The Trust operates a match funding model whereby any Bonar Trust grant must be matched by the local church. The Trust also expects the individual to raise some level of personal support.

The rationale behind this model is to put the responsibility for training in the local church. Funding is an important expression of that. Moreover, a funding commitment from the local church and a personal support base gives the Trust and its supporters confidence it is investing in the right people.

This model achieves a much higher overall investment in training. Very often the Trust’s willingness to fund, conditional on shared funding, is the catalyst that generates the other sources of funding. With most people the Trust supports financially, the other sources of funding combined (funding from the training church and personal support) is more than twice the Trust’s investment. Every £1 the Trust invests generates a £2-3 overall investment in training.