Grants for Churches in North Dakota (2026 Guide)

Federal limits on how a congregation may spend grant money are covered in our grants for churches guide, so this page stays with North Dakota. For North Dakota programs open to other kinds of nonprofits, see the North Dakota grants guide.

North Dakota's Church Grant Pool in Numbers

North Dakota has 192 foundation grants to churches and ministries on record, fewer than any of the nine small states Grantsights compared this month, according to Grantsights analysis of the filings. It also has the highest median and the highest share of funders naming a route in that group.

Plain fact first: the pool is thin. 71 foundations across an entire state means most towns have no church funder at all. A North Dakota church shouldn't build its budget on foundation money, and anyone selling a list of hundreds of North Dakota church funders is overselling.

No megagift distorts the picture. Per the filings, there were no grants of $1 million or more, and only 3 reached $100,000, the largest being $200,000 to a Fargo Baptist church in 2024. Those 3 hold just 13% of the dollars, so the $18,444 average and the $7,000 median both describe what churches actually receive. The middle is unusually strong: 36% of grants fell between $5,000 and $24,999, and 22% between $25,000 and $99,999.

Funders stay loyal to one church. Only 22 foundations, 31%, gave to two or more different North Dakota recipients, against 49% nationally, and 9 of the 71 (13%) gave to three or more. Of the 102 recipients, 95 (93%) were funded by a single foundation, and just 3 drew support from three or more. Over half the foundations, 55%, paid the same recipient in two or more tax years.

This is homegrown money. 62% of these foundations direct most of their church giving to North Dakota, and no single foundation holds more than 7.8% of the dollars. The top 10 together hold 56.2%, a much flatter spread than in most small states.

Fargo, Bismarck, and Jamestown: Where the Money Lands

Fargo leads with 39 grants and $931,874, according to Grantsights analysis of the filings, and Jamestown's 14 grants carry a $33,156 median, the highest among cities with 10 or more grants. Cities are recipient mailing cities, since the snapshot carries no ZIP codes.

Fargo has the most funders, Bismarck the better odds. Fargo's 20 foundations are the largest group in the state, but only 6 name a route. Bismarck has 11 foundations, the same 6 naming a route, and a $10,000 median, double Fargo's. A Bismarck-Mandan congregation with a defined project is in the best position in the state.

Jamestown is two Methodist churches. Five of North Dakota's eight largest church grants, each between $85,621 and $95,409, went to two United Methodist congregations in Jamestown from local family trusts, about $460,000 of the city's $615,511. A different Jamestown church shouldn't read the median as its own.

The oil patch shows up in small numbers. Crosby's 6 grants all came from 1 foundation, and Epping and Williston have 4 grants each with medians near $30,000. These are relationships, not open programs.

Most towns have one funder or none. The 12 cities above hold 140 of the 192 grants, spread across 41 recipient cities in all. A church in Devils Lake, Valley City, or Bottineau will usually find no foundation with a North Dakota church record nearby. Congregations near the borders should also check the Minnesota, Montana, and South Dakota church guides, since a Moorhead or Sidney funder may be closer than one in Bismarck.

Using the Church Funder List in North Dakota

27 North Dakota foundations, 38%, name an application route on their filing, against 23.1% nationally and the best share among the nine smallest church-grant states. With so few funders in all, those 27 are a short, workable list, and you can view North Dakota church funders free to see who has paid congregations near you. The Grantsights church funder list spans all 50 states and shows each foundation's church and ministry grants as filed on its own 990-PF (amount, recipient, year, purpose, and a link to the filing), plus whether that filing says it takes requests. It's a one-time purchase rather than a subscription, with a 30-day refund window.

1. Contact the 27 route-naming foundations, not all 71. The other 44, 62%, say they fund only preselected organizations.
2. Match tradition and town. Lutheran-named recipients appear 58 times in the North Dakota records, Catholic 34, Methodist 14, Presbyterian 9, Baptist 7, Episcopal 6, and Congregational 5. A funder that paid a Lutheran church in your county is a far better bet than one that paid a Fargo megachurch.
3. Ask for a real amount. With a $7,000 median and 22% of grants in the $25,000 to $99,999 range, a $1,000 request can undersell a serious roof, boiler, or accessibility project. Building work (16 purpose mentions) and community programs (16) lead the stated purposes.

The common mistake in a small state is mailing everyone. Here the cost of a sloppy letter is higher, because trustees in a 71-foundation state often know each other. Our guide to foundations that give grants to churches explains how to read Part XV of a 990-PF before writing.

Article VIII, Section 5, the Gift Clause, and Charitable Gaming

North Dakota's constitution has 3 provisions that matter to a congregation, and none names churches the way South Dakota's does. Grantsights read them on the Legislative Assembly's site on November 9, 2026.

• Schools. Article VIII, Section 5 (opens in a new tab) says: "No money raised for the support of the public schools of the state shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school." It reaches school money, not churches generally.
• Gifts. Article X, Section 18 (opens in a new tab) bars the state and its political subdivisions from making "donations to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation except for reasonable support of the poor." That limit applies to every nonprofit, religious or not.
• Charitable gaming. Article XI, Section 25 (opens in a new tab) lets the legislature authorize "bona fide nonprofit veterans', charitable, educational, religious, or fraternal organizations" to run games of chance when the net proceeds go to religious and other public-spirited uses. Gaming law sets the licensing rules; Grantsights didn't review them for this guide.

How federal rulings fit. In Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer (opens in a new tab) (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a state couldn't bar a church from a generally available playground grant because it was a church. Two later rulings carried that reasoning into state school aid: Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (opens in a new tab), 591 U.S. 464 (2020), on Montana's no-aid clause, and Carson v. Makin (opens in a new tab), 596 U.S. 767 (2022), on Maine's tuition program. For a North Dakota church, the honest summary is that a program open to all nonprofits can't single out congregations for exclusion, but nothing in these cases makes worship fundable or guarantees an award. Our government grants for churches guide covers the federal line.

Nonprofit Security Grants in North Dakota

North Dakota nonprofits received $1,788,252 in FY2024 Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding for twenty initiatives across eleven counties, according to the Department of Emergency Services' September 24, 2024 release (opens in a new tab). The department's Homeland Security programs page (opens in a new tab) lists the FY2026 NSGP notice of funding opportunity among its resources, but when Grantsights checked it and the preparedness grants page (opens in a new tab) on November 9, 2026, neither posted a North Dakota application window, a per-site cap, or FY2027 dates. Grantsights found no state-funded security grant for North Dakota houses of worship.

According to FEMA's nonprofit security page (opens in a new tab), FY2026 funding totals $300 million, up from $274.5 million in FY2025, places of worship are eligible, and FY2026 recipients were announced September 28, 2026 (checked November 6, 2026).

Don't underestimate the lead time. The application turns on a site-specific vulnerability assessment and a SAM.gov Unique Entity ID, and both take weeks. A church that waits for the next window to start them will likely miss it. Ask the Preparedness Section to add you to its NSGP notice list now. Our church security grants guide explains the assessment, and the SAM registration guide covers the UEI.

Historic Preservation: Planning Money Only for Active Churches

North Dakota's Historic Preservation Fund grant offers up to $50,000, but a working church can't use it for construction. According to the Historic Preservation Fund program guidelines the State Historical Society published for 2026 (opens in a new tab), "owners of religious property" are listed under "who does not qualify," with one exception: property currently owned and used by a religious organization "may qualify for pre-development funds," meaning pre-construction planning and drawings.

Case in point: heritage groups that own former churches. The same guidelines list past projects that include $13,212 to the Grant County Heritage Society for window and stucco repairs on Hope Valley Lutheran Church in Elgin, and $15,000 to the Casselton Heritage Center for exterior stonework on St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Casselton. The guidelines don't say whether congregations still worship in either building. The lesson for an active parish is narrower: pre-development money can pay for the drawings and condition report that make a later capital campaign or foundation request credible.

Tax credits don't help a sanctuary. A congregation earns no rent from its worship space, and the National Park Service limits the federal rehabilitation credit to income-producing buildings (opens in a new tab).

National funds, no North Dakota awardee in 2026. The National Trust's grants page (opens in a new tab) lists Preserving Black Churches grants of $50,000 to $200,000 and National Fund for Sacred Places grants up to $500,000. Its October 20, 2026 announcement (opens in a new tab) funded 30 of 466 applicants, none in North Dakota (checked November 6, 2026). For other repair routes, see our church building repair grants guide and historic churches guide.

Food: TEFAP at 200%, Great Plains Food Bank, and EFSP

North Dakota sets TEFAP eligibility at 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, and applicants don't have to prove income, according to the North Dakota TEFAP program's standard operating procedures (opens in a new tab). The state's income table effective February 10, 2026, as posted by North Dakota State University (opens in a new tab), allows $31,920 a year for one person and $111,440 for eight, plus $11,360 for each added member.

• Who runs it. The Department of Public Instruction, not Health and Human Services, is the state agency. Its TEFAP page (opens in a new tab) says the program is administered locally by the six regional Community Action Agencies and the Great Plains Food Bank, which deliver food to more than 100 pantries.
• Churches qualify without an IRS letter. The procedures accept an organization that is automatically tax-exempt as "organized or operated exclusively for religious purposes." Great Plains Food Bank staff review each new agency for the department.
• How to start. Call the Great Plains Food Bank in Fargo at (701) 232-6219 about a TEFAP agreement.

Our church food pantry grants guide covers the record-keeping that comes with USDA foods.

EFSP. North Dakota's Phase 43 (FY2025) Emergency Food and Shelter Program allocation is $250,000, according to the Phase 43 allocation data in the EFSP National Board's published table (opens in a new tab).

The set-aside committee controls 74.0% of the state's EFSP money. Only Cass, Grand Forks, and Stark counties have their own allocations, so a pantry in the other 50 counties, including Burleigh (Bismarck), Ward (Minot), Stutsman (Jamestown), and Williams (Williston), goes through the State Set-Aside Committee. Grantsights found no public contact page for that committee on November 9, 2026; a county emergency manager or local United Way is the place to ask who chairs it.

Church Funds From Denominations and the Community Foundation

The North Dakota Community Foundation lets churches apply for up to $5,000 for non-sectarian projects, the clearest open door in the state. Grantsights checked each page below on November 9, 2026.

One program, two applications. A rural church that runs a community food pantry with the local school fits both the community foundation's non-sectarian rule and the Methodist foundations' partnership test, so one well-documented program can support two applications a year.

Grantsights couldn't verify current congregational grants from the Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota or its foundation (the diocese's site refused automated requests), the Catholic dioceses of Bismarck and Fargo or the Catholic Foundation of Western North Dakota, the Western North Dakota Synod, or Presbyterian bodies, so they aren't listed.

What North Dakota Church Grant Lists Don't Tell You

$7,000 is the typical North Dakota church grant, and national lists that bury the state among hundreds of others miss these five points:

1. The pool is tiny. 71 foundations and 192 grants, 49th among the 50 states.
2. But the checks are real. The median beats the national figure, and 22% of grants run $25,000 to $99,999.
3. More funders say how to apply. 38% name a route, the best share of the nine small states compared.
4. Active churches can't get state construction money for historic buildings. The HPF development grant excludes religious property except for planning.
5. The EFSP set-aside covers 50 of 53 counties. Bismarck, Minot, and Jamestown pantries all apply through it.

A 90-Day Plan for a North Dakota Congregation

1. Weeks 1 and 2: documents. Collect your IRS letter or denominational group ruling, constitution and bylaws, council roster, and last year's financial report. Begin SAM.gov registration so a security or federal application isn't held up later.
2. Weeks 2 to 5: name one project. Pick a single need with a real cost, such as a boiler, roof section, accessibility ramp, or pantry freezer, and get two contractor estimates.
3. Weeks 4 to 9: write to route-naming funders. Send a one-page letter to the route-naming foundations closest to your town and tradition, sized to the project and in the $5,000 to $10,000 range if the work justifies it.
4. Weeks 8 to 13: public routes. Call the Great Plains Food Bank about TEFAP, ask your county emergency manager about the EFSP set-aside committee, put the June 1 community foundation window on the council calendar, and ask the Department of Emergency Services to notify you of the next NSGP round.

To see programs sorted by need, open the church grant path index; the free eligibility checker then narrows open programs to your congregation's profile. Congregations without paid staff can start with our grants for small churches guide.

Limits of the North Dakota Data

192 grants is the count in the loaded filings, and the real total is higher. Community foundations, United Ways, and other public charities don't file 990-PFs, so the community foundation's own church-related grants aren't in these figures. Filings arrive a year or more after the grants they report, so 2025 is incomplete. Unusual recipient names can be missed, many purposes are vague, and a mailing city can be a regional office. Grantsights couldn't confirm North Dakota's FY2026 or FY2027 NSGP window or cap, the EFSP set-aside committee's contact, the Holy Innovations fund's 2027 amounts, or grant programs at the state's Catholic and Episcopal dioceses.

Sources Checked

Each source below was read on November 9, 2026, unless a different check date appears beside it:

• North Dakota Constitution Article VIII (opens in a new tab), Article X (opens in a new tab), and Article XI (opens in a new tab); Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer (opens in a new tab); Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue (opens in a new tab); Carson v. Makin (opens in a new tab)
• Department of Emergency Services Homeland Security programs page (opens in a new tab), preparedness grants page (opens in a new tab), September 24, 2024 release (opens in a new tab), and 2023 webinar notice (opens in a new tab); FEMA NSGP page (opens in a new tab) (November 6, 2026)
• State Historical Society 2026 HPF grant guidelines (opens in a new tab); National Park Service tax credit eligibility (opens in a new tab); National Trust grants (opens in a new tab) and 2026 Sacred Places awards (opens in a new tab) (November 6, 2026)
• Department of Public Instruction TEFAP page (opens in a new tab) and TEFAP standard operating procedures (opens in a new tab); TEFAP income guidelines effective February 10, 2026 (opens in a new tab); EFSP National Board Phase 43 allocations (opens in a new tab)
• Funder pages: North Dakota Community Foundation Statewide Greatest Needs (opens in a new tab), Eastern North Dakota Synod endowment funds (opens in a new tab), Dakotas Conference news, May 27, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
• Grantsights analysis of North Dakota recipients in the 990-PF filings Grantsights has loaded, tax years 2021 to 2025, as of November 5, 2026