The roof appeal

$40,000 — and we'll tell you if we miss it.

The bar below is the real total. It moves when money actually arrives and it stands still when it doesn't. Two things almost no appeal ever says are further down this page: what happens if we don't get there, and what happens if we go past it.

If we don't reach it Where the money is held

Give to the roof

The west slope has been letting water in for two winters. This pays for the survey, the scaffolding, the slate and the labour — itemised further down, adding up to exactly the target.

Toward the roof

$16,000 of $40,000 · 40%

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If we don't reach it. If we go past it.

If we're close — We do the smaller version — the west slope only — and we say so before starting
If we're a long way short — It stays in the restricted account and we come back to you with a plan
If we abandon it — Anybody who asks gets their gift back. That's a promise, not a policy line
If we go past it — The surplus stays on this building — guttering next, then the windows
Either way, you're told — In writing, to everybody who gave, whether the news is good or it isn't
What we won't do — Quietly move it into general funds and hope nobody remembers what it was for

Every appeal has a target and almost none of them says what happens at either end of it. Those six lines are most of the reason this page exists at all.

Where the money is held

A restricted account — Separate from general funds, and it can only be spent on this
Two signatures — Every payment out needs two of the three trustees. None of the three is the minister
The bar above — Real. It moves when money arrives, and it stands still when it doesn't
The accounts — Published once a year, with the appeal as its own separate line
What it has already cost — The survey and the scaffolding quote are paid for, out of this
Ask any time — For the statement, the quotes or the surveyor's report. No reason needed

Ask to see any of it

What the $40,000 buys

The survey — $2,400

Already spent, out of the first gifts that came in. The report is yours to read if you'd like it.

Scaffolding — $9,800

Six weeks of it, which is the realistic length of the job rather than the optimistic one.

Slate and lead — $16,200

Reclaimed slate where we can match it and new where we can't. Quoted in writing and dated.

Labour — $11,600

A local firm who did the church hall. We took three quotes, and this one was not the cheapest of them.

Those four add up to the target exactly. If a quote moves we'll tell you it moved rather than quietly stretch the appeal.

Nobody will be asked from the front

There is no giving talk, no envelope going along the row, and no moment in any service where somebody is put on the spot. If you never give a penny to this you will not be treated differently, and nobody at the door will know either way.

Regular givers, one-off givers and non-givers sit in the same seats and are told the same things. That isn't a policy written for this appeal — it is simply how it already works here.

★★★★★

“I gave because the page said what happens if they miss it. Not one appeal I have ever been sent has answered that question.”

Margaret S.

Gave in the first week

★★★★★

“I asked for the surveyor's report half expecting to be fobbed off. It came back the same afternoon with the quote attached to it.”

Idris H.

Asked first, gave after

Ask us anything about the money

The statement, the quotes, the surveyor's report, or how the account works. No reason needed and no follow-up afterwards.

Ask about the appeal

f 🌐✉