The National Churches Trust’s Large Grants offers funding of up to £50,000 to listed and unlisted Christian places of worship, of any denomination, across the UK. Grants support the cost of major urgent structural repair projects costed at more than £80,000 including VAT. The Trust will also consider projects that introduce kitchens and accessible toilets to enable increased community use, costed at more than £30,000 including VAT. Grants will never exceed 50% of the project cost.

The application process begins with an eligibility quiz. If you cannot answer yes to each question your application will not be successful.

The questions include:

• Is yours a Christian place of worship (but not a cathedral) within the UK, and open for at least six services of public worship each year?
• Do you own the building or have the right to carry out the work? If the church is not part of a major denomination then is the denomination registered with Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, or has it got charitable status?
• If the annual income in the accounts is over £100,000 is the building registered with the Charity Commission, or can you evidence that registration is in process?
• Was your place of worship built as a place of worship originally and is it more than 30 years old? And are the works proposed either directly to the building or attached to it?
• Is the building open to the public for a minimum of 100 days a year beyond worship use, or will it be following project completion?
• Is your total project cost estimated at over £80,000 (including VAT and fees) if the project is for repair work, or over £30,000 if it is for the installation of kitchen and accessible toilet facilities?
• Have you already raised at least 50% of the total project cost?
• Is the project being led by a qualified professional, with conservation accreditation from a recognised institution if it is a listed building? (please review the guidance note for details of recognised institutions)
• Have you got all necessary permissions approved and in place before applying (e.g. full Faculty approval signed by the Chancellor)? This includes those from your governing body and your local planning authority if planning permission and/or listed building consent is also required.
• Is the project yet to start (we don’t accept applications for projects that have already started before applying)
• Do you have a safeguarding policy in place?

Deadline: Tuesday 5 November 2024

This fund is not managed by Funding for All. Please click ‘Funder’s website’ and contact the funder directly for more information.