Vitality Granting Program
The Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma is deeply committed to vitality in every congregation. We believe every one of our congregations has the ability to become more vital and we are committed to supporting the ministry of our congregations through various vitality initiatives from the Diocese. The Vitality Granting program is such an initiative.
The purpose of the Vitality Granting Program is aimed directly at facilitating and strengthening our capacity for vitality, based on research both within and outside our diocese on factors influencing the vitality of congregations. Grants come in two forms: Experimental Vitality Grants (up to $500) and Large Vitality Grants ($501-$10,000). Grants must demonstrate a commitment to one of the two goals below:
- Building Relationships in our Neighborhoods and Communities: this grant option asks congregations to consider how they can make and build relationships in the communities surrounding our congregations. Community engagement helps our congregations become more aware and deeply involved with the people and groups that share your congregations’ community for the purpose of building relationships, discourse, cooperation, and participation. By strengthening our community engagement we become more aware of the work God is already doing in our communities and how we can partner in God’s work.
- Finding God in Daily Life: this grant option asks congregations to consider ways in which members of the congregation might find God outside of Sunday morning and beyond the walls of the church. Grant projects might take place in homes, neighborhood centers, public places, or online with the goal of engaging people in spiritual practices such as prayer, reading the Bible, or sharing their faith. By building our spiritual practices we are strengthening our capacity to identify God’s action in the movement of our daily lives. Grants that fund programs that focus on programs that take place within the gathered congregation will not be considered. The purpose must be to strengthen how members find God outside our churches in their daily lives.
Want to browse ideas?
Click below for a list of experiments congregations around the diocese have tried or are in process of trying.
General Information about Vitality Grants:
The Vitality Granting Program awards two types of grants, Experimental Vitality Grants or Large Vitality Grants, to those congregations engaging the values of the granting program, these include:
- The desire and willingness to try new things
- A posture towards creativity, inventiveness, and inquisitiveness
- Ideas that are relational, participatory, and cooperative
- Reach into our neighborhoods and communities to form new partnerships
- Helping members of congregations find God in their daily live
The Vitality Granting Program is a specific series of grants to support programs aimed at strengthening and facilitating community engagement or finding God in our daily lives. This sometimes means great ideas simply do not fit the granting purposes or guidelines.
The types of programs or ideas that DO NOT qualify for the Vitality Granting Program include:
- Individual projects, including sabbaticals or scholarship funds
- Support for an existing programs or ministries within a congregation or organization
- Programs primarily engaging current members
- Outreach-only, or service-based initiatives
- Financial or material support for those in need
- Advertising
- Discretionary spending
- Funds to support the operating budget
- Capital improvement projects (see specific note in the information regarding the Large Vitality Grants related to the use of funds for capital improvements)
Experimental Grants:
Experimental Grants are small, micro-grants up to $500 for the purpose of engaging in a small-scale, discrete learning experiment. The primary purpose of the Experimental Grants is three-fold:
- First, it is intended for you to learn.
- Second, it encourages you to innovate by trying something new.
- Third, it is intended to help congregations make connections with God by either engaging their local communities or finding God in the midst of daily life.
To learn more about the Experimental Grant application process, qualifications, and to see a list of completed projects or ideas click below.
Large Vitality Grants:
Large Vitality Grants ($501 - $10,000) are intended to assist in the implementation of larger projects that come out of discernment from the results of engaging a congregational vitality process. A good candidate for a Large Vitality Grant may be:
- Congregations that wish to build on a previous Experimental Vitality Grant by adding a new component or through expansion.
- Creating a new opportunity for finding God in daily life or building relationships in your neighborhood that are previously tested, supported by observation, or arise out of your Congregational Vitality engagement work.
To learn more about the Large Vitality Grant application process, qualifications, and completed projects click below.
Not sure what grant works for you? We are available to help, contact Canon Steve or Kate Bond.
- Canon Steve Carlsen, Canon for Congregational Vitality (canonsteve@epiok.org)
- Kate Carney Bond, Director of Faith Formation and Discipleship (kbond@epiok.org)