The Christian Funders’ Forum
The Christian Funders’ Forum (CFF) is a group of executives of grant making trusts and foundations. Members of the forum grant more than £30 million a year to Christian work. The Forum meets regularly to encourage the sharing of best practice and to work together wherever that is possible.
Their webpage is hosted by The Cinnamon Network and is a useful site to visit as it provides the details of 25 funders in one place including a brief summary of what type of project they will support.
Three years ago they launched their Awards Scheme which highlights incredible work being done by churches and Christian charities which have been funded by their member organisations. The third ceremony was held on 17th November 2016 at Lambeth Palace.
There were six awards made of which five were celebrating a range of community projects supporting all sorts of vulnerable groups across the UK and the world. The list of nominees should be up on the website shortly and they are worth looking as they are inspirational and can provide ideas of how you can support people within your own communities. This is especially true of the Cinnamon Network which sponsored the Best Replicable Project. They look to fund churches who have developed a good workable idea which they are interested in training other churches to ‘replicate,’ in other words, projects which can be become a community franchise project.
One of the shortlisted nominees for the this year’s award was Welcome Boxes which helps churches to create a welcoming community for refugees. Another nominee, Peaced Together, using a variety of themed craft projects, encourages women to reflect on their lives and set out on a personal journey from brokenness to hope. Again, they are able to running a training session for other churches who feel this is something they would like to be able to offer.
This year there was an award - the 6th award - sponsored by the National Churches Trust for the Best Church Building Project. This year it was won by St James and St Basil, Fenham in the NE for the installation of a kitchen with servery which has led to the weekly Cafe@ J’s and B’s among many other community activities which brings many more people into the church.