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Diocesan grants

The Diocese has a number of grants available to help its churches and parishes. Find out more below.

Church Buildings Grants

Throughout 2024 and 2025, parishes will be able to apply to the diocese for grants towards the costs of minor repairs and improvements for church buildings. Funds awarded will typically be between £5,000 and £10,000 per parish and will be drawn from a total of £72,000 per year.

For a summary of the scheme, please read our introductory blog. Details of how to apply are explained fully in our downloadable guidance.

To apply, please do so by filling out our online Microsoft Forms questionnaire.

Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions.

Croydon Area mission grants

We are again seeking applications for small grants with the aim of supporting new and innovative projects that will enhance parish mission. The maximum grant available for these will be restricted up to £5,000 and preference will be given to applications for new initiatives from parishes that have not yet received a grant.

Please complete the online application form via this link.

Kingston Area mission grants

If you would like to talk about a grant application, please contact Romana Nelson at the Kingston Area Office.

Woolwich Area mission grants

If you have a new, innovative project aimed at enhancing parish mission, why not consider applying a mission grant from the Woolwich Episcopal Area, courtesy of the Allchurches Trust. Details are in the documents below

Children and Youth grants

We offer funding to support mission and ministry with children and young people (CYP) in Diocese of Southwark parishes. There is no deadline for applications and money will be allocated on a first come, first served basis, provided the criteria outlined below are met. This scheme normally provides grants of up to £300, which can be applied for up to three times per calendar year, but we will consider some grant applications larger than this where additional significant benefit is proposed, for example, a deanery initiative. Deanery grants can be offered up to £1,500.

Local training fund

If you wish to organise your own training locally for volunteers, for example first aid, Godly Play, parenting, developing young leaders, CYP spirituality, Parenting for Faith and more,  you can apply to our local training fund to help pay for any trainer costs.

CYP micro grants

Is your church or parish planning a new project for CYP in your area?  We offer micro-grants of up to £300 to help towards the cost of buying new equipment, running an event, residential, day trips and so on.  We are particularly keen to encourage proposals where CYP have taken the lead and identified where to apply to raise money.

Individual training grants

We offer small grants to individuals to help towards the cost of training that supports their role working alongside CYP.  Grants will be awarded on a case-by-case basis.

Contact admin support for more details or download a list of criteria and/or an application form.

Fresh Expressions of Church grants

The Diocese has created a fund to help Fresh Expressions of Church (fxC) get started.

Small grants are typically £500-£1,000 and go towards the cost of training or small pieces of equipment.

Larger grants are typically £1,000 to £5,000 and are aimed at helping new projects to get off the ground and include staffing costs.

Criteria and grant forms are available to download below:

FxC grants purpose, process, criteria (.docx, 94kb)
FxC grant Application 2023 (.docx, 31kb)
FxC grant Evaluation Report (.docx, 18kb)

To make the most of grants, training is really important and we suggest that churches needing a large grant undertake training as they embark on the journey to seeing an fxC come to maturity. In addition to formal training, we also have mentors to offer support.

For more information and assistance then please contact the Dean of Fresh Expressions, Canon Will Cookson (details below).

Ministry Grants

Women’s Ministry

The Gilmore Fund is open to grant applications from women in ministry in Southwark Diocese. We consider carefully all applications for courses, projects, retreats etc which will enhance your ministry but our funds are limited so do give as much detail as you can of the costs and how you and the wider church will benefit.

The next meeting of the Gilmore Fund Committee is in November and the deadline for applications is Wednesday 8 May 2024

Please read the guidance notes in the application form carefully.  Please note that we are making the Gilmore Fund more widely available to those women who are not clergy, readers or SPAs but with specific and significant lay ministry roles in churches and chaplaincies to reflect the focus of the diocesan strategy for ministry and mission.  Feel free to pass this email to those who are in that category and might be appreciative.

Email completed forms to [email protected].

Download Gilmore Fund application form

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Esther Foss, Dean of Women’s Ministry

Mission grants

Mission micro grants

Is your church or parish planning a new project for your area?  We offer micro-grants of up to £300 to help towards the cost of running events, providing resources, and outreach projects in the community.

We also offer a £100 grant towards the production of “welcome back to church”  cards.

For either grant, please fill in the grant application form and send it to [email protected].

Social and environmental action (JPIC) grants

We can offer micro-grants of up to £300 to support social or environmental action in your parish or Deanery. This might for example cover the cost of a training day or some equipment and supplies for a community café. Please contact the JPIC Team for more information and a short application form.

Mission grants (external)

Churches and parishes may also be able to apply for funding for missional activities from external organisations. If you know of other grant-making bodies not listed here, please contact Mission Support to let us know (details below).

Cinnamon Trust (social action)

Churches are jam-packed full of potential and Cinnamon can help to release it. Each year the organisation interacts with more than 1,000 local churches across the UK and Ireland. It conducts research, provides advice, delivers training courses and helps churches to start social action projects that transform their communities.

Church buildings grants (external)

This is a list of grant-making bodies that are particularly relevant for obtaining grants relating to the care of our church buildings. Please contact the DAC office at Trinity House if you need more guidance (see details below).

Getting started

Parishes who are seeking sources of grant-funding are advised to start with the ‘National List of Charitable Grants for Churches’ and other helpful guidance provided to PCC Treasurers by Parish Resources.

Regional funders

There are several specific regional funders for areas covering Southwark Diocese:

Heritage of London Trust

City Bridge Trust

Surrey Churches Preservation Trust

Friends of Kent Churches

Marshall’s Charity

 

Funders for church building works

Please find below a summary of the main funders for church building works (mostly, but not all, for listed buildings):

Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme (VAT reclaim for repairs in/to listed churches):

National Churches Trust

Benefact Trust

ChurchCare fabric repairs and historic interiors/objects/structures conservation:

National Lottery Heritage Fund (previously Heritage Lottery Fund)

National Lottery Community Fund

Garfield Weston Foundation

Landfill Communities Fund

Ministerial grants (external)

Grants to help with ministry or sabbaticals

Ecclesiastical Insurance

The Ecclesiastical Insurance Group Ministry Bursary Awards Scheme is open to those in full time stipendiary ministry and can assist financially with a work-related project, a study course away, or support research in the UK or abroad. Applicants must normally have completed at least 10 years full time stipendiary ministry. The closing date for applications for awards for each year is generally the end of September of the previous year. For more detail, see the EIG website

www.ecclesiastical.com/mba

Sion College

Sion College makes grants to clergy in London Metropolitan Boroughs south of the River Thames. Membership for at least one year is required for a grant application and costs £20.00 per annum, or £15.00 if you are willing to receive emailed information only. See the College website for more details:
http://www.sioncollege.org/grants.html

St George's Trust

The St George’s Trust offers grants, including clergy grants towards sabbatical expenses. Write, with details of the project its likely cost and an indication of available funds, as far in advance as possible before March or September each year, with an sae to St George’s Trust, Senior Trustee, St Edward’s House, 22 Great College Street, SW1P 3QA

The Alexis Trust

The Alexis Trust: Grants (c£50) for Christian activities.
Write to Prof D W Vere, 14 Broadfield Way, Buckhurst
Hill, IG9 5AG

The English-Speaking Union

The English-Speaking Union offer a grant of up to £1,800 to members of the clergy from all denominations to undertake a tour in the US for up to four weeks with the aim of fostering understanding and the exchange of ideas. Recent scholars have explored pastoral care
and ecumenical links. There is one grant each year. The application deadline is in June, with interviews in July. More details are available from
http://www.esu.org/programmes/scholarships/clergy/
american-memorial-chapel-travel-grant

The South London Church Fund and Southwark Diocese Board of Finance is a company limited by guarantee (No. 236594).
Registered Office: Trinity House, 4 Chapel Court, Borough High Street, London SE1 1HW. Registered Charity: (No. 249678).

© The Diocese of Southwark 2024. All rights reserved.
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