Maximise on parish resource and increase income with Sharesy - a new opportunity for Diocese of Bristol parishes.
The Diocese of Bristol has negotiated a partnership with Sharesy to help ease the administrative burden associated with renting out the spaces in parishes and schools. Sharesy enables local people and businesses to book your church and school spaces through their platform, increasing your income with minimal admin effort.
Sharesy has had great success in the Diocese of London and we have developed this partnership to support parishes in Bristol, Swindon and across the rural areas of the Diocese. The platform has received outstanding feedback from its community venue partners and bookers and has been featured in Church Times.
Book an online meeting with Felix from Sharesy or Register your interest in Sharesy here
Why sign up now?
- Complete control for your parish: By signing up to Sharesy you maintain complete control over your bookings. Sharesy acts as an extension of your team, but you make all key decisions. You still have the power to accept or decline every booking taken through the platform. Your parish also defines specific terms and conditions for your bookings. This could include maintaining cleanliness and tidiness, and restrictions on the types of activities permitted at the parish, to align with your parish's values and ethos.
- Reduced admin: Sharesy will promote your spaces, handle the back and forth with your bookers, manage invoicing and take payments. At the end of each month, Sharesy will simply make one payment to you, less their commission.
- Huge fundraising potential: Community venues in London generate an average of £1,000-£2,000 per month, with top performing venues earning upwards of £8,000 per month.
- Commission covered by Diocesan Support Services (DSS): In a special agreement with Sharesy, we will cover a 2% reduction in the commission paid to Sharesy on all new bookings for the first two years. And, should you choose to transfer existing bookings to Sharesy to benefit from their centralised calendar, we've covered an 8% reduction in commission on this service, meaning that it'll result in no reduction of your existing hall hire earnings.
- Stripe fees covered for early adopters: Sharesy will cover payment processing fees until the end of March 2025. So the sooner you sign up, the better!
- Free marketing materials: Sign up to Sharesy before the end of September 2024 and you will be provided with complimentary marketing materials, including a banner and flyers for your church to promote your spaces.
- Friendly business terms: Sharesy has no fixed fees or any other hidden charges and no contract lock in. The platform simply charges a commission on bookings taken, which will be covered for up to 2 years by DSS.
Your questions, answered
I want to know more about Sharesy. What do they do?
Sharesy is a marketplace that empowers local venues to manage the entire space hire process – think the AirBnB of community venue hire. They connect you with potential bookers, take the hassle out of managing your availability and streamline payments - all through a secure online platform.
We already have bookings in our parish diary, what is the benefit of Sharesy over managing our own diary?
Sharesy simplifies the booking process, allowing your parish to remain in control of accepting or declining bookings while the platform handles all the administrative tasks. You only need to ensure your building is open for bookings as per your availability.
You can also sync Sharesy with your existing calendar (for example: Google Cal, Outlook and more).
I'm not technically minded, will I have support in setting up the platform?
In short, yes! By signing up as an early adopter, Sharesy commit to taking you through the process on a 1:1 basis, making sure that you are completely satisfied and confident with using the tool before your venue goes live on the platform.
When listing my venue and spaces, do you charge a set up fee?
Nope - there are no set up fees to get on the platform. The Sharesy pricing model means that they only get paid if you do as well. And in the first two years of the agreement, we have organised for the Diocese to discount the commission paid to Sharesy, taking the pressure off our parishes and schools. Stripe (the credit card payment provider) charge a 1.5% fee which you can choose to pay, or to pass on to the booker of your venue.
Can we get a demo of the platform?
Absolutely! By signing up now as an early adopter, you will have a bespoke run through of the platform, so that you can feel confident in managing your bookings when we go live.
I'm interested in partnering with Sharesy - how can I get my venue listed?
To get started or if you have any questions, please either book in a meeting with Felix or register your interest here. Onboarding will be taking place throughout the summer, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us, should you wish to be involved.
For more information about Sharesy and the support they offer please visit the Sharesy FAQs page for venue hosts.