Grants for Historic Churches (2026 Guide)

For the broader picture of church funding, start with our grants for churches guide. For non-church preservation programs, see our historic preservation grants guide. This page focuses on buildings that were built as houses of worship and are old enough or significant enough to count as historic.

Seven Routes for a Historic Church, Compared

Seven kinds of funding apply to a historic church, and they differ most on match and timing. Grantsights compared them against each program's own pages.

A common mistake is to treat these as alternatives. A realistic capital campaign for a $1 million roof and masonry job layers three or four of them: a national grant for the lead gift, a state grant for part of the match, and local foundation gifts and congregation giving for the rest.

The National Fund for Sacred Places: 30 Awards From 466 Applicants

The National Fund for Sacred Places gave 30 congregations capital grants of up to $500,000 in October 2026, with 466 applicants, about 6%. According to the National Trust's October 20, 2026 announcement (opens in a new tab), the round totaled over $9 million.

The 30 awardees came from 20 states and the District of Columbia. Illinois, New York, and Pennsylvania had three each, California, Maryland, and Massachusetts two each, and Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan, and Virginia one each. They included Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Catholic congregations, a temple in Birmingham, a cathedral in Toledo, and a mission church in Texas. Wisconsin had none.

What the Fund's eligibility page (opens in a new tab) requires:

• Original use. The property must have been originally built to be a house of worship.
• Owner. An active community of faith must own it, and a congregation must be at least three years old.
• Community. The congregation must be "community-minded and that serves nonmembers," and the Fund prioritizes congregations that share space with nonprofits.
• Designation. Landmark designation or National Register listing isn't required, though the property must have significance.
• Faith tradition. Any faith tradition can apply.
• Match. Every grant requires a 1:1 cash match. One-quarter of the match must be raised or pledged before any grant money is disbursed, and funds pledged before entering the program don't count.

According to the National Fund for Sacred Places program home page (opens in a new tab), the next window launches January 12, 2027, applications are due by 11:59 p.m. EST on March 3, 2027, and final notifications come in October 2027. It says 30 to 40 grantees are typically accepted. The page also says the Fund administers planning grants but gives no amounts, and it names no match ratio on the home page, so rely on the eligibility page for that.

The honest read: a 6% acceptance rate means most well-qualified congregations won't win in a given year. The match rule is the bigger practical barrier. A congregation that hasn't started a campaign can't meet a one-quarter-pledged rule by March, and money raised before joining the program doesn't count. Partners for Sacred Places' site (opens in a new tab) lists services for exactly this stage, including help increasing fundraising effectiveness, using space in new ways, and demonstrating public value, plus a Public Value Calculator among its tools.

Save America's Treasures: $125,000 to $750,000 for Nationally Significant Buildings

Save America's Treasures preservation grants ran $125,000 to $750,000 in the FY2025 round, with 55 awards expected from $25.5 million. Per the National Park Service funding notice (opportunity P25AS00469), applications closed June 16, 2026, and the grant requires a 50% non-federal match, cash, in-kind, or volunteer services, that doesn't need to be in place at application but must have a plan.

Rules from the notice that matter for a church:

• National significance. The resource must be individually designated a National Historic Landmark, a contributing resource to a Landmark district, or listed in the National Register for national significance, not state or local significance. The listing must be in place at application.
• Applicants. The list includes nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status and nonprofits without it, among others.
• Religious language. Grantsights found no religious-property exclusion in the notice's text.
• One grant. The program's Save America's Treasures page (opens in a new tab) says an individual project is eligible for only one grant.

The significance test is the limit. Most parish churches are listed in the National Register for local or state significance, so they don't qualify. A congregation should ask its State Historic Preservation Office whether its listing is for national significance before spending time on an application. Grantsights didn't confirm a date for the next round on November 2, 2026, so watch the program page.

Federal Rules on Religious Properties in Historic Preservation Grants

The National Park Service has allowed religious properties in its state grant program since 2015. Per the Park Service's FY2015 transmittal memo (opens in a new tab), NPS attorneys advised that grantees may award development grants to religious properties, and the grant agreement's special condition was revised. It says religious institutions may participate consistent with Section 101(e)(4) of the National Historic Preservation Act, 54 U.S.C. 302905. The condition's stated reasons: the federal government has a strong interest in preserving historic sites regardless of religious or secular character, eligibility extends to a broad class of beneficiaries defined without reference to religion, and funding criteria must be applied neutrally.

The Park Service's grant manual page (opens in a new tab) lists a March 27, 2015 update that "clarified the eligibility of HPF funding for religious properties." Indiana's State Historic Preservation Office repeats the point in its FAQ (opens in a new tab): the U.S. Department of Justice has determined religious organizations are eligible for the Historic Preservation Fund grant program. In practice the federal rule opens the door and each state decides the rest, which is why the state table below varies so much.

Two limits follow. Federal money doesn't buy religious objects or support worship, and a program can still exclude work states consider religious in character, as Massachusetts does for interiors and stained glass in active-use buildings.

The Federal Historic Tax Credit: 20% for Income-Producing Buildings

The federal credit is 20% of qualified rehabilitation expenses, and it's available only to income-producing properties. The National Park Service's tax credit basics page (opens in a new tab) says the credit equals 20% of qualified expenses, a substantial amount must be spent, and the Park Service must certify the building as a historic structure.

Its eligibility page (opens in a new tab) adds three rules:

• Use. "The 20% credit is available only to properties rehabilitated for income-producing purposes," such as commercial, industrial, agricultural, or rental residential use.
• Cost. Rehabilitation cost must exceed the greater of $5,000 or the building's adjusted basis, usually completed within two years, or five years for phased projects.
• Hold period. The building must be depreciable, in income-producing use, for at least five years after rehabilitation.

Neither page addresses tax-exempt or church owners. A sanctuary used only for worship doesn't meet the income-producing test. The credit fits a different project: a congregation that sells or leases a building for apartments, offices, or a school, with a developer as the taxpayer. That's reuse, not repair, and it's a decision about the congregation's future rather than a funding source for a roof.

Eight States Compared: Grants and Tax Credits for Historic Churches

Eight state programs checked here show how much the rules differ. Grantsights read each program's own pages on November 2, 2026.

Source pages: Sacred Places Indiana (opens in a new tab), Indiana HPF (opens in a new tab), Massachusetts MPPF Round 31 instructions (opens in a new tab), Wisconsin credit page (opens in a new tab) and Wausau case study (opens in a new tab), Minnesota Legacy apply page (opens in a new tab) and award announcement (opens in a new tab), Ohio History Connection's Ohio History Fund guidelines (opens in a new tab), the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office's Faithful Fund post (opens in a new tab), and Vermont's Historic Preservation Grants page (opens in a new tab).

Three patterns show up. First, a few states run church-specific programs, usually through a private partner such as Indiana Landmarks or Partners for Sacred Places, and those pay more than the state's own grant. Second, the state grant programs mostly don't mention religious organizations at all, so eligibility is a phone call. Third, state tax credits mostly need income-producing use, with Wisconsin's saleable credit the unusual exception. For the state-by-state detail, see our guides for Indiana, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

The National Trust's Funds: $2,500 to $200,000

The National Trust lists about 20 grant programs, and only two explicitly name houses of worship. Its grants page (opens in a new tab) shows these sizes:

The small funds are planning money. They pay for a conditions assessment, a historic structure report, or an architect's drawings, which is the paperwork a larger application needs. The page doesn't say whether the small funds accept religious owners, so a congregation should ask before applying. A Black congregation with a historic building has a dedicated, well-sized option in Preserving Black Churches, and it covers inactive buildings that other programs skip.

Denominational Money: Mostly Loans, Rarely Capital Grants

Denominational building money tends to come as loans, and the grants Grantsights found mostly avoid capital work. Grantsights checked five denominational programs across the states covered in this series.

• Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. Its grants and loans page (opens in a new tab) lists Green Loans of up to $100,000 for energy-efficient building changes and Stokes Fund term loans for renovating, repairing, or improving church facilities. Congregational Development Grants are being sunset in 2026.
• Wisconsin Conference UCC. Its Catalyst Grants (opens in a new tab) cap at $5,000 and list capital improvements as less desirable.
• Southwestern Minnesota Synod, ELCA. Its Congregational Mission Grants (opens in a new tab) don't fund building improvements, maintenance, or renovation.
• Minneapolis Area Synod, ELCA. Its Ministry Imagination Grants run $2,000 to $25,000 and require any capital expense to be justified by program enhancement.
• Indiana Conference UMC. Its Fresh Expressions grant (opens in a new tab) matches up to $1,000 for a new ministry, not a building.

The takeaway is that a historic congregation should ask its judicatory for a loan or a letter of support, not for a grant, and should use the denomination's backing when applying elsewhere; Sacred Places Indiana, for one, describes its fund as meant for historic churches with judicatory support. Our church building repair grants guide covers repair-specific funding beyond historic status.

Local Foundations: Where the Match Comes From

Most of a historic church's required match comes from local giving, and 31,737 foundations in Grantsights' dataset have given to churches or ministries. According to Grantsights analysis of Form 990-PF grant records, those foundations made 139,417 grants totaling about $3.45 billion, with a median of $5,000. Among them, 2,821 grants named building or repair, 6,802 named community work, 8,548 named missions, and 3,270 named youth.

Building is a small share of what filers write down, 2.0%, and that undercounts because most purpose lines are blank or say "general support." The shares in the four states covered in this series are close to the national rate: Indiana's 52 building grants are 1.5% of its 3,384, Massachusetts' 60 are 1.7% of 3,621, and Wisconsin's 64 are 2.1% of 3,018.

What that means for a campaign: foundations that write a purpose line are likelier to name missions or community work than building, but a foundation that already supports your congregation may give to a capital campaign if you ask and explain public benefit. The National Fund and Partners for Sacred Places both stress community use, and a case for public benefit is the strongest way to explain a building request to a local funder.

The Grantsights church funder list costs $39 and names every foundation that reported grants to churches and ministries in each state, with the amounts, recipients, purposes, and links to the filings. It's one payment, not a subscription, and there's a 30-day refund. Start with the free count at grants for churches, or browse by project type on the church grant path index. Our foundations that give grants to churches guide explains how to read a 990-PF and send a first inquiry.

What Historic Church Grant Lists Don't Tell You

Most lists of historic church grants stop at the National Fund. Five things they miss:

1. The match rule is the real gate. One-quarter of the match must be raised or pledged before the National Fund disburses, and earlier pledges don't count.
2. Save America's Treasures needs national significance. A state-level National Register listing isn't enough.
3. Tax credits mostly assume a business. Federal, Massachusetts, and Minnesota credits require income-producing use, and a sanctuary doesn't qualify.
4. Selling a credit costs money. The Wausau church received $0.82 on the dollar and spent time finding a second bank.
5. Denominations lend more than they grant. Three of the five denominational programs here exclude, discourage, or restrict capital work.

A 90-Day Plan for a Historic Church

1. Weeks 1 to 2: designation check. Find out whether the building is in the National Register, whether the listing is for national, state, or local significance, and whether a State Historic Preservation Office has surveyed it.
2. Weeks 3 to 6: assessment and public value. Commission a conditions assessment or use a small National Trust fund for it, and document how nonmembers use the building. Both are core evidence in a National Fund application.
3. Weeks 6 to 10: match plan. Set a campaign goal, collect pledges in writing, and note which dollars were pledged before entering any program, because those won't count for the National Fund.
4. Weeks 10 to 13: applications. Aim for the National Fund window that opens January 12 and closes March 3, 2027, and ask your State Historic Preservation Office about state grants and the next Save America's Treasures round.

If you're unsure which route fits a particular project, the free eligibility checker can help. Our government grants for churches guide covers the federal rules on what grant money can and can't pay for.

Limits of This Data

Program facts here come from each program's own pages as they stood on November 2, 2026. Foundation counts cover only filers in the Grantsights dataset, 990-PF filings arrive a year or more after grants are paid, and purpose lines are vague, so building counts undercount. Grantsights couldn't confirm the next Save America's Treasures round, how every state treats religious owners beyond what its pages say, the National Trust's small-fund rules for religious properties, or whether the Wisconsin Historical Society treats a typical church's use as income-producing. The eight-state table is a sample, not a national survey.

Sources Checked

All sources were checked on November 2, 2026:

• National Fund for Sacred Places: home page (opens in a new tab) and eligibility page (opens in a new tab); National Trust October 20, 2026 awards (opens in a new tab) and grants page (opens in a new tab); Partners for Sacred Places site (opens in a new tab)
• National Park Service: Save America's Treasures page (opens in a new tab) and notice P25AS00469; FY2015 HPF memo (opens in a new tab); grant manual page (opens in a new tab); tax credit basics (opens in a new tab) and eligibility (opens in a new tab)
• State programs: Indiana HPF FAQ (opens in a new tab), the pages linked in the state table above, and the denominational pages linked in the denominational section
• Grantsights analysis of Form 990-PF grant records, tax years 2019 to 2025, pulled October 29, 2026