The Church Urban Fund was set up by the Church of England in 1987 as an expression of its mission to serve the poorest in our society.

 

Set up in 1987 by the Church of England, Church Urban Fund was a practical response to the 1985 ‘Faith in the City’ report from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Urban Priority Areas. ‘Faith in the City’ highlighted the social turmoil that many of England’s inner city areas were experiencing, confronting the Church with a great challenge: not to retreat from the problems found in cities, to look to tackle the roots of poverty, and to aim to make a tangible difference in deprived communities. Traditionally focussed on urban areas, we now also fund projects in rural areas of deprivation.

 

Twenty years on, the Fund has invested more than £60 million in over 5,000 local faith-based projects in the poorest areas of England. A short timeline of our history can be seen below

 

Key areas of our work involve partnering with other organisations to tackle the roots of poverty, advocating on behalf of faith communities and their work at the grassroots, the giving of grants, developing of research and the championing of causes related to poverty.

• 1985  ‘Faith in the City’ report produced, highlighting the social turmoil existing in many of England’s cities.
• 1987 The Church Urban Fund launched by the Church of England as a response to ‘Faith in the City’ with the aim of supporting local projects tackling poverty in England’s poorest communities. It was envisaged that CUF would have a 20-year life span.
• 1988 A national campaign launched to raise £18 million from Church members.
• 1990 £3.2 million was awarded to projects in England’s inner cities and outer housing estates during the year.
• 1991 Over £18 million had been raised by the national campaign since 1987.
• 1996 By the end of 1996, the Fund had awarded over £25 million to over 1,180 projects.
• 1998 The Church Urban Fund celebrated its 10^th anniversary. Two thousand people from CUF supported projects attended a day of music, seminars and prayer in Coventry Cathedral.
• 1998 CUF’s Development Programme was established to work with partners outside the Church and to build practical and strategic alliances within church structures at all levels.
• 2000 and 2002 Debates at Synod affirmed the Church’s commitment to ministry alongside the poor and marginalised.
• 2003-2004 Extensive consultation at various levels across the dioceses with the Urban Bishop’s Panel, Synod members, the public and voluntary sectors, to assess the need for continuing CUF and how the organisation should change to be more effective within its contemporary context.
• 2005 Debate at Synod commended the Church Urban Fund and backed its continuation. In 2005 CUF had invested more than £55 million in over 4,400 local faith based projects in the poorest areas of England.
• 2006 The Fundraising Campaign was launched to allow CUF to continue to allocate over £3 million each year to projects addressing the needs of disadvantaged communities across England.