The Major Grant Givers
Repair grants for places of worship
Few parishes can raise enough money to meet the cost of a major repair without help from grant-making bodies. The major source in England is now likely to be the Repair Grants for Places of Worship in England scheme jointly run and funded by English Heritage (EH) and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
The scheme may make a grant provided:
i) The building is listed at Grade I, II* or II. If you need to check whether your church is listed contact your local authority's planning department, or the Diocesan Office.
ii) The church is used for public worship on at least six days a year and is open to the public outside the normal hours of worship on at least forty days.
iii) The grant will be used to pay for high-level structural repairs (e.g. repair of roofs, tower, spire, rainwater disposal system or high-level masonry) identified in a recent condition survey as being necessary within the next two years. Other urgent repairs to historic fabric at risk of loss can also be considered.
iv) The work will cost more than £10,000 and less than £250,000 and can be carried out under one contract. Grants of £250,000 and more can be considered in exceptional circumstances.
Grants are never made retrospectively for work started before a written grant offer has been made and accepted.
Although funds for the scheme come from both the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage, the day-to-day administration of the scheme (for England) is carried out by English Heritage regional offices on behalf of both organisations. Grants are in high demand and not all applicants will be successful. There is an annual deadline for applicants, which varies with the grade of the church.
Full details of the scheme and an application pack can be obtained from the English Heritage website or by contacting English Heritage Customer Services:
English Heritage
Customer Services Department
PO Box 569
Swindon
SN2 2YP
England
tel: 0870 333 1181
fax: 01793 414926
email: customers@english-heritage.org.uk
Heritage Lottery Fund
Head Office
7 Holbein Place
London SW1W 8NR
Tel 020 7591 6042
www hlf.org.uk
HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND 'YOUR HERITAGE' SCHEME
The HLF's 'Your Heritage' scheme can consider applications for repairs or conservation work to buildings as well as historic furnishings and works of art. This programme offers grants to organisations which aim to look after and enhance the UK's heritage, to increase involvement in heritage activities and to improve access to and enjoyment of heritage. Under the 'Your Heritage' scheme grants of £3,000 to £50,000 can be awarded, although the total project cost can exceed £50,000. The scheme aims to achieve a twelve-week turnaround of grant applications. Projects must be able to demonstrate educational and community benefits and applicants must ensure that their premises are accessible to visitors. At the initiative of the Church Buildings Council, the HLF have agreed to include conservation projects in churches relating to bells, clocks, organs, paintings on canvas & wood, wall paintings, monuments, timberwork, ornamental plasterwork, metalwork, books & manuscripts, textiles as well as historic structures and other conservation projects in churchyards.
HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND 'HERITAGE GRANTS' SCHEME
The Heritage Grants programme offers grants of more than £50,000 for projects which conserve and enhance our diverse heritage, or encourage more people to be involved in their heritage, or both. To be eligible, your project must also make sure that everyone can learn about, have access to and enjoy their heritage; that your project is linked to the national, regional or local heritage of the UK and how you will protect its significance. This is the only HLF scheme which may award substantial grants of over £1m.
THE ETHICAL ASPECT OF APPLYING FOR LOTTERY MONEY
Some parishes may question whether they should have anything to do with the National Lottery. Each parish is free to make its own decision. The policy agreed nationally in 1995 by the House of Bishops is as follows:
"Throughout the debate on the establishment of the National Lottery, the Church of England, along with other churches, has made known its reservations. We accept freely our own financial responsibility in worship, witness, evangelism and pastoral care, and see no basis on which Lottery money should be used by the Church in these areas.
"However, it is clearly the Government's intention that the Church's heritage responsibilities should attract grants from public funds made available through the Lottery.
"Sometimes the Church resists proposed changes in our society, but when the decision is made we have to live with it. In this instance we recognise that the Government has made it clear that the Lottery is the way it will increasingly fund heritage and charitable and other matters.
"The decision whether or not to apply for such help is a matter for the responsible body in each case."
It should be noted that the HLF will not, in any event, provide money for worship, witness, evangelism or pastoral care: the HLF's priorities are learning, conservation and participation.
In the case of the Repair Grants (see above), if a parish decides not to seek Lottery funding on moral grounds, this should be indicated on the application form and supported by the relevant PCC resolution. Any grant will then be offered from English Heritage (EH) alone. However, EH's remit is more restricted than that of the HLF (in practice, it will only fund grade I or II* buildings) and you should check before applying that you are eligible for EH help.
The Arts Council (see below) can also arrange other funding if a parish cannot accept Lottery funding. A letter explaining this and including the PCC resolution should accompany the normal application material.
Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme
Since April 2004, the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme has enabled listed places of worship throughout the UK to claim back the full amount of VAT paid on eligible works of repair carried out on and after 1 April 2004.
For further information, please see the page on VAT.
BODIES IN OTHER PARTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland there are comparable, but not identical, schemes to that of English Heritage and the HLF. The grants are administered by:
CADW (Welsh Historic Monuments)
Cadw
Welsh Assembly Government
Plas Carew
Unit 5/7 Cefn Coed
Parc Nantgarw
Cardiff CF15 7QQ
Tel 01443 33 6000
Fax 01443 33 6001
Email cadw@wales.gsi.gov.uk
www.cadw.wales.gov.uk
Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland Head Office
Longmore House
Salisbury Place
Edinburgh EH9 1SH
Tel 0131 668 8600
www.historic-scotland.gov.uk
Environment and Heritage Service (Department for the Environment, Northern Ireland)
Historic Building & Monuments
Waterman House
5-33 Hill St
Belfast BT1 2LA
Tel 028 9054 3064
Fax 028 9054 3150
Email hbgrants@doeni.gov.uk
www.ehsni.gov.uk
These bodies can advise on sources of grant aid particular to their areas. The HLF however can give grants in all parts of the United Kingdom.
OTHER LOTTERY FUNDS
The Arts Council
Arts Council England
14 Great Peter Street
London SW1P 3NQ
Tel: 0845 300 6200
Email: enquiries@artscouncil.org.uk
www.artscouncil.org.uk
The Grants for the Arts scheme, administered by the Arts Council, may be of assistance for churches seeking to improve their cultural facilities e.g. use for concerts, plays etc., and to commission contemporary art and craft work. It may also assist major organ reconstruction projects for concert use (although for the conservation of historic instruments application should be made to the Heritage Lottery Fund). It is advisable to discuss any possible application with the Arts Council as early as possible.
Big Lottery Fund
Big Lottery Fund is responsible for giving out half the money for good causes from the National Lottery. Its purpose is to make it easier to apply for Lottery money and will make it easier for you to see where the money goes. It amalgamated the previous Community Lottery Fund and New Opportunities Funds. Its priorities are projects relating to communities, but it will accept applications from churches and church halls if they fulfil its criteria.
Big Lottery Fund
1 Plough Place
London EC4A 1DE
Tel 020 7211 1800
Fax 020 7211 1750
Email general.enquiries@biglotteryfund.org.uk
www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Big advice line: 0845 4 10 20 30
The Foundation for Sport and the Arts
This trust was set up in order to distribute funds awarded to it by the football pools companies from their profits. The money available has therefore been severely reduced by the impact of the National Lottery on the pools. The Foundation will require you to establish that your project has significant community benefit. In the past they have made grants towards the restoration of historic organs where the instrument is used for public concerts.
Following a review of the current level of reserves and in light of the fact that that their only source of income is now the interest generated by those reserves, the Trustees have decided to cease the activities of the Foundation at the end of March 2012. No new applications for funding will be considered after the end of March 2009.
Further details can be obtained from:
The Foundation for Sport and the Arts
Walton House
55 Charnock Road
Walton
Liverpool L67 1AA
Tel 0151 259 5505
Fax 0151 230 0664
Email contact@thefsa.net
www.thefsa.net
Other Funds
The Landfill Communities Fund
(formerly the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme)
Tax on landfill waste was introduced in 1996 as a means to reduce the amount of land-filled waste and to promote a shift to more environmentally sustainable methods of waste management. The innovative tax credit scheme enables operators of landfill sites to contribute money to enrolled Environmental Bodies (EBs) to carry out projects that meet environmental objects contained in the Landfill Tax Regulations. The government saw the LCF as a way for Landfill Operators (LOs) and EBs to work in partnership, to create significant environmental benefits and jobs and to undertake projects which improve the lives of communities living near landfill sites. LOs can contribute up to 6.6% of their landfill tax liability to EBs and reclaim 90% of this contribution as a tax credit. They may bear the remaining 10% themselves, or else an independent third party can make up this 10% difference to the LO.
There are two environmental objectives which are relevant to churches:
Objective D: projects that provide or maintain public amenities or parks within 10 miles of a landfill site
Objective E: projects to restore or repair buildings for religious worship, or of architectural or historical interest within 10 miles of a landfill site
ENTRUST is the Government-appointed regulator of the LCF and does not fund any work themselves. There are three methods of receiving funding through the LCF. These could be:
- from an organisation that distributes the monies on a landfill operator's behalf. These are commonly known as Distributive Environmental Bodies (DEBs). You are far more likely to receive money via a DEB than you are directly from a waste management company; or
- enrolling with ENTRUST as an EB to receive LCF money. Some local councils, dioceses and county historic churches trusts have already enrolled as EBs and local projects can therefore benefit from this. You should check with the relevant local authority and with your diocese; or
- directly from a Landfill Operator (LOs).
Further information on the Landfill Communities Fund:
The ENTRUST website explains how the Fund works and also gives a list of DEBs and LOs from across the UK
Entrust,
Head Office,
6th Floor,
Acre House,
2 Town Square,
Sale,
Cheshire M33 7WZ
Tel 0161 972 0044
All the big DEBs have their own website, such as SITA UK, a waste management company which provides funding to the SITA Trust, and organisations can apply to the SITA Trust for funding (www.sitatrust.org.uk).
See Funding Guide 13 for a fact sheet on the Landfill Communities Fund.
Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund
A similar scheme to the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund seeks to address the impact of quarrying on the environment in four ways, of which the last two are particularly relevant to churches:
- Objective 3: addressing the environmental impacts of past aggregates extraction
- Objective 4: compensating local communities for the impacts of aggregates extraction.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is responsible for the management of the Fund in England. For further information please visit the DEFRA website.
Grants are distributed by several agencies, the most relevant for churches are:
for Objective 3:
- Natural England - for projects with ecological, biodiversity, landscape, community and recreational benefits.
- English Heritage - for archaeological, historic landscape, community, building repair and conservation projects.
for Objective 4:
- 18 County Councils - for community, building repair and conservation projects
- and for areas outside those counties: Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE).
N.B. DEFRA is currently holding a consultation on the future of the Fund (see the DEFRA website). News of any continuation of grants will be posted on the DEFRA website after June 2008.
March 2003, November 2007, March & April 2008
