Preserving Black Churches
Preserving Black Churches is a project of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Annual grants from Preserving Black Churches are intended to preserve historic Black houses of worship—either with active congregations and nonactive congregations—and advance ongoing preservation activities while strengthening capacity for historic congregations, and preservation and community organizations to steward, manage, and better utilize their historic structures.
Grants from Preserving Black Churches will range from $50,000 to $200,000. Applicants may apply for one of five categories: Capital Project, Endowment and Financial Sustainability, Organizational Capacity and Operations, Programming and Interpretation, or Project Planning.
There is a two-step process to receive a grant from Preserving Black Churches:
Letter of Intent (LOI)
Deadline: Friday, September 2, 2022, at 11:59 pm local time.
The Letter of Intent (LOI) is an online application for applicants to demonstrate eligibility and show a preliminary indication of interest and capacity. All Letters of Intent (LOI) must be submitted through the National Trust’s online grant application system by the deadline, or they will not be reviewed. Request for funding (letters, emails, phone calls) submitted outside of the National Trust online grant application system will not be reviewed. A link to the application system is included at the bottom of this page. The Letter of Intent is a form with approximately 40 questions that require you to provide information about your organization, your project, and your site's historical significance. You will also need to upload at least two photos related to your project church. Scroll down to read more about the types of projects we can fund through this program.
Full Proposal Application
Deadline: Thursday, November 10, 2022
The Letter of Intent review period will take approximately six weeks. All applicants will be notified of their status at the end of this initial review period, likely in late October. If the applicant’s LOI is accepted, a full application will be requested. Instructions on how to complete the full application will be sent only to those applicants moving forward. You will have approximately four weeks to complete and submit the full application once you receive a notice to proceed.
National Trust staff members will engage with the prospective grantees during the full application stage, and they will offer their assigned applicant technical support and advice to ensure they are submitting competitive grant proposals. Each staff member will act as the National Trust liaison and will help applicants craft grant proposals. This collaborative engagement will benefit applicants in submitting competitive grant proposals and inform our selection process and grant-making.