The National Churches Trust Small Grants Programme provides grants of between £500 and £5,000 (with capacity to award up to £10,000 where the case for investment and need are demonstrated to be very high, and funds are available to award) towards urgent maintenance works and small repairs identified as high priority within a recent Quinquennial Inspection, Building Survey or Condition Report. The Small Grants Programme can also fund small investigative works and surveys.
Project costs should be up to £20,000 including VAT. Awards will never exceed 50% of the costs. Decisions are made on a rolling basis.
The Trust will consider applications from listed and unlisted Christian places of worship of any denomination across the UK. Please note that applications from Scotland are particularly welcomed.
The application process begins with an Eligibility Quiz. Applicants who are unable to answer ‘yes’ to every question will be deemed ineligible and therefore unable to apply.
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?
- Was your place of worship built as a place of worship originally and is it more than 30 years old? And are the works to the main building?
- Is the building open to the public for a minimum of 100 days a year beyond worship use?
- Is the project yet to start (we don't accept applications for projects that have already started)?
- Are required permissions in place? And
- Are two quotes in place for each element of the work in this application?
Further information and details about how to apply to the Small Grants Programme can be found on the Trust’s website.
The programme has regular application rounds. The next deadline is Friday 28 February 2025.