Reformed Church Planting PNW

Church Planting Fund Grant Guidelines

  1. Church Planting Grant Program Description

    1. The Church Planting Grant Program is designed to encourage and support church planting activity within the bounds of Classis Pacific Northwest, by providing major financial support during the first four years of a church plant.
    2. Grant applications will be submitted to the Classical Committee for Home Missions for recommendation and approval for each of the four years of a church planting grant, with support ordinarily decreasing over the four year period.

  2. Application Guidelines

    1. Application for Church Planting Grants shall include the following:
      1. Budget — Applicants will demonstrate need by including an annual budget for the year of the request and shall project both expenses and sources of funding.
        1. Expenses should be broken down with sufficient detail to identify relative costs of salaries, property, supplies, promotion and advertising, etc.
        2. Income should be broken down into three major sources:
          1. Internal Sources: this includes core group giving pledged, and overseeing church commitment.
          2. External Sources: this includes other church offerings (including Joint Venture Churches), and individuals.
          3. Classical Church Planting Fund: this includes the formula driven grants from the fund.
      2. Four-Year Funding Plan—Applicants will show the amount of any previous grants from the Fund, and anticipated future grants. The four-year funding schedule (below) will provide a baseline for this funding plan.
      3. Previous year(s) profit and loss statements, including YTD statement for current year.
    2. Application Deadline: Applications for Church Planting Funds shall ordinarily be submitted to the Classical Committee for Home Missions twelve weeks prior to the date of classis at which the application will be considered.

  3. Reporting Requirements

    1. Plants receiving funds will submit to the Classical Committee for Home Missions at year-end a standard “profit and loss” statement tracking expenses by budget category and income by source (Internal Giving, External sources, Classical Planting Fund grants)
    2. Plants receiving funds will submit a balance sheet at year end showing cash on hand.
    3. Plants will submit the proposed budget for the upcoming year.
    4. Plants will report monthly average attendance at Sunday services, as well as membership statistics.

  4. Reinvestment Provision

    1. Church Plants receiving grants from the Classical Church Planting fund should actively seek to reinvest in the Classical Church Planting Fund.
    2. It is the aim that reinvestment will continue in perpetuity, with the goal of making the fund a perpetual endowment for church planting.
    3. All churches in Classis are encouraged to invest in the Classical Church Planting Fund.

  5. Four Year Funding Schedule

    1. Church planting grants from the Classical Church Planting Fund will typically be offered for a four year period and calculated to provide a declining percentage of the “outstanding need” for funds, calculated as the total annual budget less the internal giving (core group's projected offerings and the overseeing church's contribution).
      1. First year grant equals 80% of Outstanding Need
      2. Second year grant equals 60% of Outstanding Need
      3. Third year grant equals 40% of Outstanding Need
      4. Fourth year grant equals 20% of Outstanding Need
    2. The goal of the funding schedule is to provide maximal support near the beginning of the work, when the raising of funds is most challenging, and to encourage increased independence of the core group and shared support of the work over time.
    3. Support after four full years will be provided only in extraordinary circumstances. The Church Assistance Fund (CAF) should first be used for these circumstances.
    4. Initial partial year disbursals.
      1. Grant requests for funding for less than six months of a calendar year shall not constitute the first year of funding (year zero).
      2. Grant requests for less than six months shall follow the 80% disbursal guideline (as shall the first full year).
      3. Grant requests for more than six months of a calendar year shall constitute the first year of funding (year 1).
    5. Below is a highly simplified example, assuming low-end linear growth in core group giving and an unchanging annual budget of $100,000:
2024202520262027Total
Internal Sources$30,000$40,000$50,000$60,000$180,000
Grant Funds$56,000$36,000$20,000$8,000$120,000
External Sources$14,000$24,000$30,000$32,000$100,000
Total Budget$100,000$100,000$100,000$100,000$400,000
  1. Outstanding need may or may not decrease over the four year period. Regardless, the plant will need to secure a greater portion of its external funding from other sources as time goes on.
  2. Plants may or may not be fully self-funded after four full years of Classical support. However, they will ordinarily at that time be expected to secure their external support from other sources.

The Classical Committee on Home Missions (PNW) plants churches in Northern California, Central Valley California, The Bay Area and Walnut Creek in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.

© 2024 | The Classical Committee on Home Missions