ChurchCare is the Church of England’s national resource, providing advice, support and funding for people caring for church buildings. ChurchCare works in partnership with various grant-giving bodies to provide funding for church projects.
The grants provide support for Parochial Church Councils (PCCs) for the conservation of the historic contents of churches and churchyard structures. Grants are made specifically for the following:
Conservation Reports – initial grants to assist with the commissioning of conservation reports, including environmental surveys and other technical investigations
Bells – for the conservation of all bells and bell frames identified by the Church Buildings Council as being of historic significance
Books and manuscripts – for the conservation of historical books and manuscripts
Church plate – grants are available for the repair of church plate to ensure its regular use by congregations
Churchyard structures – for the conservation of walls, monuments etc which are listed separately from the church building and sited in churchyards which are the responsibility of the PCC
Clocks – for the conservation of mechanical clocks
Monumental brasses and decorative metalwork – for the conservation of decorative metalwork of artistic or historical interest including metal screens, internal railings, plaques and memorials
Monuments – for the conservation of monuments
Organs – for the conservation of organs and organ cases
Paintings and wall paintings – for the conservation of paintings and wall paintings of artistic, historical or archaeological significance
Stained glass – for the conservation of stained glass, painted glass and historical plain glazing
Textiles – for the conservation of textiles or artistic or historical interest
Wooden objects – for the conservation of woodwork and wooden objects such as reredoses, screens, wooden crosses, pulpits and pews.
Most grants are for up to £10,000. There are separate deadlines for each grant scheme.
Note that fabric repair grants are only available to successful conservation grant recipients.
Grants are also available to support churches with the implementation of net zero carbon projects. The Net Zero Carbon Programme provides advice and grant funding for CofE churches.
Church of England churches can also access the Cornerstone database which provides information on sources of grant funding available to churches. You can find out more about Cornerstone and request access to the database here.
Focus of fund/fund aims:
Grants to support parish churches in the conservation and repair of historic church contents and churchyard structures
Application deadline:
Refer to the ChurchCare website for details of individual schemes
Fund description:
https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/churchcare/conservation-grants