Innovation - Apply for a Grant
Has God put an idea in your heart for doing ministry in a new way—but you’re searching for the financial capital to make it happen?
Here’s a list of grantors to contact about resources that might be available. Please note that this isn’t an exhaustive list, and that each granting organization has its own application and approval process. You can click the links to be taken to their web pages.
This page will be updated as new granting organizations are identified. Contact us at innovation@wnccumc.org if you know of another granting organization that should be considered for this list.
Both/And Hybrid Worship Grant
The Church Development Office, in partnership with the WNCC Foundation and the Reynolds Ministry Fund, is excited to offer the 2nd Round of the BOTH/AND Hybrid Worship Cohort Grant. The goal is to help churches in the WNCC grow in their understanding and practice of hybrid worship by providing a framework, discovering and experimenting with best practices, and upgrading equipment (as needed) as we emerge into our post-pandemic reality. As we faithfully improve the quality and practice of hybrid worship, we know that we will engage more people and connect them to God and to one another.
Duke Endowment
By developing rural United Methodist churches and supporting their clergy leaders, we aim to expand church outreach across North Carolina. We work collaboratively with the North Carolina and Western North Carolina conferences of the United Methodist Church and Duke Divinity School to help rural churches serve their neighbors.
Technical Assistance - Institute for Rural Vitality
The Institute for Rural Vitality at SUNY Cobleskill has a clear mission that encompasses a broad range of initiatives and activities: to engage the substantial resources of SUNY Cobleskill in collaboration with regional partners to enhance community and economic vitality in rural New York.
Duke's Reflective Ministry Grant
The Reflective Leadership Grant program offers lay and ordained Christian leaders up to $15,000 to step away from their current work to reflect on accomplishments, broaden perspectives, and discern next steps.
The Reynolds Foundation, housed in the WNC United Methodist Foundation
The Foundation is blessed to be in the ministry of making grants to churches and church related institutions who are carrying out the mission of the United Methodist Church. We have two available funding pools for grants, The Reynolds Ministries Fund and the UMF Ministry Fund.
Louisville Institute in Pastoral Leadership
The Pastoral Study Project (PSP) awards pastoral leaders up to $15,000 to pursue a pressing question related to Christian life, faith, and ministry. Grants are available for study projects involving full or partial leave from job responsibilities.
Louisville Institute: Sabbatical Projects
The Sabbatical Grant for Researchers (SGR) offers grants up to $40,000 to assist research and writing projects that will advance religious and theological scholarship in ways that also address practical issues concerning Christian faith and life, pastoral leadership, and/or religious institutions. Typically, applicants are fully employed in accredited academic institutions and eligible for up to a full academic year leave from teaching and administrative responsibilities.
Lilly Clergy Renewal Grants
The Lilly Endowment National Clergy Renewal Program at Christian Theological Seminary (CTS) seeks to strengthen Christian congregations by providing opportunities for pastors to step away briefly from the persistent obligations of daily parish life and to engage in a period of renewal and reflection. Renewal periods are not vacations, but times for intentional exploration and reflection, for regaining the enthusiasm and creativity for ministry, for discovering what will make the pastor's heart sing.
Lilly Thriving Congregation Grants
Thriving in Ministry seeks to help pastors develop meaningful relationships with wise colleagues who can help guide them through key leadership challenges, especially during transitions in their ministerial careers. The initiative builds upon recent studies that have examined the importance of colleagues and mentors who help pastors face and overcome common professional challenges.
Wabash Foundation
The Wabash Center provides funds for activities that enhance teaching and learning in the fields of religious and theological studies as taught in colleges, universities, and theological schools. We fund projects that focus on at least one of three areas: improving teaching and learning practices encouraging research and study of pedagogical issues nurturing supportive teaching moments.
USDA Funds
AMS is helping communities scale up local and regional food systems and strengthen their economies. Whether you are an individual farmer looking to extend your growing season, a cooperative of growers looking to rebuild a food hub, a farmer's market that wants to accept SNAP benefits, a school that needs cold storage to store locally procured meant, or anyone in between, we can help you identify funding opportunities to support your local food efforts based on where you are in the supply chain.
Wesley CDC
Wesley works with churches to rethink how existing church-owned real estate that is not being fully used can be deployed to meet community needs. Wesley has also worked with local churches to develop more than 80 single-family homes, 50 apartments for families and individuals, and 150 apartments designed specifically for seniors to age in place.
Conference Grants through Missional Engagement
The Mission Engagement Team has funds available to grant to churches and organizations within the Conference.
Conference Grants through Church Development
WNCC Church Development has funds available to grant to churches and organizations within the Conference.
Conference Grants through Fresh Expression
A fresh expression is a new form of church for those not connected to any church. They take shape outside the walls of the church in places where our neighbors are already gathering. Fresh expressions in the WNC Conference are making new disciples and are passing on the traditions of our Wesleyan faith in new and creative ways. Fresh expressions are anchored to existing churches, connecting churches with people who would never enter the church building on a Sunday morning. They do not exist to get folks to come to our church, but rather to form church with folks in places where they are.
Conference Grants aimed at Justice and Reconciliation
The Justice and Reconciliation Team is one of four ministries that relate to the Vision Alignment Team. This team promotes excellence and fruitfulness in congregational life and ecclesial structures that reflect full diversity, works of justice, and participation by all people. A number of advocacy agencies relate to this work including Interreligious Concerns, Religion and Race, Commission on the Status and Role of Women, Church and Society, Health and Human Services institutions, and the Committees on African American, Asian American, Native American, and Hispanic Ministries. This work takes place primarily at the local church level. For more information, please contact the Conference Office at 704.535.2260.
NC Council of Churches Mental Health Grants
We are excited to partner with congregations across the state to engage our faith communities and larger communities in living happier, healthier, more abundant lives. We have proudly done this for years through our PHW Collaborative program and PHW Mini-Grant program. The congregations that have participated have done and are doing amazing work. We want to recognize depth and sustainability, and the good work that congregations of all sizes are doing not only to promote health, but to live it out in their communities.
North Carolina Conference Grant Sources
Here's a link to a page that our friends at the North Carolina Conference have put together with information on grant sources. Feel free to take a look to see whether they might apply to you and your ministry idea.
Board of Higher Education and Ministry - Young Clergy Initiative Grants
The Young Clergy Initiative is a $7 million fund created by General Conference in 2012 and 2016 that is charged with increasing the number of young clergy within jurisdictional conference of The United Methodist Church by encouraging opportunities that leverage for denominational change on systemic and cultural levels through various conversations, events, experiments, resources, research, and training. The YCI invites grant requests that assist young people to listen for, discern, and respond well to God's call to ordained ministry.
Environmental Stewardship
The Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation will award up to $1.5 million through a competitive Environmental Education and Stewardship grants program. Eligible organizations include nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations and public and private K-12 schools in communities served by Dominion Energy companies (see Geographical Eligibility below.) The Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation considers grant requests up to $25,000 that focus on specific, short-term projects that promise measurable results to improve the environment, and K-12 requests up to $5,000
Contemplation
Many people think of meditation as an exclusively Eastern religious practice. But Western religion, too, has a long tradition of silent, non-discursive prayer, often called contemplation, which is rooted in a rich mystical literature. Contemporary thinkers are unearthing this tradition. Their fresh encounter with the Gospels and mystics emphasizes that God is a living presence in us - to be known in silence and love and manifested in our acts of compassion.