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 £144,000. Details of how to apply will be made available in late 2023 or early 2024. Please contact Luke Tatam, DAC Secretary, if you have any questions.

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.

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

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

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).

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 10th May 2023

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 Revd Anna Eltringham, Dean of Women’s Ministry.

Thy Kingdom Come grants

Grants of £100 can be awarded to parishes towards purchasing resources to celebrate Thy Kingdom Come. Download the grant application form (.pdf 187kb), or e-mail us at [email protected].

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].

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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 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

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

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