Realising the Potential - Government Guidance
Realising the Potential is a Government initiative to help churches and faith communities access existing funding for their work in the community.
Download the full report
RealisingthePotential.pdf 336.82 kB
The summary Report
ExecSummaryRealisingthePotential.pdf 48.88 kB
& Guidance for parishes
A guide to guidance.pdf 36.92 kB
The Report's Summary says:
"Faith groups, including the Church of England (CofE), share many objectives with Government, including that of providing communities with high quality public services. The CofE, for example, has an estate of church buildings that gives them a presence in every community in England, with the potential to act as a service delivery point for all those who live within the parish, whether they are churchgoers or not. However faith buildings are not always suitably adapted for wider community use.
Following dialogue with the Bishop of London, the Prime Minister agreed that whilst there would be no new funding following the agreement of CSR settlements, there should be consideration of how faith buildings might be better plugged in to existing Departmental programmes. HM Treasury has co-ordinated work amongst DCMS, CLG, OTS and DEFRA to identify such programmes.
This paper does not consider the funding of the general upkeep of historical buildings for activities such as worship. However, a range of funding sources have been identified that may be appropriate for the physical alteration and modification of faith buildings to ensure that they are fit for community use"
