Frequently Asked Questions

Helpful guidance and technical support

Got a question? You’re in the right place. Take a look below at our Frequently Asked Questions, where you’ll find helpful answers and technical guidance to support you through every stage of your application.

Frequently asked questions

Building Grants and Community Impact Grants accept applications from Christian charities, churches and representative bodies (e.g. diocese and denominational bodies) based in the UK and Ireland.

The Methodist Grants programme, which is funded primarily by donations from Methodist Insurance PLC, is open to applications from Methodist Districts and Circuits, individual Methodist churches which are part of the Methodist Connexion and organisations associated with the Methodist Church in Britain or the Methodist Church in Ireland.

All applicant organisations should be registered as charities in the UK or Ireland unless the organisation has 'excepted' status, which is restricted to specific churches - see Excepted charities - GOV.UK).

Churches, cathedrals and other Christian denominational bodies (e.g. dioceses, representative bodies in Scotland, Wales and Ireland) must belong to one of the National Ecumenical Instruments (Churches Together in England (CTE), Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS), Churches Together in Wales (Cytun) or the Irish Council of Churches), or in the case of local churches to appropriate local ecumenical / ‘churches together’ type groups.

We have multiple open grant programmes that provide funding for different types of projects – ranging from capital funding to protect, enhance and sustain Christian buildings to revenue grants for activities helping to address social challenges within communities or grow and sustain Christian congregations and communities.

Please refer to our website for more information about these programmes. Further details can be found under the programme guidance for each of the grant programmes.

Once you have received funding under one of our grant programmes, you will need to wait two years after your final grant payment before you can apply under the same programme again.

We also have the following rules regarding funding received under our previous grant programmes:

If you have received funding in the past under Building Improvement Grants, you will need to wait two years from receipt of your last grant payment before you can apply to Building Grants.
If you have received funding in the past under Transformational Grants, you will need to wait two years from receipt of your last grant payment before you can apply to Community Impact Grants.

If you are not sure of the programme under which you received funding in the past, please contact us.

You can receive funding under more than one of the Trust’s grant programmes at the same time, with the only exception being Building Grants and Methodist Grants (you cannot receive capital funding from both of these programmes for the same building project).

Please refer to the specific guidance for each grant programme. In the case of Community Impact Grants and Building Grants, you will be asked to present the total costs of your project and details of the other funding you have secured, rather than requesting a specific grant amount. If your project fits the programme criteria, the size of your grant will be calculated by our Grants Officers based on your total project costs and our assessment criteria. We will also take into account deprivation levels where your project is taking place and may apply a deprivation uplift when determining the size of your grant.

At the heart of our grant-giving is helping those most in need. To ensure that money goes to those areas where people are most in need, we provide uplifts for grants supporting the most deprived communities.

For most of our grant programmes, we require 30% of funding to be in place before an application can be made. This is helpful to demonstrate that other funders may be involved and that the project is likely to go ahead. Applicants should also have a clear plan for how other funding for the project will be secured (i.e. it should not be assumed that Benefact Trust will over the entire funding shortfall).

Please review the guidance for each grant programme for more details.

If you are raising funds for a major capital project and the work has already started, it may be possible to apply. If, however, you are running a programme of activity that has already been completed, the Trust will be unable to support this.

When you apply online, you will receive an immediate email acknowledgement to let you know that we have received your application.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Decision time depends on the size of the grant we are considering awarding. The average decision time for grants up to £25k is three months. Larger grants take between four and six months because these are considered at Grants Committee and Board meetings which are held throughout the year.

Once an application is approved, funding is usually disbursed within two weeks of your grant being accepted and correct bank details being provided on our grants system (provided there are no conditions on your grant which need to be met before payment can be made). Annual payments for multi-year grants are disbursed within two weeks of the progress report being reviewed and approved by us.

All grant applications are assessed by our Grants Team. When assessing applications, we consider how well the application meets the programme criteria and other factors such as need and impact. We also consider the level of deprivation in the area where the project is taking place.

Depending on the size of the grant, a recommendation is then made to our Board of Trustees (whose members are listed on the website), Grants Committee (comprising members of the Trust’s Board) or Head of Grants, as outlined in the table below. Each application is discussed and considered before a final decision is taken. We aim to support as many applications which fit our objectives and criteria as possible.

Grant amount	Approving authority
Up to £25k	Head of Grants
Over £25k and up to £150k	Grants Committee
Over £150k	Board

Trustees take a range of considerations into account, including whether the application meets the charitable objectives of the Trust and the criteria of the grant programme you have applied to. They also consider factors such as need, impact, costs, previous grants and the viability of the fundraising plan. While the Trustees aim to support as many good projects and organisations as possible, it is unfortunately not possible to provide funding to all.

Yes, we will consider each application on its merits. It might be helpful to contact us for a discussion if you are planning to apply again for a project that has already been declined.

Yes, we do ask that you acknowledge the grant where possible.

As a charity, the Trustees are required to publish details of the grants we award in the Trust’s Annual Report and Accounts. We may also share information about funded projects on our website and in other communications to highlight the work being supported. This helps raise awareness of the Trust, our beneficiaries work and can also be useful for other organisations who may be looking for funding.

Where appropriate, we encourage grant recipients to acknowledge the support publicly. This could include mentioning the grant on social media, your website, newsletters, printed or digital materials or local media coverage.

To make this easy, we provide support through our Advice and Resources section. This includes press release templates and tips on how and where to share your news.

If you would like logo, creative assets or writing guidance, please contact us info@benefacttrust.co.uk.

Our standard Grant Terms & Conditions apply to all grants made by the Trust. If you are awarded a grant, you will be required to submit a brief Impact Survey at the end of your grant period. Some grants will have additional reporting requirements, including final reports for grants larger than £10k and annual progress reports for multi-year grants.

The Trust is the charitable owner of the Benefact Group - a financial services group comprising companies specialising in insuring churches, charities and historical buildings, as well as providing advisory, insurance broking and investment services. The Benefact Group passes all available profits to the Trust.

In making their decisions on grants, the Trustees are not aware whether an applicant is a customer of a Benefact Group company.

Technical Frequently Asked Questions

Registration

If your email isn't accepted, check if you have registered on the application portal before. You might be using a generic email address (like info or admin) linked to your organisation.

Also, make sure there are no extra spaces at the end of your email address. If your password isn't working, ensure it meets the requirements. If you still have issues, please contact info@benefacttrust.co.uk for help.

You can reset your password by clicking on 'Forgotten your password?' on the login page. If you enter your password incorrectly six times, your account will be locked. In that case, please contact Benefact Trust using your registered email address, and our team will unlock your account and send you a temporary password.

Here, you can check if your organisation is already in our database. If it is, you will need to register with that organisation. The search page offers three search options, but it's best to use only one search term at a time.

For example, if you're looking for Benefact Trust, you can start by typing 'Benefact' in the organisation name field. Alternatively, you can search using the postcode by entering, for example, 'GL3 4AW.' This should help locate the organisation if it exists in our database.

If you are unsure about the exact postcode, try entering just the beginning (like 'GL3'). This is helpful if your organisation has used a different address in the past, such as a church that doesn't receive mail at its location and instead uses a church hall address.

If your organisation does not appear in the search results, it may not have previously applied to the Benefact Trust. You can click on 'Create Organisation' to register it. When registering, please enter only organisational information; please do not include personal emails or phone numbers.

If you believe your organisation has applied before, try using older postcodes, previous names, or earlier charity numbers. Alternatively, you can email our team with the organisation's name, charity number (if applicable), and postcode, and we will help you.

If you see a red error message, make sure you are not using the same email address you registered with as an individual user. The organisation email field should contain a general email address for the organisation, such as info@benefacttrust.co.uk.

If your organisation doesn't have a general email address, or if it has already been used for your individual account, you can leave that field blank. It is not mandatory, as all correspondence will go to you as the individual user.

If your organisation shares a charity number, such as local PCCs, please leave this field blank. It is not mandatory and excluding it will not cause registration issues.

After you complete your registration, please email us the charity number and your organisation's name. A team member will then add this information for you. If you do not provide it, we may ask for this information when checking your organisation's eligibility.

Our team reviews all connection requests for both new and existing organisations (Mon -Fri, 9am to 5pm). You will be unable to submit an application until the review is complete.

Once we've reviewed your request, you will receive an email confirming your connection. We may also ask you for more information about the organisation. This enables us to verify that all registered organisations meet our eligibility criteria. You can use our eligibility checker to see if your organisation qualifies.

If your organisation's details are out of date, please email us with the correct information, including the organisation's name as listed on the portal. A member of our team will update the record and confirm once the changes are complete.

When updating your address, please use the head office or building you operate from. If your legal address is different (for example, some organisations or churches are registered with a charity regulator), please provide the officially registered address that appears on the charity regulator’s website.

No, you don’t need to. You only need one individual user account. To apply for another organisation, go to your dashboard and select 'Register an Organisation'. There is no limit to the number of organisations you can connect to.

Application Form

Yes, you can. While filling out the form, scroll to the bottom and click on 'Save as draft'. To return to your draft, log in to the portal and find the application under 'Upcoming Tasks.' Click the 'Complete Application' button to access it.

If you don't see the 'Complete Application' button, expand the section by clicking the green button located in the top right corner.

Once your form is submitted, it can't be edited. If you need to make any changes, reach out to us, and we can return the form to you. After making your changes, you'll need to resubmit the form to ensure your application is considered.

To download a copy of your submitted form, go to 'My Applications' and select the 'App ID' for your application. Then, click on 'Form Created Application Form' and choose 'Print Form.'

The email you received will specify which questions need updating. Your application will be labelled 'Awaiting additional information' under Upcoming Tasks. Click on 'Complete Application,' make the necessary changes, and then resubmit the form.

If you don't see the 'Complete Application' button, expand the section by clicking the green button located in the top right corner.

Yes, you can change your contact information in your account. Just click on 'Edit My Details' in your dashboard. If you want to add a new contact person with a different email for your organisation's application, please let us know, and we will update the main contact for the application.

The portal allows you to access your documents at any time by clicking on the application ID number. You can do this for applications under ‘Upcoming Tasks’ or under the ‘My Applications’ section to view the application's correspondence log.

Accept Offer

To access your decision letter for the application, log in to the portal. Once logged in, you'll see your application listed under ‘Upcoming Tasks’ with an 'Accept Offer' button. Click that button, and you'll find your Decision Letter in the Correspondence Log. Just click on the Decision Letter to download it to your computer. Make sure you have a program that opens RTF files, like Microsoft Word, to view the letter.

If you don't see the 'Complete Application' button, expand the section by clicking the green button located in the top right corner.

To accept a grant offer, please complete the acceptance process through the portal. You will be asked to agree to the Terms and Conditions and provide the following information:

For UK payments:

- Account name (first 18 characters, including spaces) *

- Account number

- Sort code

For Non-UK (Euro) payments:

- Account name (first 18 characters, including spaces) *

- IBAN (no spaces)

- BIC code

Additionally, you will need to attach a bank statement or paying-in slip dated within the last three months to verify the details in section 2.1.

*If your account name exceeds 18 characters, don't worry. Just enter the first 18 characters, as that is all the bank requires to process the payment, provided the other account details are correctly filled out.

Please email the Benefact Trust team with your application reference number and your reason for declining the grant offer. We will then process your request.

Follow the instructions in the email you received. It will tell you which question needs to be amended. After you make the updates, resubmit the form through the portal. We are unable to accept information by email.

If you have trouble uploading documents or resubmitting the form, please contact us with your application reference number and details of the error (screenshots can also be provided).

Bank details need to be submitted via the portal only. If you experience issues uploading documents or submitting the form, please get in touch with us with your application reference number and details of the error. Screenshots can also be included to help us resolve the problem.