Purpose:

In becoming a community church one of the challenges is that of opening our facilities to the community for public use.  To maintain order and to insure fairness to all parties we set forth these policies to be used as guidelines in establishing facility use fairly for all. This policy shall be the guidelines we use for all parties wanting to use the facility for their approved functions.

Application:

All parties seeking to use the facilities must make application to do so.  These applications can be provided by a sponsor, online, from a department head, or from the facilities manager.  All applications must be filled out in full and returned to the facilities manager for review and forwarding through the approval process.  Approval process can be lengthy so plan your event no less than 4-6 weeks before it is to occur to assure you make it to the calendar schedule.  Every applicant must have a sponsor for their event.

Sponsorship:

Each department head is an approved sponsor for facility events.  A list of sponsors can be found at the church office or online.  In the process of making application you must have a sponsor in order to have your application approved.  The sponsor is responsible for the overall event.  If any property is damaged or the room(s) in use are not returned to their former condition it is the sponsor who will be ultimately responsible for making sure everything is made whole.  The sponsor will report to the facility manager if any problems arose and if any of the deposit money should be held to cover clean up fees or damaged items.  Sponsors are responsible to oversee the setup and take down of an event and that their sponsored function is going as planned. 

Application review:

All applications will go through a review process for approval or disapproval based on several factors.  All events will be classified as either as member event, a non member event, or a church attendee that is not in covenant with World Harvest.  This determination will be the factor used in accessing fees and deposits that are to be applied to facility use.  The in covenant member enjoys many of their fees waived due to their support of World Harvest.  All applicants will pay refundable damage deposits that will be funded at the end of the event once it has been determined that all criteria for refund have been met.  The flow of application review goes from stewardship to a committee who will review the event application and approve or disapprove.  Once approved it returns to the facility manager with the required deposits and fees if approved or is returned not approved.  Either way the facility manager will notify the requestor of the status of their application.  If application fails in committee a reason will not be given; it will be understood that the committee has final say on what events are or are not approved.

Approved events:

Once we reach an approval and notification is given in order to be posted on the calendar and the booking reserved the damage deposit must be received plus ½ of the fees at the time of booking.  The balance of the fees must be paid within 2 weeks of the event or the reservation will be canceled.  In the case of non-payment of the fees within the time frame the monies paid will be refunded except for the deposit which will be retained to defer the cost of the approval process.

When setting up for an event the sponsor must oversee the set up and take down and that the room used will be restored to its previous condition.  People who use the facilities are responsible to clean up after their events and failure to do so will result in losing part of their deposit for costs incurred in the process of cleaning up.  An inventory will be taken before and after the event to assure no damages or theft have occurred to property.

No alcohol or tobacco is permitted to be used on World Harvest property.  Any infractions are to be reported and will result in future disapprovals for use of the facilities.

Catering services:

We also offer banquet rooms in which we will provide catered food services for more information on food menus offered and cost contact us and we will provide more detailed information.

Other services:

In the fees document it covers fees associated with the event.  Some of the other services offered which have fees accessed are as follows:

Minister (for sponsored event)

Sound Technician(for any event requiring audio/video services)

Wedding Planner (required if you are sponsoring a wedding)

All applicants pay these fees for these services as they require time and scheduling of people as well as resources. 

Closing statements:

We encourage you to use the facilities and to enjoy the resources WHCC offers its members and the community.  If there is any way we can improve our services to you please let us know.

World Harvest Community Church

Facility Use Policy