Will you ‘Come Out For Open Table’ by sharing and supporting our Crowdfunder?
Rainbow coloured piggy bank with four pennies at the side.
A YEAR AGO on National Coming Out Day, we launched a six-week crowdfunding campaign to raise £10,000 to bridge the gap between our budget as a new small charity and the growing demand for our support.
Thanks to 100+ generous pledges we beat our target and raised £11,000, and more than doubled the amount we receive from donors committed to giving a regular monthly amount to show ongoing support.
We needed your support because we’d seen phenomenal growth, from six people at our first gathering in 2008 to 21 communities across England and Wales supporting thousands of people today, and more to come. Read more about our impact in 2020-2021.
One year on, we’ve never been busier!
This month we’ve reached 30 communities, the largest growth we’ve ever seen. We’ve also led community consultations in nine other churches, and supported 25 churches to consider whether they can host an Open Table community, bringing the total of churches we’ve supported to more than 130.
We applied for £10k of match funding, which was not successful. But we did bring in around £15,000 in grant funding in 2022, to support training for our volunteers and support for our members nationally.
But...
We really, truly, are not secure:
Many Christian grant-makers can’t recognise or respect what we’re doing.
Many LGBT-affirming grant-makers (understandably) don’t quite trust Christians.
We are hard-pressed to keep going. We need a firmer base both of support both from organisations and individuals.
If you can help us out with funds - or help us with fundraising - please, talk to us soon.
As more people hear of us, there’s much more work to do.
We now have a permanent charity page on the Crowdfunder website where people can make one-off donations, commit to monthly giving, or create a fundraiser for OTN.
A gift from you today could help provide a safe space for an isolated LGBTQIA+ person. Even a fiver - or a fiver a month - would really make a difference.
With your support, we can continue to be there for even more LGBTQIA+ people struggling to reconcile their faith with their LGBTQIA+ identities.
Together we can work to offer everyone a safe sacred space to belong.