Grants for Catholic Churches 2026: 3,234 Funders

What Foundation Filings Show About Catholic Parish Grants

8,836 grants, 3,234 foundations, 4,429 different recipients and $197,551,035: that's the strict Catholic count in the Grantsights snapshot. According to IRS guidance about Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab), foundations use that return to report charitable distributions, so each gift traces to a public filing.

The total misleads. According to Grantsights analysis of those Catholic rows, 318 grants of $100,000 or more carried $117,410,168, about 59% of the dollars, and 37 of them were $1 million or larger. Meanwhile 4,485 of the 8,836 grants were under $5,000, and 1,601 were under $1,000. Budget around the $4,500 median, not the $22,358 average.

Florida leads the recipient states with 914 grants, followed by Texas (765), California (605), Illinois (604) and New York (511). The Florida church grants and Texas church grants guides go deeper on the first two.

Purpose lines are the weakest part of the data. 5,736 of the Catholic rows say only something like "general support", with a $4,882 median. One pattern is still clear: the 249 grants whose purpose names a building, roof, renovation or similar work had a $20,000 median, the highest of any purpose group. Food grants (126) had a $3,510 median. A named repair project is the better ask, and the church building repair grants guide covers how to scope one.

Why 71% of These Foundations Paid a Single Catholic Recipient

2,304 of the 3,234 foundations, 71%, paid exactly one Catholic-named recipient in the snapshot, and only 361 (11%) paid three or more. Across all church giving the single-recipient share is 51%, so Catholic parish money is even more concentrated than church money in general.

The rows show what that looks like. A filing by the Sebastian Family Charitable Foundation lists $10,000 to St Mary Catholic Church in Cincinnati, Ohio (tax year 2023), purpose "Church upkeep and aid to the ministries of the Church". The Collins Family Impact Foundation's filing lists $4,000,000 to St Augustine's Catholic Church in Covington, Georgia (tax year 2024), purpose "DONATION". Both read like a family giving to its own parish through a foundation.

Most of this money isn't available to a stranger. The useful slice is the 803 foundations (24.8%) whose filing shows a way to apply and the 361 that spread gifts across several Catholic recipients. A real-world example: the Treacy Foundation's filing shows $50,000 to Christ the King Parish in Missoula, Montana (tax year 2023) for a "CAPITAL CAMPAIGN", and its filing shows a way to apply. That doesn't mean it will fund your parish; it means a request has somewhere to go. Foundations that give grants to churches explains how to sort the two groups, and how to read a 990-PF shows where the application lines sit.

6 Catholic Funders, Each Checked on Its Own Page

87 dioceses is the number that decides whether the best-known Catholic funder is open to you at all. The table repeats only what each official page said on November 9, 2026.

Catholic Extension Society. According to Catholic Extension's funding information page (opens in a new tab), it "can only consider funding requests that are submitted by our pre-designated Extension Dioceses". Its list of the places it helps (opens in a new tab) totals 87 dioceses and eparchies, described as isolated or financially under-resourced. The FAQ and policies page (opens in a new tab) says money can reach parishes inside an Extension diocese, that a pastor may prepare a request, and that the diocese must approve it and the bishop must endorse it before it's submitted. The same page rules out Catholic schools, debt service on finished projects and operating support for financially stable parishes, even inside an Extension diocese.

Koch Foundation. The Koch Foundation's home page says it funds evangelization with no geographic preference and awarded 318 grants totaling $6,327,450 in 2025. Its five priorities include capital expenditures, meaning renovation or reconstruction of facilities in the United States and its territories, and a project over $50,000 must show secured non-Koch funding for at least 50% of the cost plus a signed construction proposal. The guidelines exclude endowments, capital campaigns, debt reduction, vehicles, land and buildings. Funding lasts one year, with no more than three grants in five years. U.S. applicants, per the eligibility page (opens in a new tab), must be identified in the Official Catholic Directory. The pages don't state a bishop's letter for U.S. applicants; they require one for applicants abroad.

Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities. According to the Raskob Foundation's grant programs page (opens in a new tab), a domestic applicant must be a 501(c)(3) public charity listed in the Official Catholic Directory, and the application asks for the directory's edition and page number. It also asks for a signed letter on official letterhead from the bishop, archbishop or cardinal (or a religious community's leader or provincial) acknowledging the project. Construction or renovation over $200,000 isn't eligible until 50% of the cost is in hand, a construction contract is signed and work is underway.

USCCB Catholic Home Missions. The grant guidelines say that "at this time" the subcommittee approves grants only to Class I applicants: diocesan bishops of home mission dioceses, meaning those unable to provide basic pastoral ministries without outside help. According to the USCCB Catholic Home Missions page (opens in a new tab), this year's appeal will fund over $7 million in grants to more than 70 dioceses. Grants ordinarily cover operating costs of pastoral work, not capital expenses.

Diocesan Catholic foundations. Many dioceses have their own foundation. Two examples: the Catholic Foundation of the Diocese of St. Augustine (opens in a new tab) invites requests each year from "Catholic entities listed in the Official Catholic Directory for the Diocese of St. Augustine", with no amounts or dates on the page. The Catholic Foundation (opens in a new tab) in Columbus, Ohio says parishes may apply under its Parishes, Education and Faith Formation, and Ministries pillars within the 23-county diocese, again without amounts or deadlines. Check your own diocese's foundation before any national funder.

The Parish-Versus-Diocese Step: 2 Documents Funders Ask For

2 documents come up again and again on the Catholic funders' pages: proof that the parish is in the Official Catholic Directory, and a letter from the bishop.

The directory listing. A parish usually has no IRS determination letter of its own. According to the USCCB General Counsel's information for donors and grantmakers (opens in a new tab), "subordinate organizations do not receive their own individual IRS determination letters" and the Official Catholic Directory "serves as the official subordinate listing". The same page says the organization receiving the gift must supply a copy of its directory page; the USCCB doesn't provide it. The IRS says on its group exemptions page (opens in a new tab) that a group exemption letter "has the same effect as an individual exemption letter".

So a parish's proof packet is three items: the group ruling determination letter (the USCCB tax and group ruling page (opens in a new tab) lists the latest as dated September 30, 2025), the directory's cover page and the page listing the parish. A secular family foundation may not know this system, so send the packet with the request.

The bishop's letter. Raskob asks for a letter from the bishop acknowledging the project. Extension requires diocesan approval and the bishop's endorsement. The Home Missions guidelines say the diocesan bishop "must certify its value in writing" when an activity takes place within one diocese. Whatever a funder's page says, your diocese may have its own policy on parishes approaching outside funders, building projects above a set cost, or signing grant agreements. Those internal rules vary and aren't published in one place, so call the chancery or diocesan development office first.

What Catholic Extension's Site Doesn't Tell You

$7,500,000 is the largest Catholic-named grant in the Grantsights snapshot, and it went to Catholic Extension, not from it. Lilly Endowment's filing lists that amount to the Catholic Church Extension Society in Chicago (tax year 2024), purpose "MINISTRY IN RURAL AREAS & TOWNS INIT". Extension's funding pages don't describe that half: it's itself a grant recipient, raising money from foundations and donors and passing it on to its 87 dioceses.

Three things follow.

First, Extension's own grants can't be seen in foundation data. Extension isn't among the 990-PF filers in the snapshot, which covers private foundations only, so none of its grants to parishes show up there. Its pages give one figure: major building requests generally don't exceed $100,000.

Second, if your diocese isn't on the list, Extension is closed to you. Grantsights' view: a parish outside the 87 should spend its hours on its diocesan foundation and local family foundations, not on national funders built for mission territory.

Third, filings show what two national funders paid for, and it isn't operating budgets. The Koch Foundation's filing shows at least 52 church grants in tax year 2024, $839,800 in all, median $10,000: $50,000 to St Cecilia Parish in Haysville, Kansas "to support a new roof" and $40,000 to St Peter in Chains Church in Hamilton, Ohio "to support the purchase of new windows". The Raskob filing shows at least 65 church grants across tax years 2023 and 2024, $1,289,626, median $10,000, including $38,000 to Saints Peter & Paul Church & School in Easton, Maryland "toward expenses of the Old St. Joseph's Cemetery Memorial Project". "At least" matters: these are only grants to parish, church and ministry recipients, and both foundations also fund schools, religious orders and overseas missions.

Who Gets Turned Down, and Why

4 reasons for a decline are listed on the Koch Foundation's own question page: the proposal falls outside guidelines, the organization is ineligible, the project is insufficiently described, or the budget is unclear or doesn't match the description.

• Established parishes asking for operating money. Extension says its operating support isn't for financially stable parishes. Home Missions pays operating costs, but only to bishops of mission dioceses. Koch funds evangelization and renovation, one year at a time. A stable parish asking for salaries or utilities fails because no page reviewed here offers that.
• Parishes that skip the diocese. A request to Extension that didn't come through the diocesan contact can't be considered. A Raskob application without the bishop's letter is incomplete.
• Capital projects that haven't raised their half. Koch wants 50% secured from other sources above $50,000. Raskob wants 50% in hand, a signed contract and work underway above $200,000.
• Debt and endowment. Koch and Raskob both exclude them.
• Strangers writing to one-parish foundations. With 71% of foundations paying a single Catholic recipient and 75% showing no way to apply, most cold letters go to a family that already has its parish.

Common Mistakes and Red Flags in Catholic Parish Requests

$22,358 is the average Catholic-named grant, and planning around it is the most common mistake a finance council can make. The median is $4,500. The parish campaign has to carry most of a roof.

Other mistakes:

• Treating a saint's name as a search term. The count behind this guide exists because names are unreliable. "St. Joseph" returns Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran churches together, so search by county, then read recipients.
• Applying after starting work. Both Koch and Raskob refuse anything purchased or completed before their boards meet.
• Underestimating the calendar. Don't underestimate a 12-month cycle: Koch's question page says the process typically takes about twelve months, with award notices in March.
• Asking the wrong arm of the parish. School tuition, teacher pay and school buildings belong to a different set of funders. The grants for Catholic schools guide covers that side.

Public Money for Parishes: $300 Million for Security, With Limits

$300 million is the fiscal year 2026 total on FEMA's Nonprofit Security Grant Program page (opens in a new tab), split evenly between its urban area and state programs. According to FEMA, awards were announced on September 28, 2026, so that round is finished; the page's summary names places of worship among the organizations the program serves. The church security grants guide covers how a parish applies.

The limit on government money is what it can pay for. Under 24 CFR 5.109 (opens in a new tab), HUD's rule for faith-based organizations, a religious organization is eligible for programs "on the same basis as any other organization" but can't use direct federal assistance for explicitly religious activities such as "worship, religious instruction, or proselytization", and those activities must be kept separate in time or location from the funded program. The government grants for churches guide walks through the programs, and church food pantry grants covers the pantry side.

A 6-Step Plan for a Parish

6 steps, in this order, keep a parish from spending months on funders that can't say yes.

1. Call the diocese first. Ask whether it's an Extension or home mission diocese, whether a diocesan foundation makes parish grants, and what approval a parish needs before asking an outside funder.
2. Build the proof packet. Note the directory's edition and the page number of your listing.
3. Pick one project with a price. The filings reward named work: a roof, windows, wiring, a sound system. Get a written estimate. For buildings on a historic register, see grants for historic churches.
4. Match the project to the calendar. Koch: letter of request January 1 to May 1. Raskob: January 1 to 15 or June 1 to 15. Request the bishop's letter at least a month ahead.
5. Find the local foundations. Start with the free preview on this page or the church grants page; its counts can differ slightly from this guide because it reads a newer pull. The Grantsights church funder list covers every state and shows each foundation's church and ministry grants from its own 990-PF (amount, recipient, year, purpose, filing link) and whether its filing shows a way to apply. A parish pays once, there's no subscription, and a refund is available for 30 days.
6. Check the rest of the map. Run the parish's programs through the eligibility checker, use how to apply for church grants for the letter itself, and see grants for ministries if the project belongs to a separate ministry.

Limits of the Data: 3 Things These Counts Can't Show

3 limits matter before anyone quotes these numbers to a finance council.

The count is a floor. It includes only names that say Catholic, diocese, Our Lady or basilica. A looser match that adds "parish" and names like Sacred Heart finds 14,720 grants from 5,009 foundations, but that group mixes in Episcopal and other parishes, so this guide doesn't use it as the headline. The true Catholic figure sits somewhere above 8,836.

Funders that don't file a 990-PF are invisible. Neither Catholic Extension nor the Our Sunday Visitor Institute turns up as a 990-PF filer in the snapshot, so their grants to parishes aren't counted. Everything said about them here comes from their own pages. The Our Sunday Visitor Institute is left out of the program table because its site showed only a grant portal login and no published terms on November 9, 2026.

Some rows aren't parishes. The diocese subset (266 grants, $20,501,635, median $10,000) is real but tiny, with 89 of its grants going to New York recipients, and 119 of its 142 foundations paid one diocese.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there grants for Catholic churches?

Yes. Grantsights analysis of the 990-PF filings it has loaded (tax years 2021 to 2025, mostly 2023 and 2024), as of November 5, 2026, found at least 8,836 grants from 3,234 foundations to recipients whose name says Catholic, diocese, Our Lady or basilica, about $198 million in all. The median was $4,500, and 71% of those foundations paid a single Catholic recipient.

Can a parish apply to Catholic Extension directly?

No. Catholic Extension Society's funding page, checked November 9, 2026, says it only considers requests submitted by its pre-designated Extension dioceses, and its list totals 87. A pastor in one of those dioceses can prepare a request, but the diocese reviews it and the bishop endorses it before it's submitted.

Does a Catholic parish need its bishop's approval to apply for a grant?

For the national Catholic funders, usually yes. The Raskob Foundation asks domestic applicants for a signed letter on official letterhead from the bishop, archbishop or cardinal acknowledging the project. Catholic Extension requires the bishop's endorsement, and the USCCB Home Missions subcommittee takes applications from diocesan bishops. Your diocese may have its own policy too.

How does a Catholic parish prove it's tax-exempt?

Most parishes don't hold their own IRS letter. The USCCB General Counsel page says subordinate organizations in its group ruling don't receive individual determination letters, and that the Official Catholic Directory serves as the official listing. A funder verifies a parish with the group ruling determination letter, the directory's cover page and the parish's listing page, which the parish supplies.

When does the Raskob Foundation accept applications?

The Raskob Foundation's grant page, checked November 9, 2026, lists two domestic cycles: January 1 to January 15 with decisions at the end of May, and June 1 to June 15 with decisions at the end of November. Each window closes at 5 p.m. Eastern.

Sources Checked

All pages were checked on November 9, 2026.

• Catholic Extension Society: funding information (opens in a new tab) and FAQ and policies (opens in a new tab)
• Koch Foundation: grant-making guidelines (opens in a new tab), application deadlines (opens in a new tab) and frequently asked questions (opens in a new tab)
• Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities: grant programs (opens in a new tab)
• USCCB Catholic Home Missions: grant guidelines (opens in a new tab)
• Black and Indian Mission Office: grants (opens in a new tab)
• Loyola Foundation: eligibility (opens in a new tab)
• Catholic Foundation of the Diocese of St. Augustine (opens in a new tab) and The Catholic Foundation, Columbus (opens in a new tab)
• USCCB General Counsel: donors and grantmakers (opens in a new tab) and tax and group ruling (opens in a new tab)
• IRS: group exemptions (opens in a new tab) and about Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab)
• FEMA: Nonprofit Security Grant Program (opens in a new tab)
• eCFR: 24 CFR 5.109 (opens in a new tab)
• Grantsights analysis of IRS Form 990-PF filings, snapshot of November 5, 2026