Church Grants for Ministry Programs
Churches looking for grants and donations face a difficult
challenge. Getting money for your church from the
government has become an endeavor, that with few exceptions,
is a waste of time, especially from the Federal and
State sources. There are millions of dollars of money for
ministry and faith based programs, unfortunately, most
churches do not have the experience or training to compete
for this money. Did you notice the word compete? You
have to compete for the money.
There are hundreds of
thousands of applications every year by churches and
religious organizations for grant money from
foundations and private contributors. Many of those non-profit organizations
applying for funding
are anything but Christian, but they do have more
experience, and they are getting dollars that could be going
to your faith based organization.
Many of the grants available for
new church construction are limited to denominational, and in
some cases, geographic resources. There are going to be
few government resources for construction. However, most mainline denominations
have grant programs for church development that can
provide some funds for new
church construction. There are also foundations that
offer
church grants for planting churches in rural or urban areas.
In urban areas undergoing redevelopment, the local
government might provide a church grants to assist in renovating existing property in the
redevelopment area.
Your Biggest
Source of Money is Probably Sitting in Your Pews!
All
too often churches start looking for money outside the
congregation when they should start a little closer to home!
According to a
recent Barna report, only about 5% of Christians give
10% or more to the church. It varies by demographic
group, 24% of born-again evangelicals tithed, while
20% of conservatives did, and only about 2% of Catholics
did. The good news is that there is a
vast untapped potential right in your own church.
A proven
church
stewardship program can increase giving in your church
20, 30, or 60% in just 5 weeks! If you would like to
increase giving and help grow people spiritually in the
important grace of giving, the Dynamic Giving Stewardship
Program has been used in over 1,000 churches in 13
countries. 
If
you are planning on building and feel your members are
already giving well to the general fund, you should
investigate a church
capital campaign.
The Abundant Giving Capital
campaign is a biblical and proven method that will help your
church raise money for building, relocation, or debt
retirement.
Before applying for a private or government grant,
the church
needs to be able to demonstrate that they have something worthy
of receiving grant funding. The famous Sci-Fi author, Robert Heinlein coined
the phrase, "TANSTAFL", an abbreviation for the famous hominy;
"There Ain't No Such Thing As Free Lunch". This is
very true, even of grants; Writing your grant request is a lot of work. Getting "free money"
in the form of a private or government grant is a lot more work (and less certain) than
borrowing it!
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