Grants
and Interest-Free Loans
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
WREN has now stopped giving block grants to the County Trusts and therefore the Cambridge Historic Churches Trust (CHCT) will no longer be able to offer WREN grants to Places of Worship.
Negotiations are in progress between WREN, the National Churches Trust and the County Trusts to address the funding issues. Until the situation has been resolved, Places of Worship should continue to apply for grants to CHCT as before, using the existing application form and criteria. All applications will be considered by the Executive Committee for a CHCT grant. This will now come from the Trust’s own funds which are generated from the annual Ride and Stride.
WREN will still consider grant applications made by congregations directly to their Main Grants Scheme, but the emphasis is on community projects rather just repairs. Your project has to be in their ‘operating area’ – see their website www.wren.org.uk for details.
The CHCT has now loaned a total of £1.74 million to 163 churches and chapels and currently has over £350,000 loans outstanding.
Below are three items available to download; a letter from the Grants Secretary, advice notes and an application form. These will help you with your CHCT Grant or Interest-Free Loan application.
The Trust tries to keep a record of churches that may be considering applying for a Grant, as it greatly helps the Trust in assessing how many applications are in the pipeline. Even if you just want to download the forms to discuss the matter with your own church council, would you please advise the Grants Secretary that you have done this.
When you are ready to apply, please first of all read the letter from the Grants Secretary and contact him to discuss your individual needs, so that you may benefit from his first hand valuable advice.
Grants Secretary's Letter
CHCT Grants & Loans Policy Advice Notes
CHCT Grants & Loans Application Form (PDF)
CHCT Grants & Loans Application Form (MSword)
To discuss your grant application in the first instance will you please contact the Trust Grants Secretary by clicking on the link
Grants Secretary
Mr Andrew Clarke,
16 Abbots Way
Horningsea
Cambridge
CB25 9JN
Phone number is 01223 861314
grants@cambshistoricchurchestrust.co.uk
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Scilla
Latham
Diocescan Church Buildings
Support Officer

Scilla Latham, our
new Church
Buildings Support Officer started work in January. The appointment is part
of the English Heritage Inspired' programme which helps congregations
to help themselves. English Heritage is providing £1.5 million to
part-fund 30 Support Officers for congregations of any faith or denomination who
are working to maintain the historic places of worship in their care. The scheme
will help best practice in conservation and management of historic places of
worship to be shared across the country.
This post has been
made possible through a funding partnership with English Heritage, the Diocese
of Ely, Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust and the All Churches Trust.
Scilla is employed by Cambridgeshire ACRE and is based in Littleport, where she
is benefiting from the experience of other community project officers who have
experience of many of the parishes with which she will be working.
You can contact Scilla Latham by
Email: scilla.latham@cambsacre.org.uk
Telephone: 01353 865042
Post:
Mrs Scilla Latham
Cambridgeshire ACRE
32 Main Street
Littleport
Ely CB6 1PJ
Our Grants Secretary accounts for CHCT grants, but where else might you apply?
The Churchcare website www.churchcare.co.uk/funding is a good place to start looking, as it lists the main organisations that help churches not just with their fabric repairs, but also the conservation of fixtures and furnishings, monuments, organs and bells and with the creation of new facilities.
The National Churches Trust with Wren
Heritage Fund
Under Object E of the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF), WREN is able to fund the repair, maintenance or restoration of a building or structure of architectural or historic importance including places of worship.
The WREN Board has directed that grant funding will be made available annually for historic building restoration and a new WREN Heritage Fund programme has been established. This funding programme will be directly managed and administered by WREN. WREN is now working in partnership with English Heritage, Historic Scotland, Cadw (Wales) and the National Churches Trust who have all helped in the development of this programme.
Who can apply for funding?
Please note WREN will not consider nor accept applications submitted directly by applicants. All Heritage Fund applications must be recommended to NCT and supported by one of our 4 key partner organisations (see details below).
The key criteria for this new funding programme will be as follows:
- WREN will only consider funding for Grade 1 (Grade A in Scotland) and Grade 2 *star listed buildings or structures including places of worship.
- WREN wishes to support priority heritage projects that urgently need repairs within the next 2 years.
- WREN will consider awarding grants from £15,001 and up to £50,000 specifically for capital costs of fabric repair /restoration work for historic buildings and structures including places of worship.
- This will be an annual programme of funding.
- All projects must be situated witihn 10 miles of an active and licensed Waste Recycling Group landfill site.
Potential applicants are advised to make contact for Christian Places of Worship in England
Please follow the National Churches Trust’s application procedure by visiting the Grants webpage of the National Churches Trust website.
If you have any questions about the Trust please contact:
Alison Pollard
Grants Manager
National Churches Trust
31 Newbury Street
London EC1A 7HU
Tel: 02076 006 090
E mail: alisonp@nationalchurchestrust.org
Web: www.nationalchurchestrust.org
If you wish to discuss your Heritage project with a member of WREN staff please contact:
Peter Moralee
WREN Special Projects Manager
Tel: 01379 687 226
Email: heritage@wren.org.uk
For more information see the WREN website: www.wren.org.uk/schemes/heritage-fund
Donarbon Community Fund
Landfill operators must pay a tax to the Government on every tonne of waste that is sent to landfill. The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) allows landfill operators to 'offset' a percentage of the landfill tax (currently 6% of their liability) and give a proportion of it to organisations who deliver environmental objectives, instead of paying all the landfill tax to the Government.
The principle of the LCF is that it 'offsets' some of the negative impacts of living near a landfill site. This is done by allowing landfill operators to pay a proportion of their landfill tax liability to not-for-profit organisations that deliver benefits to the general public, biodiversity or the environment, within a 10 mile radius of a landfill site.
Donarbon Ltd (now part of AmeyCespa Group) has set up the Donarbon Community Fund as its LCF, and we pay 6% of our landfill tax liability into this fund on a quarterly basis. Under the LCF regulations, the fund has to be administered by an independent organisation and Donarbon have commissioned the Cambridgeshire Community Foundation to manage the Fund.
For more information about the types of organisations and projects the Donarbon Community Fund can make contributions to and the amounts of grant available please go to www.cambscf.org.uk/donarbon-fund.html
Other Funding Links
Please note that:
The Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust is not responsible for the content of external websites.
Links to other national sources of potential funding:
The following national sources of funding offer grants for historic church buildings. They do not have websites but can be contacted at the following addresses:
The Alan Evans Memorial Trust
c/o Coutts and Co
Trustee Department
440 Strand
London
WC2R 0QS
The G C Gibson Trust
Touche Ross & Co
Blenheim House
Fitzalan Court
Newport Road
Cardiff
CF2 1TS
The Manifold Charitable Trust
Shottesbrooke House
Maidenhead
SL6 3SW
There is money available for most projects undertaken in churches, and though it will take some time and perseverance to identify, ‘seek ‘til you find and you’ll not lose your labour’.
Grants Secretary
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