development of a business plan that facilitated lottery funding

St John and St Martin Catholic Church is situated in one of the most ethnically diverse and socially deprived districts of Birmingham. The parish had an old church hall that was used spasmodically and desperately needed refurbishment.   

The Parish priest, Father Dominic and a small number of volunteers from the parish decided they wanted to significantly improve the hall. They contacted an independent fundraiser who in turn asked me to write a business plan for the project that would help develop a £550,000 bid to the lottery fund. 

​The business plan included detailed research within the city as to the viability of a high-quality community-based venue as well as financial budgets, cash flow and pricing. This was supplemented with consultation with key stake holders within the church, partner organisations and other faith and non-faith groups that led to the development of a robust SWOT analysis. 
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The bid was successful, and I was able to give additional support when the Parish priest was taken ill to ensure a lottery funded strengths-based review was carried out which provided a strategic action plan for the parish.  

​I was also asked to source a new dedicated website and oversaw the successful operational project plan from old church hall to new modern urban village.  The hall is an asset for the whole community not just the church thanks to the vision of the parishioners and will be open by the end of November 2019.