Awards
Mental Health Ministry Grant awards are available for amounts from $5,000 to $87,500 to support mental health ministry activities for up to three years. Grants may be used to support the following:
- Funding of a position in a Roman Catholic diocese, parish or other Catholic organization (i.e., school, hospital, non-profit) to organize and implement mental health ministries in participating parishes.
- Funding the implementation of mental health ministry activities and events in Roman Catholic parishes or other Catholic organizations.
Applicants are strongly urged to participate in an upcoming webinar for additional information on RFP specifications and for examples of preferred program elements. Check the CIMHM website at
www.sandiego.edu/cimhm for specific dates and times for the proposal webinar.
Eligibility
To be eligible for consideration, applicants must be a Roman Catholic diocese, parish or other Roman Catholic entity (i.e., university, school, charity, hospital or religious order) operating within the United States of America. All proposals must include a detailed letter of support from the Bishop of their respective diocese. Proposals that do not include a letter of support from the Bishop will not be accepted.
The Mental Health Ministry Grant funds only mental health ministry organizing, implementation and related activities. The grant does not support general operations. Planning, needs assessment, and evaluation proposals will not be considered. Organizational improvement activities not focused on implementation of mental health ministries at the point-of-service, such as leadership development or financial system updates, are also ineligible. The grant also does not fund building campaigns, fundraising, scholarships, endowments, lobbying, or awards to individuals.
Review Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Clear description of the organization’s mission and any current health or mental health ministry activities.
- The applicant provides a clear, compelling explanation of how the current activities create positive and meaningful experiences for parishioners.
- Compelling rationale for organizing and implementing mental health ministry.
- The applicant clearly identifies a need within their diocese or parish community, describes how they discovered this need, and explains how the problem has impacted their community members.
- The applicant makes a strong case that the quality of life for parishioners and the parish community would significantly improve if the needs were addressed effectively.
- Strength of the implementation plan
- The plan will effectively address the need for mental health ministry.
- There is a clear commitment to participation in all grant required training activities. Also, there is a coherent plan to communicate vital training information to mental health ministry teams.
- There is clear support from the bishop, pastor or chief executive of the diocese, parish or Catholic organization seeking funding.
- The plan can feasibly be implemented within the grant period. Also, the majority of the planned activities must take place within the grant period.
- A lead is identified to oversee the implementation plan and track progress across the timeline.
- The applicant will collect useful information to help determine whether the implementation is addressing the identified need.
- The mental health ministry can be sustained operationally and financially. If additional funds will be required to continue the ministry after the grant period, the applicant must provide a feasible plan to achieve sustainability.
Special Considerations
While our main focus is to support the organization and implementation of mental health ministries to provide better services and increase their impact, we are particularly interested in some approaches. These considerations include:
- Ministry for individuals with severe and chronic mental illness, and other underserved populations: If appropriate, applicants should describe their participants’ demographics.
- Innovative approaches: Applicants should consider how they will leverage technology and other innovations to maximize the impact of their activities.
- Clear connections and outreach to parish schools, youth ministries or other programs for Catholic youth and their families (i.e., Scouting religious emblem programs, Catholic Religious Education Programs, Knights of Columbus youth programs).
- Meaningful outcomes: Applicants should consider how the impact of their ministry will be measured beyond the counting of participants in ministry activities. Applicants are strongly encouraged to read and incorporate recommendations from Paul Pendley’s article on the topic of measuring ministry outcomes published and linked here by the Christian Leadership Alliance.
Submission Deadline
All applications must be submitted on this website no later than September 30, 2018 by 11:59 PM.
Proposal Submission Instructions
- Download the Proposal Template linked here. All submissions must be completed using this template. No other proposal formats will be accepted.
- Complete your proposal using the Proposal Template and be sure to include all required proposal elements. The submission template includes a proposal checklist for your reference. No incomplete submissions will be accepted.
- The document should be formatted using one-inch margins on all sides. All pages of the application should use a 12-point font, and be single-spaced. Number each page in the top margin, right justified.
- Please submit your proposal as a single (i.e., one) file in PDF or Microsoft Word Formats (.doc or .docx). No other file formats will accepted. Multiple files will not be accepted. Use the submission button below to select and upload your file to this website. Separate email submissions will not be accepted.