Funding guidelines for the Diocesan Investment Programme
The aim of Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment (SMMI) is to enable the Church of England’s Vision and Strategy for the 2020s to become a reality across the country
THE £236M ALLOCATED TO THE Diocesan Investment Programme over the next three years (2026-28) goes directly to dioceses to advance their plans for the Vision and Strategy in local parishes and communities.
The programme builds on the intentionality and accountability of the funding arrangement introduced in recent years where national funding has supported dioceses to undertake significant programmes to support local parishes develop mission within particular geographical areas and demographic groups, to develop and deliver diocesan-wide transformation programmes and to increase the number of newly ordained ministers.
Funding Strategy
The purpose of the Diocesan Investment Programme is to focus investment on enabling the Church’s Vision & Strategy to become a reality in parishes and communities, prioritising investment in the most deprived and resource-poor contexts.
This enables dioceses to develop new areas of mission, revitalise mission and build on missional approaches that are proving effective.
Approach
The funding arrangements operate in the following ways:
- The way in which dioceses access the funding has shifted from supporting discrete projects by application towards a strategic development approach over the next nine years.
- There is a tailored approach of funding and support to each diocese, recognising that different dioceses are at different stages of development in terms of their mission planning.
- Diocesan leadership teams have the time they need to work with front-line ministries to plan and discern what is needed to develop mission in their diocese.
- Funding proposals from dioceses should detail how national funding can best support them in delivering their own strategy, in line with the Church’s Vision & Strategy.
- There is a transparent process for putting forward funding proposals and a prayerful assessment process of those proposals.
The full guidelines and a proposal template can be downloaded below:
Diocesan Investment Programme (DIP) Funding Guidelines
Diocesan Investment Programme (DIP) Time-Limited Funding Guidelines
DIP Proposal Template
The proposal template can be downloaded by clicking the button below:
