Welcome to the website for the Church of Ireland Priorities Fund.

The objective of the Priorities Fund is to raise and distribute money, on behalf of the Church of Ireland, to various worthy projects within the island of Ireland.

On this website you can view details of the different projects that benefit from allocations from the Priorities Fund, how the fund came into being, and how money is raised.

THE PRIORITIES FUND - a brief history

In February 1979, a Report entitled 'First of All' was submitted by a Steering Committee to the Representative Church Body of the Church of Ireland. The Report stated that:

"The priority of the Church of Ireland is spiritual, not material but that new money must be found if the Church is to provide support for those areas of ministry and social responsibility deemed to be in need. This money must come principally from the laity and it is proposed that every parish be asked to provide an annual contribution to a fund which will be called The Priorities Fund. This fund should be administered by the Standing Committee on behalf of the General Synod".

The Fund came into existence in 1980 and in its first year received contributions from the Dioceses totalling €190,775, which was 76% of the target figure of €250,000. This figure was a combination of Sterling and Irish pounds. Now every year, contributions are recorded in Euro and this year amount to €575,251 which is 101.39% of the target figure of €567,378.

APPLICATIONS TO THE FUND

Each year, applications are invited from parishes and organisations within the 32 counties of Ireland and the closing date for receipt of applications is 31 October each year. The Priorities Fund Committee, which consists of 8 members of the Standing Committee, meets in February to decide on the allocation of grants and these recommendations are put to the Standing Committee for its approval in March.

For information on application to the Church of Ireland Priorities Fund, please contact us.

THE WORK OF THE PRIORITIES FUND

The Priorities Fund Committee is committed to the encouragement of growth and makes the following choices in the assessment of applications:

At the present time the following categories under which applications are considered are being used but it is possible that these will change in the future. There is also a new category, 'Outreach Initiatives', which is for a 3 year period 2007-2009, to encourage creative and innovative projects, which reach out to the communities our parishes serve.

To date over 1,200 projects have received grants from the Priorities Fund amounting to over €12 million. Contributions to the fund to date amount to €12,883,616.

Over the years, the Fund has occasionally received bequests from Church of Ireland parishioners and these sums of money have been invested with the Representative Church Body. These investments cover the day to day running of the Fund, leaving the Priorities Fund Committee free to allocate the total amount of contributions each year.

The Priorities Fund now plays a vital role in the life and witness of the Church of Ireland and without the support and encouragement of the Fund, many aspects of our Church's life and witness would be the poorer. It is essential that the necessary finance is made available but the Priorities Fund Committee is confident that the support given to the Priorities Fund so generously over the past 27 years will continue and increase in the years ahead.