GRANT FUNDING

The St. Louis Archbishop approves all CCHD-funded projects. Grantee social media and websites are monitored throughout the year.

Local Application Process

CCHD-STL grants are administered by the Archdiocesan Peace and Justice Commission.

Eligibility

Applicants must demonstrate a focus on the following CCHD priorities:

Priority for the Poor: Mirror the Church’s concern for the poor and empower low-income people to speak and act to improve their lives and communities.

Solidarity: Stand with and for people living in poverty; seek to strengthen communities and build bridges between those who are poor and those who are not.

Subsidiarity: Ensure those who are most affected by problems have a voice in determining solutions, and prepare low-income people to serve in leadership roles.

Institutional Change: Address policies and organizational structures of government, corporations, or private agencies that create poverty, keep people poor, or impose injustice on poor people.

Development of Financial Capacity: Have a plan to become financially self-sustaining, as local grants are limited to a total of three years of eligibility per project.

Read the CCHD Review and Renewal to learn the U.S. bishops’ response to concerns about some CCHD funding policies.

Applicants must also affirm in writing the following:

  • They do not participate in or promote activities that contradict the Church’s teaching, including abortion, racism, discrimination, same-sex marriage, capital punishment, euthanasia, punitive measures against immigrants, or any other affront to human life and dignity.
  • They do not participate in or intervene in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office or engage in partisan political activities.

Types of CCHD-STL Grants

Community Development Grants: Empower low-income people to create institutional change by identifying and acting to change problematic policies and structures that contribute to and perpetuate poverty.

Economic Development Grants: Empower low-income people to have a voice in developing new businesses with jobs and/or assets for their communities.

For information on national grants administered by the CCHD office in Washington, D.C., visit here.

Funding Sources for CCHD Grants

CCHD grants are made possible by donations from Catholics throughout the country, including through the annual parish collection taken up the weekend before Thanksgiving.

  • CCHD Local Fund: Twenty-five percent of donations stay in the St. Louis Archdiocese to fund small local organizations.
  • CCHD National Fund: Seventy-five percent is sent to the CCHD national office, creating a fund from which larger, more established organizations compete nationally for grants. This is especially helpful to dioceses with fewer resources, although organizations within the St. Louis Archdiocese typically receive grants from the national fund.

Interested groups may apply for local or national grants. Some proposals funded initially by local grants may eventually qualify for national funding.

National grants are administered by the national CCHD office in Washington, D.C. with the assistance of the Archdiocesan Peace and Justice Commission. For national application deadlines and details, visit: National CCHD Grant Process and Timeline