Are we eligible?

On this page...

• Who can apply?
• Types of application
• Fund scope and priorities
• Exclusions and limits
• Multiple applications and continuation funding

When you've finished here, it's time to prepare an application.

Next step: Prepare an application

Who can apply?

Any parish, benefice, deanery or chaplaincy in the Diocese of Oxford may apply.  Applications linked to schools should be made through the relevant parish (or deanery).  In most cases we expect Development Fund applications to be signed by the parish incumbent (or for a deanery, the Area Dean or Lay Chair) and any grants paid to a PCC (or Deanery) account. 

Types of application

There are two types of grant, each with a different application form:

• Tier 1 application for grants up to £2,500
• Tier 2 application for grants over £2,500 or any grant involving employment

Fund scope and priorities

The Development Fund is open to supporting a wide range of missional activity. This includes (but is not restricted to) supporting initiatives which align with the Common Vision Focus Areas.

The Fund aims to encourage parishes and deaneries in five areas:

1. To become a more Christ-like church

We are called to be a more Christ-like Church for the sake of God’s world: contemplative, compassionate and courageous. You’ll find further information in Signs of a more Christ-like Church.

2. To encourage discernment

We want to encourage our ability to discern God at work in the world and our own lives, and to respond by joining in. Ways of thinking about discernment include:

• What makes this a ‘God idea’ rather than a ‘good idea’?
• In what way are you doing something different because you are listening to God?

3. To be missionally creative

Finding imaginative solutions to missional challenges doesn't require new ideas every time: being missionally creative might be how a congregation adapts an existing idea to their own community. We take our definition of mission from the Anglican Communion’s five marks of mission:

1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
2. To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
3. To respond to human need by loving service
4. To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation
5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the Earth.

Missional creativity should shift our sense of what’s important: that may mean re-prioritising tasks and laying down some of what we already do.

4. To learn together

We want to encourage learning across the diocese. Groups will learn as they discern and then carry out missionally creative work.

We want to encourage you to:

• reflect on what you have learned (this helps us recognise what we have learned and what we could do differently in the future) and;
• share what you have learned with other groups facing similar challenges elsewhere in the diocese.

We also want to encourage diverse experimentation. Addressing missional challenges inevitably involves experimentation with new ideas: some will work, others will not. By supporting a variety of experimental ideas we will achieve a broad range of learning.

In sharing our learning and hearing what others have learned, we can better discern our next steps.

5. To support initiatives that are sustainable

We want to encourage sustainable initiatives, underpinned by:

• Planning which seeks a balance between:
  • realistic levels of input (people, resources, time and money), and reasonable expectations of hoped-for outcomes;
  • short-term ‘quick wins’ and longer-term sustainability and viability
• Flexible approaches which allow for adaptation along the way in the event of unexpected opportunities and challenges;
• Reasonable expectations of an ongoing legacy of benefits after the Development Fund grant(s) end.

We hope that the Development Fund will be particularly helpful to those parishes which, after paying their Parish Share and other essential running costs, have limited financial resources to invest in missional activity.

Exclusions

There are, however, some things which the Fund does not support. This includes routine repairs to buildings; payment of regular running costs (utility bills, insurance, Parish Share, etc.), spending which has already taken place (i.e. retrospective funding) and activity which is already deemed to be funded by current financial arrangements.  Development Fund grants may not be used to pay for further fundraising activity.

Since grant requests may exceed available funds, we may look less favourably on applications for work where other grant sources are available, or where the parish/benefice/deanery/chaplaincy already benefits from income in addition to their essential running costs.

Grant limits

Development Fund grants will not normally exceed £80k in a single grant, or £200k over a maximum five years. A grant for a buildings-related project would not normally exceed £50k.

Multiple applications

Priority will be given to parishes that have not yet received Development Funding. An organisation may normally only make one Tier 2 application per 12-month period. If successful, an organisation may not reapply to the fund for at least two years after the last (successful) submission deadline date (although you may wish to make a case for a shorter interval).

Beyond this, multiple applications are permitted, although the Development Fund Panel will also consider the overall distribution of grants and funds to parishes in the diocese.

Continuation funding

A 'continuation funding’ application is a request for further funding to support a multi-year project which the Development Fund has already funded (e.g. continued employment of a children and families minister) and where the current grant is due to end in the next nine months.  

Any application for continuation funding will only be considered in very exceptional circumstances.

If you wish to apply for continuation funding, you should consult the Development Fund Administrator early in the last 12 months of the current grant funding to help you plan the most appropriate time to submit any application.  

General principles 

• Continuation funding will only be awarded to existing projects to bridge a short-term funding gap. The Fund’s primary support for new missional initiatives remains unchanged: the Development Fund should not be seen as a long-term funding solution. 
• The Fund’s priorities and criteria apply, including those relating to ‘multiple applications’ (section above). 
• You cannot apply more than 9 months before your current funding ends. 
• You will need to submit a full, new application. The Panel will consider such requests on their own merits alongside other applications in the same application round – being a current grant holder is no guarantee of being offered further funding.  
• Any ‘continuation’ application will need to be considered exceptional across the Fund’s criteria to be prioritised over new applications. 

The Panel will expect that you will:

• have submitted all the required, satisfactory monitoring forms for the original project;
• provide evidence of how you have met the objectives and outcomes of your original project (e.g. as set out in your original application);
• provide evidence of learning from your initial project, and how you have applied this learning to the extension of the project;
• demonstrate how you intend to share any future learning beyond your parish in order to benefit others in the diocese;
• have a robust financial plan to support your project beyond the period of any second award. 

Financial sustainability 

• You may only apply once for continuation funding (i.e. a total of two applications for any given project).  
• The length of any award for continuation funding will take into consideration the length of the initial award.
• A higher level of match-funding than in the original award will be expected (e.g. if we provided 50% of the total project cost in the original project, we would now provide a maximum of 30%).  

Next step: Prepare an application