The congregation of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Beaconsfield, Quebec, received a grant from the Creative Ministry with Children and Youth Fund to develop a music-based program that encourages children to participate more fully in their weekly worship services.

Purpose

The purpose of the Creative Ministry with Children and Youth Fund of The Presbyterian Church in Canada is to encourage the development of Christian education programs for children and youth and to cultivate excellence in the area of Christian education leadership within the PCC.

Administration

The fund is administered by Canadian Ministries of the Life and Mission Agency of the PCC. The right to grant or refuse requests will be at the discretion of Canadian Ministries on the basis of the priorities of the Life and Mission Agency. Decisions for the distribution of the fund will be made at regular intervals by the Life and Mission Agency through Canadian Ministries.

Conditions of Disbursement

Grants will be made available to congregations and outreach missions to develop Christian education programs for children and youth. One-time grants will also be made available to individuals working in the field of Christian education within the PCC to encourage participation in the following two leadership training events: Canada Youth, Leadership track and The Association of Presbyterian Christian Educators (APCE) annual event.

• Sponsoring bodies shall provide a proposed budget for the program and a plan for sustainability for those programs designed to be on-going.
• The sponsoring body must provide at least one-third of the cost of the program.
• The fund supports up to two-thirds of the cost, to a maximum of $8,000.
• In most cases the maximum length of funding will be two years, with a preference for projects that can be completed within one year.
• Congregations and outreach ministries seeking to hire Christian educators to develop Christian education programming are welcome to apply.
• Preference will be given to first-time applicants.
• Preference will be given to new initiatives.
• A grant can be terminated because of an unreasonable extension of the time, or because of failure to implement the project as submitted in the application.
• Funding is not designed to support mission trips.

Support from Governing Body – Extract of Minute

All applications require the endorsement of a ministry’s governing body; governing bodies provide oversight for ministries. Examples of governing bodies and ministries for which they provide oversight could include:

Presbytery – congregations, local missions, chaplains, etc.
Synod – camp and conference centres, etc.

Contact Canadian Ministries if you are unsure of the governing body to approach.

The following example provides all the necessary elements of an extract of minute that will be required for a complete application; the example can be used to make a motion at a presbytery or synod meeting. If the application is endorsed, the Clerk of Presbytery/Synod will provide the applicant with a copy of the extract to upload to the application.

Example: On motion of J. Calvin/J. Knox, upon review it was agreed that the Presbytery of Caledonia endorse the application and supporting documents from St. Andrew’s, O’Leary, PE to the Avondbloem Experimental Fund in the amount of $750 to support the [program name] in 2015 .

Continuing Education

In the years in which Canada Youth is held up to 10 grants of $500.00 will be made available to Christian educators enrolled in the Canada Youth, Leadership track. Each year, up to six grants of $750 will be made available to Christian educators to attend the annual Association of Presbyterian Christian Educators event.

Expectations

After Receiving a Grant:

• Photographs and a summary of the program will be submitted to Canadian Ministries within four weeks after the program has been completed. This enables your story to be shared with the denomination. Conference participants are expected to submit a short report outlining key takeaways and a description of how the conference will impact their ministry with children and youth. Applicants must add to any literature the following acknowledgement: “Supported in part by a bequest from The Presbyterian Church in Canada.”

Questions about the Fund

If you have a question about making an application to the fund, please email Jen Astop in Canadian Ministries or call 1-800-619-7301 ext. 298.

Continue Contributions to the Fund

Donors who wish to contribute to the Avondbloem Experimental Fund may email Karen Plater in Planned Giving or Jen de Combe in Canadian Ministries, or call 1-800-619-7301 ext. 290.

Getting Started With Your  Grant Application

To get started with your grant application, download our Grant Application Checklist. This checklist will help guide you in preparing and double checking your grant proposal. As you write your grant proposal, go back to this checklist from time to time to make sure you are right on track. This checklist is just a tool and does not need to be included in your application.

To complete the application, you’ll need:

• To provide a full description of your proposed project, including the project’s objectives and activities.
• Indicate whether it is a new or continuing project. If continuing, describe how the project continues a former initiative in a new way. You will also need to identify the beneficiaries of the project.
• Indicate if the project funding is one-time or will be ongoing. If ongoing, describe where you will get future funding to support the project.
• Describe how the project is creative/innovative for the ministry and denomination.
• Describe how the project expresses the Good News of the Gospel to children and youth.
• To provide a full budget that clearly delineates the costs of the project to be met by the funding.
• Upload an extract/endorsement from the ministry’s governing body
• Provide contact information for applicant, congregation, presbytery, synod or sponsoring ministry
• Include the charitable status number of applicant’s ministry