list of Top 25 Fundraising ideas for churches, recently published ahead of Fundraising Week running between 19-21 April by leading church insurer Ecclesiastical. The launch of the list follows a national competition run by the insurer, in conjunction with Church Times, in 2015 to find the very best ideas employed by churches to raise funds.
St Mary Magdalene’s idea titled “Stop the clock, start the fundraising” was one of the few shortlisted from more than 400 competition entries sent in and centred around a fun competition where people had to guess the hour and minute a wound-up clock had stopped at. The clock was kept at the church and people could buy individual minutes or blocks of minutes for various prizes. Further details of the idea and how other churches could replicate St Mary Magdalene’s activities to boost their own fundraising efforts can now be downloaded from the insurer’s website at www.ecclesiastical.com/
Commenting on the launch of the Top 25 Fundraising ideas list, Michael Angell, Church Operations Director at Ecclesiastical, said: “Fundraising is now a key activity for many churches not only to raise much needed funds but also to reach out in to the wider community. I am delighted we have been able to collate all these new and innovative ideas which formed part of the Ecclesiastical 2015 church competition. Hopefully, these ideas will now give others the inspiration they need to have fun, raise money and work with the community all at the same time.”
Notes
1. About Ecclesiastical
Owned by a registered charity, Allchurches Trust, Ecclesiastical is a unique financial services organisation. With its main operations and headquarters in the UK, Ecclesiastical also operates in Australia, Canada and Ireland.
Ecclesiastical is a specialist insurer of charities, the education and faith sectors, heritage buildings and fine art.
Founded in 1887 to provide insurance for the Anglican Church, the company now offers a wide range of commercial insurances, as well as home insurance, selling through brokers and directly.
Ecclesiastical also offers a range of ethically screened investment funds through its award-winning investment management business, EdenTree Investment Management.
Ecclesiastical is one of UK’s Top Company Donors to Charity according to the 2014 – 2015 UK Guide to Company Giving, published by the Directory of Social Change.
Ecclesiastical’s Group vision, launched in January 2014, states that the Group intends to give £50m to charity between 2014 and 2016. To date, the company has donated £52.8m to charity, meeting and exceeding the £50m goal.
2. About the 2015 competition
A national competition to find the very best ideas for fundraising by churches was run by leading church insurer Ecclesiastical in conjunction with Church Times from June 2015 to October 2015.
The competition was open to any Christian church, or Christian places of worship in the UK, and aimed to find ideas and initiatives that have helped churches raise much needed money to support their activities or building works.
The winning idea claimed the top prize of £10,000, and five runners-up won prizes of £2,000.
