London church raises
Howard Lake | 16 May 2013 | News
All Saints Church in Islington has raised nearly £150,000 over four years by renting out its parking spaces. The church, located close to St Pancras Station, has used the money to fund community projects that benefit the homeless, local residents and parents.
The parking space rental has been handled by ParkatmyHouse, which offers an online marketplace for drivers and those with parking space available. The site has handled over 5,000 bookings for the church in the last four years. About a quarter of users are people using the station, with the rest working in the local area.
Other churches are trying to emulate their success. ParkatmyHouse says that the number of churches signing up on their website has more than doubled. While many are in London, there are others now taking part based in Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol.
Advertisement
About ParkatmyHouse
The company, founded in San Francisco, has over 200,000 clients in the UK who book a driveway, garage or car paking space on a one-off or long-term basis. Residential home-owners can benefit from it, but so too can churches, offices and restaurants.
There is no charge to list parking spaces on the site.
Alex Stephany CEO of ParkatmyHouse.com said: "We’re proud to be able to connect these churches with people who need to rent the spaces. It’s really exciting to see these business-savvy churches taking part in the so-called ‘sharing economy’ and reaping the benefits. In turn, they’re providing a valuable service to their local communities."
Vicar Ted Fell of All Saints Church, Islington encouraged other churches to consider renting out their unused outdoor space.
Photo: Car park sign by fotoedu on Shutterstock.com
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.