Churches across Bath and Wells now have an easy way to apply to a £312,850 grant fund pot for projects including growing church and transforming communities, minor repairs and improvements and net zero initiatives. The fund has been created from a number of sources, including the national church’s Buildings for Mission project and the Net Zero Carbon Quick Wins grant scheme.
Parishes are invited to apply for the funding using the online Grant Funding Expressions of Interest form. Applications will be reviewed and directed to the most appropriate funding and be signposted to any additional support that may be available from diocesan Support Services.
Jenny Hollingsworth, Diocesan Secretary says, “Just as parishes are seeking to address their financial challenges by securing funding from a range of available sources, so are we as a diocese. Having identified a significant pot of funding on behalf of our parishes, we wanted to ensure there was a simple and straightforward way of getting all that funding out to those who are seeking to grow their church and transform their communities.
“If you are struggling to balance the increasing costs of repairs and rising energy bills with your plans to be more missional, by completing one form you can potentially access some much-needed funding which will supplement any other fundraising activity you are undertaking. Whether it's helping reduce our environmental impact, strengthening outreach, or maintaining the fabric of our buildings, our hope is that these grants will offer valuable assistance to parishes working to meet today’s challenges and opportunities.”
Using the one online form, benefices will be able to apply for grants for:
Growing church and transforming communities
To encourage and support benefices to try something new to reach new people with the story of Jesus, these small grants are available as a one-year pilot to help kick-start initiatives.
- Mustard Seed grants (£500 or less) – applications will be assessed against the simple premise, ‘Are they doing something new to reach new people?’
- Growing Church grants (£500-£5000) - benefices applying for the Growing Church grants will be allocated a member of the support services to work with them on a proposal to help them consider the broader aspects of their application to help them access larger amounts of funding.
Minor repairs and improvements
Funded by the national church’s Buildings for Mission project, these are small grants to parishes for urgent and necessary repair or improvement projects on their church buildings. Grants will be targeted and prioritised according to the circumstances of the parish. It is expected that parishes will supply an element of partnership funding from their own resources.
Grants of up to £10,000 can be made towards projects with costs of up to £10,000 (or £12,000 if the VAT is not eligible under the Listed Places of Worship (LPW) grant scheme) at a rate of up to 90%.
Net Zero Carbon Quick Wins
The Church of England’s Net Zero Carbon by 2030 programme aims to equip, resource and support all parts of the Church to reduce carbon emissions from the energy used in its buildings, schools and through work-related transport, by 2030.
Grants of up to £5,000 can be applied for to help fund small scale decarbonisation projects such as new LED lighting, pew heaters, insulation or updating electricity supplies. A full list of eligible work can be found on the environment section of the diocesan website. All funding must be committed or spent by end of December 2025.