Grants

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Capital Improvement Challenge Grants

Improve Your Building 
The Capital Improvement Challenge Grants are intended to assist congregations seeking to improve their property in order to improve and provide for Word and Sacrament ministry in our Synod. The synod’s annual budget has allocated up to $500,000 to be dispersed among all the approved applications for this strategic initiative. Approved grant applications provide up to $2 for every $1 raised by congregations for capital improvements.

Submitting Your Application

When submitting a grant application please follow the instructions that preface the form. Doing so will help the grant review team in its deliberations and provide the team with the necessary information for a fair reading of your application.

The synod is accepting grant applications beginning Thursday, June 1. Applications must be received in the office no later than Tuesday, September 5, 2017. The grant review team looks at all applications simultaneously. You may submit up to three projects. All first projects will be given first consideration. Once your grant application has been received you will receive an email confirming receipt. You will have until Tuesday, September 12 to submit any missing information. No grant application will be considered if it is incomplete as of Tuesday, September 12, 2017.

Expect notification of awards by late October barring unforeseen circumstances. Grant monies awarded are released once the congregation has raised its matching portion. Monies can be released in phases. Contact Sue Brandt with any questions at 212-870-2378 or [email protected].

Download the 2017 Application

Capital_Grants2016 Award Recipients

Now in it's third year, the Capital Improvement Challenge Grant Initiative continues to offer congregations the opportunity to make repairs and improvements that offer safe and welcoming buildings. Between a reallocation of unused funds within the Gathered Strategy and almost $8,000 returned by congregations whose projects came in under budget, every congregation that applied was awarded funding.

Thirty-six congregations are receiving matching challenge grants totaling over $532,000 that will fix boilers, windows, and bathrooms. Congregations will be able to welcome people with safer sidewalks, stairs, and new chair lifts.

2015 Award Recipients

Right before the Thanksgiving holiday, twenty-eight congregations received word that they had been awarded a Capital Improvement Challenge Grant through our synod’s strategic plan. At its November 2015 meeting, the Synod Council approved these challenge grants using reallocated funds from other strategic plan initiatives. They doubled the award amount from 2014, granting $400,000 in funding to congregations.

"We want to be able to support congregations where they need it most," said Mr. Frank Suttell, MNYS Treasurer and review team member. "Helping our congregations to become safe and welcoming for two years in a row is a fantastic sign of our strategic plan at work." 

2014 Award Recipients

At its October 2014 meeting, the Synod Council approved $200,000 of funding for our first Capital Improvement Challenge Grants. Twenty-one congregations were awarded matching grants for roof work, new windows, parking lots, repointing, masonry, boilers, bathroom renovations, kitchen renovations, and chair lifts. The selection process was extremely competitive.

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