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Our Role within the Church?
CUF has always played a unique role in supporting the mission of the Church in the poorest areas of the country. Through its work in supporting faith groups, as well as acting as a link between national and local church, CUF is able to use its voice to raise the profile of issues around poverty that arise directly from grassroots projects.
In addition extensive consultation and professional research has shown that CUF funding has a high impact particularly in situations where the organisation has been the first funder (
read the Mustard Seed Effect). The assessment procedure carried out by CUF of the projects it considers funding has given other funders and local supporters confidence to support projects seeking additional income. As a result CUF funding has seen significant multiplication at a local level.
How is the organisation changing?
The Church Urban Fund aims to be an organisation that makes a significant and lasting difference in the lives of individuals and communities blighted by enduring poverty. As well as continuing to support and resource the mission of the Church, continuing to award grants of at least £3 million each year, CUF will invest strategically in faith based community action at work among the poorest neighbourhoods. By working towards positive and lasting impact, using the evidence and learning from two decades of experience, CUF will influence policy makers and funders. By placing a greater emphasis on sustainability CUF will help initiatives to stand on their own feet in the longer term and focus on lasting and positive change being achieved in the poorest neighbourhoods. CUF will gather evidence, share learning and target investment to break the cycles of poverty.
Why is the Church Urban Fund important?
With poverty and injustice on our doorstep and justice and righteousness on the agenda for the Church, CUF steps in as a valuable means of targeting essential resources towards those working in the areas of greatest need. While Government initiatives come and go, it is local churches that often remain for the long haul. Local churches are uniquely and positively placed, because of their long-term local presence and mission motivation, to work for change in the poorest areas, but they need encouragement, equipping, and resourcing to do this. The Church Urban Fund is the only major national organisation focusing on supporting church action that combines funding, expertise and the potential to lever additional resources from outside the Church to support local mission in the poorest parts of the country.
For the Church of England the organisation is both a symbol and tangible national expression of its commitment to ‘good news for the poor’ in this country, providing the opportunity for far reaching responses.
How does CUF involvement make a difference?
- Being the first funder – in many cases being the first funder means taking a risk, something that is consistent with our mission imperative. Being the first funder has consistently created the opportunity for faith-based initiatives to have both the confidence and leverage to access other forms of funding in situations where the prejudice of other funders would normally be a barrier.
- Multiplication factor - CUF has built up a good reputation amongst other funders for specialising in understanding and working with faith-based initiatives, and for rigour and expertise in grant assessing processes. Being known as the first funder has given confidence not just to the recipients but to other funders resulting in significant multiplication of the original amount awarded by CUF (recent professional research confirms that this is at a level of at least eight times the original amount – see The Mustard Seed Effect).
- Being a different type of funder – central to CUF’s new ‘investment approach’ is the enabling of good local initiatives to be sustainable for the longer term rather than lurching from one grant application to another. This includes the introduction of different funding patterns and types of support that recognise the various stages of an initiative’s life cycle.
- Providing more than money – there is now a wide and often confusing array of funding programmes open to projects. The difficulty of doing funding applications and meeting the growing professional requirements of the voluntary sector can be hard work and prevent projects from thriving in their communities. The Church Urban Fund provides diocesan officers who can offer project development expertise tailored to faith based activities. We aim to signpost projects to resources, invest in research to help projects deliver more effective outcomes and be a voice for faith-based activity. Our national overview of grassroots social action projects puts us in a unique position to act strategically with people on a local level, promoting change in England’s poorest communities.
- Focusing more on outcomes – upon lasting and positive change being achieved, with a real impact being made in the poorest neighbourhoods that fosters human flourishing and expresses the mission of the Church.
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Facilitator of the Church at diocesan and national levels – a new way of working with the dioceses has been developed in discussion with them which gives more credence to local knowledge and expertise and cuts down on duplication of work. Dioceses are being empowered to proactively plan the focus of investment of CUF monies and to identify with CUF possible larger programme initiatives that could be pursued, with external funding and resources leverage directly exercised by CUF. The organisation will be increasingly more strategic in its investment of CUF resources working in partnership in particular with those dioceses that have significant levels of poverty
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