Grants of between £300 and £10,000 for heritage and community activities in the local community are available. Awards for All doesn't fund anything which actively promotes religion, so is suitable for projects which can demonstrate a benefit to the community in general rather than the church in particular. This is aimed at small organisations, with an income of less than £20,000 per year, and approximately half of eligible applications have received grants in the past. These are community grants. The priorities are:
improve quality of life
Details, guidance notes and application form can be found at www.awardsforall.org.uk
The Reaching Communities programme has two strands:
- Reaching Communities - funding from £10,000 to £500,000 for revenue projects and/or smaller capital projects up to £50,000
- Reaching Communities buildings - funding of between £100,000 and £500,000 for large capital projects
Reaching Communities funds projects that help people and communities most in need. Projects can be new or existing, or be the core work of your organisation.
Every project we fund must:
- Respond to need - Need is the term we use to describe a problem or issue, or situation where something needs to change to make things better for a person, or group of people or environment.
- Involve the people who will benefit from the project in planning and running the project
- Achieve one or more of the following four outcomes:
- People having better chances in life, with better access to training and development to improve their life skills
- Stronger communities, with more active citizens working together to tackle their problems
- Improved rural and urban environments, which communities are better able to access and enjoy
- Healthier and more active people and communities.
The website is at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/prog_reaching_communities
Anyone thinking of applying to this fund should look at the website which contains detailed guidance for applicants.
There is also a National Lottery helpline at 0845 4 10 20 30, or questions can be emailed to enquiries@biglotteryfund.org.uk
Repair Grants for Places of Worship
This scheme gives grants for urgent repairs to listed buildings which are in regular use as public places of worship.
Grants are offered in two stages. Stage-one development funding enables projects to be planned and the repair costs established. Stage-two repair grants will only be offered once projects have been fully developed and the costs are known.
Successful applicants will be expected to implement a ten-year maintenance plan for their place of worship and to provide a guaranteed level of public access to the building, outside the usual hours of worship.
The main focus of the scheme is on urgent repairs required within two years, to high level elements of buildings such as roofs, spires, towers, associated masonry and rainwater disposal systems. Other urgent repairs to historic fabric at risk of loss can also be considered. Works need to be identified by a recent condition survey (e.g. quinquenniel report).
Priority will be given to single repair projects which can be carried out in a single contract and have total costs (including fees and VAT) of less than £200,000.
Grants do not cover new works, alterations and improvements, building services, minor repairs, maintenance or work to contents, fixtures and fittings.
Projects with total costs (including fees and VAT) of less than £10,000 will not normally be considered.
Details and application form can be found at www.hlf.org.uk
- Each county council member can recommend local projects for financial support up to £10,000 per year per councillor.
- Each Local Board can also consider capital bids of up to £20,000 for large projects.
- The Local Schemes grant has £400,000 available.
These funds can be used for buildings or other projects. Contact your local area Community Liaison Manager on local.boards@kent.gov.uk, or at Room 1.94, Sessions House, Maidstone ME14 1XQ.
More information can be found at
www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/democracy-and-elections/local-democracy
Formerly known as the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, this scheme can provide funding for churches which are close to landfill sites.
Biffa will fund churches, but only if the church is looking to improve the building for community benefit.
Viridor have only one site in the diocese, close to Sturry.
A full list of landfill sites can be obtained from http://customshmrc.gov.uk
Further information can be obtained from www.ltcs.org.uk or www.entrust.org.uk
A grant scheme in which churches can reclaim the amount spent on VAT on repairs to listed places of worship. From 1 April 2011 there have been changes to the way this scheme operates.
The scheme now has quarterly fixed budgets.
- The first payments under the new scheme will be made in September 2011;
- Payments will be made once per quarter and the payable rate will depend on the value of the eligible claims received in that quarter, with each claim attracting a pro-rata payment.
- Application will be made in the same way as before, except that it will not be possible to accept claims where the supporting invoices are more than one year old.
Professional fees and repairs to organs, pews, bells and clocks are no longer eligible works under this scheme.
The grant scheme is administered by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
For full details of this scheme and an application form visit www.lpwscheme.org.uk
Allchurches Trust makes a large number of fairly small grants in support of 'churches, church establishments, religious establishments, religious charities, charities preserving UK heritage, theological colleges, schools promoting Christian religion, charities sponsored or recommended by the Church, the local community and the welfare of the disadvantaged and disabled.' Their remit is fairly wide and they receive a particularly large number of applications.
Details and application form can be found at www.allchurches.co.uk
The Bernard Sunley Charitable Trust is a large charitable trust with a wide range of interests and limited written guidance for groups and organisations who wish to apply. Projects can be funded in fields including:
- Education
- Arts
- Community
- Children and youth
- Elderly people
- Health
- Social welfare
- Environment.
There is no application form, and very brief guidelines for applicants. To apply, you should write to the director of the Trust, giving details of:
- Your charity and its aims
- How much your project will cost
- The size of the grant requested
- How much has already been raised and from whom
- How you plan to raise the shortfall.
You should include an annual report and any other documentation that you feel could support your appeal. Grants range from £1,000 to £250,000, but most will be for less than £10,000. The foundation can support capital projects, endowments, scholarship funds, research programmes and research funding.
Guidelines can be obtained from and applications should be made to:
John Rimmington, Director
The Bernard Sunley Charitable Trust, 20 Berkely Square, London W13 6LH
Tel: 020 7408 2198
This charity will support appeals relating to Grade 1 listed churches in villages with a population of less than 1,000. There must be evidence of support for the project from the local community. Grants are not more than £3,000.
'Advancement of religion' is excluded from this charity's grant giving, so this is really only for buildings.
Details and application form can be found at www.lankellychase.org.uk
This was formerly known as The Central Church Fund, and is administered by the Archbishops' Council. The CCF gives grants to community projects run by parish churches, deaneries, dioceses and other bodies connected to or working in partnership with the Church of England.
Typical projects supported by the CCF might include employing a youth worker, renovating an old church hall for use as a community centre, providing toilets or disabled access to a church, or providing hot meals for the homeless in a church room.
This fund won't support projects which can't clearly demonstrate the potential for outreach to the community. It won't fund maintenance, restoration or repairs to church buildings.
Details and application form can be found at www.churchandcommunityfund.org.uk
Grants of up to £3,000. This will support Day Care projects designed to assist and support women and children, particularly single parent families. Most grants go to areas of deprivation.
There is no website, but applications can be obtained from
The Secretary, 15 Marina Court, Alfred Street, Bow, London E3 2BH.
The Colyer-Fergusson Charitable Trust makes grants to charities and churches in Kent aiming to improve quality of life, tackle poverty, social isolation or exclusion and protect the natural resources and heritage of the local areas for their inhabitants. In 2007 the trust received 114 eligible applications and made
Trust priorities:
The trust currently has the following priority areas:
(a) Projects that are innovative or developmental and aim to tackle social isolation, exclusion or poverty as they affect the community
(b) Projects that involve the utilisation of church buildings or other church resources to the wider community and can demonstrate a practical need
(c) Projects that involve the preservation of the natural environment or heritage and promote community access to these resources
(d) Projects that will use the arts to provide the community with a new creative experience or increase access to the arts in locations where access is limited.
Extra consideration will be given to projects that encourage self-help; involve users in their management; have built in evaluation procedures; will use funds to lever funding from other sources.
HOW TO APPLY
All applicants must complete the on-line application form. There is no deadline for applications and all applications will be acknowledged. Trustees meet regularly during the year and decisions are usually processed within six months. All applicants will be notified in writing.
SUPPORTING MATERIAL
Applicants are asked, where possible, to submit any supporting material by email as scanned documents or files to admin@cfct.org.uk
EXCLUSIONS:
- Animal welfare charities
- Individuals directly
- Research (except practical research designed to benefit the local community directly)
- Hospitals or schools
- Political activities
- Commercial ventures or publications
- The purchase of vehicles including mini-buses
- Overseas travel or holidays
- Retrospective grants or loans
- Direct replacement of statutory funding or activities that are primarily the responsibility of central or local government
- Large capital, endowment or widely distributed appeals
- Applications from churches and charities working outside Kent (see Exceptional Grants)
- The revenue costs of work that is on-going already where the Trust has been asked to meet an apportioned cost attributed to Kent.
The number of applications in relation to the limited funds available is very large so many good proposals, even though they fit the criteria, still have to be turned down.
Details and application form can be found at www.cfct.org.uk
The Council for the Care of Churches is part of the Archbishop's Council and offers grants for church fabric, and also furnishing and fittings. They don't fund reordering, new building, lighting or heating. Although they don't publish their criteria they are happy to talk to anyone who would like to know whether their project is eligible for funding.
They also administer grants on behalf of the Wolfson Foundation, which are available for Grade 1 or Grade II* listed churches, which predate 1850, for which 50% of the funding is already in place.
The contact is Mr Andrew Argyrakis, Church House, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3NZ, Tel: 020 7898 1885, email: enquiries@ccc.c-of-e.org.uk
The Georgian Group administers the F E Cleary Heritage Fund, a small charitable trust whose aim is the conservation of Georgian architecture. The Group's Executive Committee act as the Fund's Trustees.
Each year the Fund makes grants of between £350 and £1,000 to about ten projects. Grants are usually made towards the conservation of buildings, although they may occasionally be given towards other projects such as the recording of threatened buildings. The sums involved as small and the Trustee's intention is therefore to prime schemes, prompt other sources to make grants and to fund specific elements in larger schemes.
The Trustees meet annually in September to consider all applications received over the year. The deadline is usually towards the end of August. The following notes explain what information should accompany an application for a grant and the conditions attached to grants.
- Supporting Information
Applicants should submit the following:
a) A description of the building.
b) A description of the works proposed and explanation of why they are necessary.
c) Estimates of the cost.
d) Plans and drawings showing the works.
5) Images showing both general views of the building and, where appropriate, details of the defects to be repaired.
It is important that sufficient information be provided.
- Conditions attached to Grants
a) Once a grant is awarded it will remain available for three years. In some cases this period may be extended, but usually it will be necessary to re-apply for a grant if it has not been taken up within the period.
b) Payment will be made, at the discretion of the Group's officers, upon completion of the works. Submission of relevant approval documents, upon completion of the works. Submission of relevant approval documents, such as DAC or Listed Building Consent Approvals, will be required where relevant.
c) Recipients must acknowledge the Group in any publicity arising from the work. Colour slides illustrating the building after completion of the work must be provided to match those submitted with the application.
The Georgian Group, 6 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 5DX
Tel: 020 7529 8920 Fax: 020 7529 8939
Email: office@georgiangroup.org.uk
www.georgiangroup.org.uk
This trust gives grants to churches in use of architectural merit or historic importance in Kent (pre-1965 boundaries) and help to maintain in good order their fabric and fixtures of special importance.
This includes all works to maintain the fabric, windows, floors, and monuments
Exclusions: Reordering, new extensions, toilets or kitchens, heating, redecorating or rewiring, bells, clocks or organs.
Further details and application form are at www.friendsofkentchurch.co.uk
This is a very large trust which gave 574 grants, worth £7.3 million to churches and other religious projects in 2007, mostly for amounts of less than £10,000. In 2002 the success rate for applications was about 50%. They have a broad remit and will fund both repairs and projects which benefit the wider community. They are particularly keen on projects which are 'inclusive'. They don't have many exclusions, but salaries are unlikely to get funding.
Details and application form are at www.garfieldweston.org
Funds structural repairs to churches which are over 100 years old. Most grants are in the region of about £2,000, though they can be as much as £15,000. The trust receives about 1,000 queries each year, making roughly 250 grants.
Churches less than 100 years old can apply to The Incorporated Church Building Society via the Historic Churches Preservation Fund.
Details at www.historicchurches.org.uk
The Idlewild Trust makes grants to registered charities (not to individuals) concerned with the encouragement of excellence in the performing and fine arts and the preservation for the benefit of the public of buildings and items of historical interest or national importance.
Occasional support is given to bodies for educational bursaries in these fields and for conservation of the natural environment. Some grants have been given for the fabric of churches, but unless there is something of national importance about your church, you are unlikely to receive a grant.
The Trust's interest is national and it is unlikely to support a project of local, parochial interest only.
Applying for a Grant
Check below to ensure that your project does not fall into one of the excluded areas.
If your project is not obviously excluded, you may wish to telephone and talk through your application before applying formally. Please ring 020 8772 3155 on Tuesday or Wednesday between 10am and 4pm.
Apply by post, sending in a fully completed application form together with a covering letter and the documents below:
You must include:
Detailed costing of the project including funds raised to date
A list of all funding applications you have made, including results
A set of your most recent audited accounts
A copy of your most recent Annual Report
Please ensure that all sections of the application form are fully completed. Boxes containing nothing but the words "see attached" will prejudice your appeal.
All applications that go forward for consideration by the Trustees are acknowledged, whether or not a grant is made. Other applications will not be acknowledged unless a stamped addressed envelope is enclosed.
You are advised to use ordinary first class post, not registered, special or recorded delivery.
Exclusions
The Idlewild Trust does not usually make grants for: -
- Local appeals - unless the artistic significance of the project is of more than local importance
- Repetitive nation-wide appeals by large charities
- Appeals where all or most of the recipients live outside the UK
- Appeals whose sole or main purpose is to make grants from the funds collected
- Endowment or deficit funding
- Individuals
NB. These exclusions are to guide you in the process of drawing up an application. If you are unsure about a particular project, please telephone the administrator to discuss it.
Applications from an organisation within 18 months of a previous grant will not be considered, so this should be taken into account when a submission is made.
If your application is not successful, you may apply again for the following meeting.
The Trustees usually meet in May and November each year. Closing dates are about 2 months before each meeting and are published on the website www.idlewildrust.org.uk .
In one typical year, the Trust received 400 appeals, 63 were shortlisted and 56 grants were awarded, the largest being £5,000.
The Morris Fund was formed in 1939 following the death of May Morris, the younger daughter of William and Jane Morris. Under the terms of her will the Society of Antiquaries received her residuary estate 'for the purpose of providing a fund for the protection of ancient buildings'. May Morris required that grants should be made only to works that are carried out according to the principles of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), which was founded by her father. The Fund has been boosted lately thanks to the generosity of Mrs Lesley Philips, FSA.
Applications will be accepted according to the following criteria and terms:
- Grants are limited to churches, chapels and other places of worship in the United Kingdom;
- Only buildings or monuments erected before 1896 (the date of William Morris's death) will be eligible;
- Assurances are required that grant-aided work will be completed within one year of receipt of the grant;
- The completion of the work must be certified by an appropriate professional;
- Preference is given to limited programmes of work concerned with the conservation of decorative features; for example, stained glass windows, sculpture, furniture, internal monuments and tombs, and wall paintings;
- Grants towards major structural repairs and fabric maintenance are considered only under exceptional circumstances;
Please note the following restrictions:
- Repairs to bells or organs, alteration or decoration of buildings, electrical rewiring and the repair or installation of central heating systems are excluded;
- Grants do not normally exceed £1,000;
- Grants are not given retrospectively for works already completed;
- Applications are considered only when a professional architect or established conservator has been engaged to direct the work.
The Fund's committee is composed of Officers of the Society and Fellows with expertise who are able to advise on applications. Applications must be received by 31 August for consideration in the following November or by 31 March for consideration in the following May.
Twelve copies must be provided of the completed application form. It is not necessary to make twelve copies of supporting documents as the initial assessment of the application is based solely on the information supplied on the form, though supporting documents will be viewed and discussed at the meeting.
www.sal.org.uk/grants/williamandjanemorris
This is one of a group of foundations connected with the Laing family. All are administered from the same office and an application to one of the foundations is considered an application to all of them. They have a very general remit but don't give grants for the running costs of local organisations. Grants are not likely to be for more than £10,000 and often considerably less.
There is no website and no application form. To apply send a short letter with the following information:
- What the money is for
- How much is needed
- How much has already been found
- Where the rest is to come from.
A copy of the organisation's latest report and accounts together with a self addressed envelope should be included.
Applications to: Miss Elizabeth Harley, 33 Bunns Lane, Mill Hill, London NW7 2DX
This charity's funds are fully committed for 2011 and won't be issuing applications forms until 1 January 2012. This charity makes grants of not more than £5,000 to Church of England churches which are situated in the three counties of Kent, Surrey and Lincolnshire as those counties were defined in 1855. The charity won't fund more than 50% of any particular project, but is willing to make a grant before other funding is secured.
The qualifying work is for restoration, repair or improvement to the principal worship areas of a church. Items such as heating systems or disability access can be funded, but redecoration won't be.
Exclusions include: stained glass, bells, monuments, brasses, clocks, church halls, parish meeting rooms, furniture or fittings, external lighting or grounds. Projects which involve reordering to create community spaces won't be funded.
You need to write a letter or send an e-mail to the Clerk to the Trustees, giving the name and location of the Church and a brief (30 - 40 words maximum) description of the proposed work.
If there are funds available, you will be sent an application form, which needs to be returned completed within three months.
In the first instance enquiries for these grants should be made in writing to the Clerk to the Trustees at the Charity, who is happy to discuss a project and will provide an application form. There is a website at www.marshalls.org.uk
Applications to: Clerk to the Trustees, Marshall House, 66 Newcomen Street, London SE1 1YT,
Tel: 020 7407 2979 Email: grantoffice@marshalls.org.uk
This trust gives significant sums for churches, but channels the money through the Historic Churches Preservation Fund.
Until recently The Pilgrim Trust made an annual block grant to the Council for the Care of Churches for the conservation of historic contents (organs, bells, glass and monuments etc.) and important structures and monuments in church yards for places of worship of all denominations. This arrangement has now ceased and applications for such grants, after the end of 2005, should be addressed to the Pilgrim Trust until new arrangements can be put in place.
Re-ordering of churches for wider community use is specifically excluded.
Details and application form are at www.thepilgrimtrust.org.uk
A number of churches are happy to have mobile phone masts and other telecommunications aerials sited on spires or towers, and this can generate significant income, although it should be noted that siting a telephone mast on a church can sometimes generate opposition in local communities.
Churches thinking about this are advised to contact the DAC or archdeacon for advice.
Further details can be found at www.aerials.cofe.anglican.org
The Veneziana Fund receives funds from the sale of the Pizza Veneziana at restaurants belong to Pizza Express and the Peter Boizot Group. Customers ordering this particular pizza pay a small supplement. Half the proceeds go to the Venice in Peril Fund and the other half is available for grants for the preservation, restoration, repair and maintenance of:
Buildings originally constructed before 1750
Fixtures and fittings of such buildings constructed/fitted before 1750
Works of art made before 1750.
Appeals won't be considered until at least two thirds of the money needed has been raised from other sources.
Address: The Veneziana Fund, White Horse Court, 25c North Street, Bishops Stortford CM23 2LD
Website is at: www.pizzaexpress.co.uk/aauspec.htm
www.parishresources.org.uk
This site is produced by the National Stewardship Adviser for the Church of England and is packed with really useful information, including a very good series of guides on fundraising.
www.ffhb.org.uk
This will search for trusts which will fund church repair and conservation
www.churchcare.co.uk
General advice on fundraising, also a list of trusts (though this list is not completely up to date)
www.ibo.co.uk
This is the website of the Institute of British Organ Building, and has information on sources of funding for organs and church furnishings.
www.charity-commission.gov.uk
This is the Charity Commissioners' website. By clicking on the link 'the Register of Charities', you can search for charities by name or key word. It lists every registered charity.
