Raising funds for new church seating can be one of the most challenging parts of upgrading church facilities. Whether it’s an annual appeal, community fundraising, or seeking alternative funding, the effort required is significant, emotionally, financially, and organisationally.
After more than 25 years supplying church seating across Australia and New Zealand, we’ve seen every fundraising story imaginable, from legacy buildings with orange vinyl benches and shag-pile carpet, through to full rebuilds with architects and designers involved. One thing remains consistent: when churches work hard to raise funds, it’s critical that their seating investment works just as hard in return.
It’s important to ensure your investment (into church furniture) works as hard as you did to fund it.
Proven Fundraising Strategies Churches Use for New Seating
## Quick Summary: Churches use a range of fundraising strategies to upgrade seating, including vision giving, sponsorship, community fundraising, loans, and social enterprise initiatives. Once funds are raised, choosing durable, flexible, commercial-grade seating ensures the investment delivers long-term value and avoids repeated fundraising cycles.
1. Vision Giving
Many churches run an annual appeal - sometimes called vision giving or impact giving. This appeal allows a church to raise funds over and above weekly giving; often solely used for operational costs. Many churches will put capital expenditure projects for church facilities, such as new carpet or new church seating, into this type of fundraising strategy. This method works well for churches that already have this type of vision built into their culture.
2. An all out church furniture fundraising push!
Think public thermometer with rising red line, cake stalls, youth car-washes, garage sales and community drives. This method is often slower but seems to work well for smaller community-based churches.
3. Investment
Some churches seek loans or investment funding to rebuild, refurbish or refresh their church buildings - including their church seating. We’ve also heard of churches that have been loaned the money from a philanthropic member at either no interest or low interest over a defined term.
4. Sponsor a chair
Many churches use sponsorship to break down the cost of upgrading church seating into bite- sized chunks for individual church members. By sponsoring a chair, individuals are part of ‘crowdfunding’ the seating for the church auditorium bit by bit. Some churches offer sponsors credit rights via a small plaque on each chair or a larger plaque on the wall. If that isn’t your style we’ve heard of churches sending out certificates to acknowledge the ‘we did it’ sentiment. This is a great way to make a big sum affordable for many. This approach allows churches to make large seating upgrades achievable without placing pressure on a single funding source.
5. Social enterprise
Some church communities have clever people who create revenue streams by running businesses and return profits to the church for a specific project. This is great if you have particularly entrepreneurial people in your congregation.
6. Turning your trash into someone else’s treasure
This strategy may not always convert into the full amount of your new church furniture but it may get you started on the journey. Old furniture can often be the ‘piece de resistance’ of a retro cafe, restaurant or youth centre. Old wooden pews or furniture in good condition can sometimes be upcycled therefore making them a source of income for the new furniture budget. Or maybe someone in the congregation is willing to take apart your old chairs and sell the frames for scrap metal.
Why Choosing the Right Seating Matters After Fundraising
Now that you’ve spent all this time and effort fundraising here are four reasons why we think Alloyfold Church furniture gets you the best satisfaction for your hard earned $’s.
Reason #1: Our church chairs are designed to last & reduce fundrasing needs.
Church seating is used multiple times a week and moved, stacked, and stored regularly. Our chairs are designed for long-term use, helping churches avoid the cost and disruption of replacing seating every few years.
Features such as T-nut fasteners and our Airtech foam seat base are engineered to maintain comfort and structural integrity over time, protecting the funds your community worked hard to raise.
We've been selling church chairs for a while now (20 years)! That means we've worked on a product that provides you and your church with maximum comfort, ultimate return on investment and a long, happy product lifetime!
Reason #2: We've delivered some neat church furniture projects
Our range includes not only linking church chairs but also fixed auditorium seating and retractable seating for churches. We've had the privilege of partnering with some great churches and delivering some great projects such as: the colourful Horsham Church of Christ, fixed auditorium seating for Bridge Church, the post-earthquake rebuild churches - All Souls and Christchurch Salvation Army, and a great retractable system at the Australia for Christ Church. For our full range of products, request a product guide here.
Reason #3: We're local just like you!
If you need any help through your order process or post sale, our Australian and New Zealand teams know you, are in your zone and are here to care about the best solutions for you and your church.
Reason #4 : One chair can change a life - in our community.
Really? Yes! Alloyfold is a social enterprise wholly owned by Pathway Charitable Group. Profits from the sale of chairs provide vital funds to enable Pathway to help people in need make a fresh start with accommodation, employment and prisoner reintegration.
Common Questions Churches Ask When Upgrading Seating
Is commercial-grade seating worth the cost?
For churches that use their space weekly or for multiple purposes, higher-quality seating often costs less over time due to reduced replacement and maintenance.
Can seating work for multi-purpose spaces?
Stackable and linking chairs allow churches to reconfigure spaces for services, events, and community use.
Should we fundraise again in the future?
Choosing durable seating helps many churches avoid repeated fundraising cycles for the same need.
If your church is planning to upgrade seating after fundraising, Alloyfold can help you choose solutions that maximise lifespan, comfort, and value.
View our View our Church Chair & Church Furniture Range or enquire here to request pricing and guidance for your project