Grants and funding

Grants for church buildings available through the Diocese of Exeter

Buildings for Mission: Minor Repairs & Improvements Grants 2026-2029

The Diocese of Exeter has once again been awarded a share of the Buildings for Mission: Minor Repairs & Improvements Fund. Buildings for Mission is a project funded by the Church Commissioners via the Archbishop’s Council which supports grants for buildings and Church Buildings Support Officer (CBSO) posts across the country.
The intention of these grants is to assist with funding ‘stitch in time’ repairs or small improvements which enable regular maintenance and reduce the cost of future repairs. The budget of the fund in this Diocese is £144,000 and this will be split over two ‘tranches’.
There are two types of grants within the fund: Small and Large. Small grants have a minimal match-funding requirement with a maximum grant of £5000. Large grants require more match-funding with a minimum of 25%. With the exception of total project cost, the eligibility criteria is the same for each type of grant.
In the Application Guide you will find information about eligible works and buildings, application processes and deadlines, panel decision processes, FAQs and everything else you will need in order to apply for a grant. Please read the whole guide carefully before applying.

Click here to download the Application Guide

If you have any questions about the guide or grant programme, contact the Diocese of Exeter CBSO:
Imogen Marshall-Smith
Church Buildings Support Officer
Church Buildings Team
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 07719980692

Listed Places of Worship Renewal Fund (2026)

This is a new Government grant being administered by Historic England. It replaces the previous Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, but is a competitive, targeted grant rather than universal. The priorities for this grant have been identified by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Key facts:

The fund totals £92m – to be distributed over a four year period (£23m per year).
There are two application rounds per year, with set deadlines.
It is estimated that 100-150 projects will be supported across England annually (National Churches Trust)
Funds are prioritised to areas in England with the greatest deprivation.
Improvements are not funded unless they are part of a wider repair project (where repairs make up the majority of the works).

Full details are available on the Historic England website. Any questions about this grant should be directed to Historic England.

The Church Buildings Team have provided a briefing on this grant, including tips for making an application. Click here to download a copy.

Finding grants

Cornerstone is a platform that helps parishes promote a culture of generous giving, and provides a comprehensive grants database. You can sign up for access via the Mission Resources fundraising page here. A range of recorded webinars on fundraising and grant applications, plus guidance on writing a fundraising strategy, is available on the same page.

There is also lots of useful information and a national funding/grants list on the Parish Resources website.

The main grant funders for church buildings are:

The main local funder is Devon Historic Churches Trust.

Grants for conservation of historic church interiors and churchyard structures

Grants are available for the conservation of historic church interiors and churchyard structures, via the Church of England. This includes conservation of bells and bell frames, books, church plate, individually listed churchyard tombs/walls/railings/gates, clocks, metalwork, monuments, organs, paintings, stained glass, textiles and woodwork. In order to claim a grant, you must first have a conservation report carried out by an accredited conservator – funding is also available for this.

Full details of these grants, and how to apply, is available online here.

A searchable list of accredited conservators is available on the Institute of Conservation website.

Applying for grants

The following webinars were recorded as part of the Growing the Rural Church project.

	In this recorded webinar, the team from Church Grants take you through the process of project planning, with particular focus on obtaining funding from external sources (recorded 4 March 2021).
	In this recorded webinar, the team from Church Grants take you through writing a case for support for your church project (recorded 20 April 2021).
	In this recorded webinar, two fundraising experts take you through how to write a first class grant application (recorded 11 October 2021). The presenters are Dr Clare Jefferies MCIOF, a fundraising consultant, and Carol Ward MCIOF, Parish Fundraising Manager for the Diocese of London.

Recorded webinars from Church Grants and Mission Resources are available here.

Remember that most grant funders will expect to see evidence that permission for the works is in place before they release funds.

The Diocesan Building Fund

The purpose of the Building Fund is to support Mission Communities and parishes in support of the Moving on in Growth agenda by providing funds to enable:

1. The review and rationalisation of a Mission Community’s building stock*

2. The re-ordering of church buildings (both consecrated and non-consecrated) to better provide for church and/or community use

3. The repair and improvement of church buildings including heating systems

Full details of eligible works and criteria can be found here: Assets Group Diocesan Building Fund 2019

and the application form for a loan under this Fund can be found here.

*If you are interested in carrying out a feasibility study with regard to priority 1 above (the review and rationalisation of your Mission Community’s building stock), please contact either Nigel Pratt (01392 294944) for further details and an application form.

Back to ‘Your church building and churchyard‘.