Where to start looking
Capital appeals and fundraising campaigns seeking to raise large sums of money can be daunting; whilst the Generous Giving team isn't able to fundraise on your behalf, we can point you in the right direction. Below you can find some information about planning a campaign and finding funders. Further information is available from the Parish Resources website.
Searchable Lists of Funders
Diocese of Oxford List of Funders - The Diocese's own internal list of funders
Cornerstone - The Church of England's grants database. To gain access to this please email the Generous Giving Adviser, Joshua Townson.
Grantway - This is a free service. It doesn't specialise in Christian fundraising but if you search for keywords like "church" or "Christian" it can provide some helpful suggestions.
Church Grants - This is a paid-for database (£49pa) which specialises in funders that support churches.
Building Repairs and Upgrades
The Historic Churches Trusts offer grants (including emergency grants) for the repair and maintenance of heritage church buildings. They are organised by archdeaconry: Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire.
Benefact Trust (formerly AllChurches Trust) - These grants can be substantial and are tailored to the needs of churches. Their building grants can include both repairs and improvement, and are open to heritage and modern buildings. They also offer dedicated grants for roof alarms.
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme (LPWGS) - This is a government scheme that refunds the VAT spent on making certain repairs to listed buildings which are used as places of worship. The scheme covers repairs to the fabric of the building, along with associated professional fees, plus repairs to turret clocks, pews, bells and pipe organs.
National Churches Trust - The NCT offers grants to heritage buildings for urgent/emergency repairs, as well as for major improvement projects. Their grant schemes run in cycles so you should check back regularly to see what grants are open to applications.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) - These can be large grants, particularly for the enhancement and maintenance of buildings with special value for heritage. They invite enquiries early in the process and if they are interested in your project will help you put together a bid.
Minor Repairs and Improvements Grant Fund - As part of the Buildings for Mission project, in their funding allocations for the 2023-25 triennium, the Church Commissioners agreed to provide a fund of just over £6m for grants towards small-scale repairs and improvements to local churches. The primary focus was agreed to be essential fabric repairs. Please see our guidance note for full details and application form to apply.
Community Projects
The Good Exchange - this system allows funders to find projects in which they might be interested, and vice versa. This means that one application form is shared with many different potential funders, saving considerable time and effort.
Local Community Foundations - These organisations are funded by individuals, local councils, and central government as a way to distribute funds at the grassroots level. They provide grants for projects which enhance the local community, although each foundation has its own criteria: Berkshire Community Foundation, Heart of Bucks Community Foundation, MK Community Foundation, and Oxfordshire Community Foundation.
Benefact Trust (formerly AllChurches Trust) - A dedicated scheme for projects involving either evangelism or improving the local commmunity (or both).
Organs, Historic Monuments, and Precious Artefacts
Church of England Grant List - A national church list of funders, covering: organs, wall paintings and textiles, clocks and bells, silver and wooden treasurers, monuments and brasses, and historic graves.
Lists of grant funders for organ building and repair can be optained from The British Institute of Organ Studies and The Institute of British Organ Building.
Fundraising Advice
Ecclesiastical Insurance - An excellent, free fundraising hub tailored for churches with hints and tips for applying for grants, plus a list of emergency funders.
Action Planning - A specialist consultancy for charities and other not-for-profit organisations, with a dedicated team for Christian charities and churches. To enquire about a fundraising feasibility study or to hire a fundraiser for your capital project, contact them online.
Church Grants - Alongside their database of funders, Church Grants are also able to offer consultancy about planning and running a fundraising campaign, and can be hired to do your fundraising for you.
Just Park
If you have spare car parking spaces you could make extra money by renting them out on a short or long-term basis via JustPark. Expecially for churches near event venues and commuter train stations, car parking spaces can be a lucrative new source of income.
With JustPark you can rent out any type of parking space you own or are authorised to lease including driveways, off-street parking spaces, residential parking, and commercial parking. Plus you decide what dates and times the spaces are rented by setting your own availability, meaning you can do things like automatically block Sunday booking.
Get in touch with their dedicated Places of Worship team online or read their FAQs here.
Funding for internet connection
Thanks to a generous private donation the Diocese of Oxford is able to offer grants of up to £1,000 for churches to install Wi-Fi, through either cabled broadband or 4G/5G phone signal. Please read the below for more information: