Transforming Church Finances with Our Expertise
Welcome to Open Door Consultants, where your church funding journey
begins.
Our mission is to help you create and nurture a sustainable, vibrant,
community-focussed place of worship whose doors are open to all the
possibilities and promises of the future.
We can help you:
Be Fundable
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Statement of Need
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Conservation and Building Management planning, QI reports and correct internal procedures and policies.
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Help with financial planning, up to date accounts and fundraising.
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Specialist funding trackers, building relationships with local and national funders and connecting with donors who share your vision for the future.
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Develop relationships with key supporters, major and corporate donors and major stakeholders, nurturing and encouraging a culture of giving of
time, talent, and treasure to encourage major donor incomes. -
Community engagement and feasibility study.
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Building relationship with National Churches and Historic England.
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Aiding in completing your Social Value Calculator.
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Build strong relationships with diocesan staff, fostering confidence and collaboration.
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Provide training, support, and encouragement to project leads.
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Embed a culture of project management excellence across the organisation.
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Build parish capacity, proactively approaching deaneries and parishes to identify strengths and challenges.
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Act as an advocate for the faith, mission, and ministry of the Church.
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Help with financial planning and fundraising.
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Foster an environment of collaboration.
Be Findable
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Who are you?
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Where are you?
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What do you do?
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Shout about all the good stuff to raise your profile.
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History and heritage, what is your story and why should we fund it?
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Social media platforms. Up to date webpage.
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Local partnerships, advertising each other working together for their communities.
"Your fundraising friend is here to simplify trust and foundation fundraising; creating applications for a variety of trusts, foundations, and specialized funding opportunities with amounts ranging from £500 to over £1 million."
Our Services
Here are just some of the services we can provide to make your place of worship findable and fundable.
Our Story
Open Door Consultants in the UK specialize in assisting churches to secure vital funding for their activities. With a focus on showcasing success stories, we bring a blend of experience, compassion, and diversity to every project we undertake.
Open Door is spearhead by Jane Bamber whose experience in the charity sector and working with churches throughout the country for over a decade has given her unique insights into the needs and challenges of the third sector. Jane has worked with some of the most well-attended churches in the country as well as rural places of worship. With a passion for community response and engagement, she brings a huge amount of knowledge and enthusiasm and is committed to preserving the heritage and impact of these Holy spaces.
"I spent many years in the charity sector raising much needed funds to support
people and services before I found myself working within the faith sector and a
recent shift towards supporting buildings. It was not the easiest of transitions, I often
found myself conflicted about raising funds for these huge, often empty old
buildings when the need of the people outside is so great.
Over many years, and across many countries I have sat with people and communities and listened and learnt the value of their church, often central to the wellbeing of their
community, town or city. Peace, worship, tranquillity, love, belonging, history,
heritage, family are just some of the words I heard time and time again. I very
quickly learned to love these builds and to understand the deep rooted
emotions attached to the conservation and preservation of not only the
building, but the communities involved.
Working closely with funders, church communities, project leads and diocesan staff, to build confidence and collaboration. Embedding a culture of project and activities management
excellence across the organisation to allow clergy and lay members to develop
programmes of activities to support growth and community response. My aim is
to make places of worship findable and fundable with greater opportunities and
areas for growth, better understanding and shared ownership so that chapels,
churches and meeting houses can stay open and used by all. I believe and act
as an advocate for the faith, mission, and ministry of the Church."
Client Stories
01
Clara Pereira,
Heritage Engagement Manager, St. Marylebone Parish
"Working with Jane on heritage and community projects has been both inspiring and deeply impactful. She has an exceptional ability to connect the historical significance of church buildings with the present-day needs of the communities they serve. From ‘The Big Egg Hunt’—a joyful city-wide celebration that brought art, heritage, and local engagement into the heart of our church—to the elegant event marking the restoration of the St Marylebone Rieger organ, Jane consistently champions initiatives that honour both the past and the present.
Her thoughtful leadership ensures these projects not only celebrate heritage but also create space for new stories, voices, and audiences.
Jane understands that preserving heritage isn’t just about bricks and mortar—it’s about people. She brings a sensitivity to local context and a real gift for drawing out the stories, memories, and potential of these sacred spaces. Her ability to engage funders, clergy, volunteers, and local stakeholders is remarkable, always ensuring the project reflects both the legacy and the future of the church community.
With her insight, energy, and strategic approach, Jane makes churches not only findable and fundable—but genuinely valued as places of belonging, wellbeing, and outreach."
02
Roger Britton
Chair Of Community First
"Jane stepped into the role on the departure of the then Chief Executive to a post in
the NHS. To take the helm of any long-standing organisation is a challenge but Jane
was given the additional task of leading a deep-dive review of the organisation: its
operations, purpose and finance to make it secure and fit for purpose in the post-
pandemic environment and then driving through the conclusions of that review.
As Chair I had the fortune to work closely with Jane through this period and the
following comments are based on that experience.
She has a deep and astute understanding of the sector. This is born of her work
history but also because the recent roles have brought her into contact with a
wide range of organisations both in the work they deliver and also in their
differing approaches.
Jane is insightful and able to synthesise a range of intelligence and observations
into an accurate analysis of the situation.
Going beyond that she is able to devise recommendations from that analysis
which also incorporate an understanding of “where the organisation is at” and
expresses that with real clarity.
Inevitably, given the nature of the challenge there was a good deal of “noise”.
Jane is adept at cutting through obfuscation to ensure that the right, and often
difficult questions are addressed.
Success demands a powerful determination which she certainly has, both in her
own work and in leading and sometimes pushing others, both staff and the
Board, forward.
In doing this she leads from the front, willing to roll up her own sleeves,
demonstrate appropriate approaches and always willing to go the extra mile.