Frequently Asked Questions About Aid Applications

Project Grants

Do I need to complete an application form for a project grant?

You do not need to complete a form. All we need are copies of the documents as explained on our Applying for Aid page.

Can I discuss my application with someone at your UK office before I send it to your international headquarters in Germany?

You are welcome to discuss an application with us. Please call 020 8642 8668 and ask to speak to someone about a project application.

Can I send my application to Aid to the Church in Need (UK)’s offices in Sutton, Surrey, rather than to Germany?

If you find it more convenient to do so, you may send you application to our Sutton offices. However, all funding decisions are made by our international headquarters in Germany, so your application will simply be forwarded there.

Can I send applications to both your UK office and your German headquarters?

Please do not send duplicate applications. This will not improve your chances of success and may slow down the decision-making process.

May I send an application by email?

Generally, our international headquarters in Germany prefers to receive applications in paper form, sent by Air Mail. Photocopies of plans, quotations, etc, are acceptable.

Email should only be used if the postal service is too unreliable. Please ensure that any attachments are in a format that is widely accessible.

I live in Africa and need money to pay my children’s school fees. Can you help?

Aid to the Church in Need cannot help individuals with school fees. This is outside the scope of our work.

Similarly, we cannot help with medical fees or general living expenses for individuals, because we must concentrate our limited resources on helping the Church to carry out its pastoral and evangelising mission.

A priest has written to me and asked me to contribute to repairing his church. I cannot afford to help him, but can you contact him?

We do not normally contact priests to invite them to apply for funding, because this might raise their hopes unfairly. Our funds are limited and we can only satsify about half the valid applications we receive.

Please inform the priest that he must contact us directly. You can find out more about contacting us regarding an application for aid on our Applying for Aid page.

I sent an application to your international headquarters in Germany some weeks ago and I have heard nothing. Please can you find out what is happening?

Our international headquarters in Germany receives so many applications each year that it is not possible to acknowledge them all.

The decision-making process must allow time for a detailed consideration of every application. Further information may need to be sought, and we may have to await more funds before we can commit ourselves to a particular project.

If staff at the the UK office have to keep contacting their German colleagues about the progress of particular applications, this will slow down the whole process for all applicants, so we have to ask you to be patient. You will hear from our prject headquarters if your application for aid had been successful.

I am a priest and wish to apply for Mass stipends. Please can you advise me of the procedure for this?

We only allow bishops to apply for Mass stipends, which they may then distribute to their priests as they see fit. So you should contact your bishop and ask him to consider applying to AId to the Church in Need for Mass stipends.

Scholarships

I am a Christian coming to the UK to study for a degree, which I hope will benefit my country when I qualify and return. Please can you help me with the tuition fees?

Although we would like to help all Christians with their education, we simply do not have the funds to do this.

We concentrate our limited scholarship budget on ordained priests and professed religious Sisters who wish to undertake postgraduate studies that will ultimately benefit the Church in their home countries.

I am a priest and wish to undertake postgraduate studies in the UK in order to assist my ministry. How do I apply for a scholarship?

The first step is to discuss your plans with your bishop or religious superior; he must make the application on your behalf. 

Download a scholarship application form

Download scholarship application guidance notes 

I am studying at a seminary in Africa and need help to buy my books and pay other expenses. Can you help me?

We do not assist individual seminarians. As we do not have sufficient funds to help all the seminarians who apply to us, it would be invidious for us to favour one seminarian rather than another.

Besides, not all seminarians complete their studies to become priests and we cannot afford to waste our funds.

Instead, we try to work through the rectors of seminaries for the good of all the seminarians. Your rector will know the best way to assist you in your needs.