In-Kind Contributions

Support in-kind means a non-cash contribution to your project, such as materials, services, or time that someone provides free of charge or at a reduced rate. This can strengthen your project and demonstrates community support.

Congregations, fellowships, and individuals (but not Districts or other funders) can include in-kind donations as part of their contribution to the project to help match the General Assembly’s contribution to a project, capped at up to 10% of the total project cost. We may consider a higher proportion of in-kind donations in exceptional circumstances.

For example:

Income source	% of total project costs	Cash donation	Market value of in-kind donations
Volunteer hours, pro bono legal services	10%		£5,000
Congregation’s cash donation	10%	£5,000
District	30%	£15,000
GA Innovation Fund	50%	£25,000

In this example, the project requires £45,000 to run and additional services/facilities equivalent to £5,000 will also be donated, making the total ‘cost’ of the project £50,000.

All in-kind contributions must relate directly to the funded project whilst the project is taking place.

We will only consider cash (rather than in-kind) contributions from Districts and others funders to a congregation’s initiative. In exceptional circumstances we may consider in-kind donations from Districts to match the General Assembly’s funding, but please discuss this with us before applying.

Eligible in-kind contributions

Activities, materials, or services that:

• are essential to the project,
• you would otherwise need to pay for, and
• do not already belong to you.

Examples include:

• Equipment normally hired for a fee (e.g. vehicles, PA systems, IT equipment).
• Free use of a space owned by someone else, which you would otherwise hire.
• The equivalent income your congregation will lose from being unable to rent your own spaces as a direct result of the project.
• Specialist support (e.g. mentoring, consultancy, fundraising, business advice) provided free or at a reduced rate, where the specialist explicitly offers this.
• Marketing and promotional support (e.g. web design, printing, digital marketing).
• Discounted or waived fees for services (e.g. filming or photography) or materials.
• Additional volunteer time needed for the project (see below).
• Management fees (e.g. to cover the additional/reallocated time that other staff spend line managing/working with a new project staff member).

Not eligible as in-kind contributions

• Activities, services, or materials provided before/after the project period.
• Property or goods you already own.
• The resale value of a property/site you own.
• Time spent on governance duties by trustees.

How to calculate the value of in-kind donations

The cash value of in-kind contributions must be based on a fair market rate, supported by a reasonable source of evidence (for example, an invoice, quotation, or statement of comparable cost).

Volunteer time

You can estimate the value of general volunteer time using the National Living Wage (currently £12.21 per hour in 2025), and £20 per hour for specialists in highly trained roles (e.g. legal, financial, professional consultancy). Volunteer contributions should be reasonable and proportionate to the project.

Free use of spaces/rental costs

This must be based on current published rental rates for the venue. Please provide evidence that people currently use the venue and pay this rate.

Evidence and verification

Applicants must keep a record of in-kind contributions (e.g. volunteer hour logs, letters from donors, or invoices showing discounts). The GA may request this evidence and reserves the right to adjust valuations if necessary.