New York Sacred Sites Grant Program for Churches: 2026 Guide

The Sacred Sites program, run by the New York Landmarks Conservancy, is one of the longest-running sources of preservation funding for historic houses of worship in the country. Since 1986 it has awarded roughly 1,700 grants totaling more than $14.75 million to churches, synagogues, meetinghouses, mosques, and temples across New York State — money aimed specifically at keeping historic religious buildings structurally sound, not at general church operations or ministry programs.

It's worth being precise about what this program is: a private, philanthropic grant from a nonprofit organization, not a government fund. That distinction shapes how it works — there's no SAM.gov registration, no federal Investment Justification format, and no state agency portal. Instead, applicants work directly with Conservancy program staff, and the process is built around a conversation, not just a form.

What Is the Sacred Sites Program?

The New York Landmarks Conservancy created Sacred Sites to address a specific gap: historic religious buildings are often architecturally significant and heavily used by their communities, but their owning congregations frequently don't have the capital reserves that a museum or government-owned landmark might. A leaking roof or failing masonry doesn't wait for a capital campaign to finish, and Sacred Sites exists to catch that gap before deferred maintenance becomes structural failure.

The program funds two categories of work — physical construction repairs, and the professional planning services (surveys, engineering assessments) that typically precede them — and evaluates applications on architectural and cultural significance, community outreach, project urgency, preservation quality, and the applicant's administrative, financial, and fundraising capacity.

Who's Eligible

Three requirements apply, and a property needs to meet all three:

• Located in New York State. The program is statewide, not limited to New York City, though NYC applicants get rolling-basis review for Professional Services applications rather than the two fixed annual rounds.
• Owned by a religious institution and actively used for worship. A deconsecrated church that's been converted to another use doesn't qualify; the building needs to still function as a house of worship.
• Listed on the State or National Register of Historic Places, or designated under a certified local landmarks ordinance — individually, or as a contributing building within a historic district.

That third requirement trips up more applicants than any other. If your congregation's building has never been formally evaluated for historic status, pursuing that designation is the actual first step, and it can take months on its own. Our historic church preservation grants guide covers how to start that process and other funding sources that don't require existing landmark status, which may be a better near-term fit while designation is pending.

Construction vs. Professional Services Grants

Construction grants generally cover a minority share of total project cost — commonly cited around 20% — up to a maximum of 50% of the project cost or the grant cap, whichever is lower. In practice that means a $16,000 average pledge is usually funding one piece of a larger repair project the congregation is financing mostly through its own capital campaign, denominational support, or other grants — not the whole job.

What Sacred Sites Actually Funds

Funding priority goes to work that protects the building envelope and structural integrity:

• Roofing and drainage repair — historically the single most common Sacred Sites project category, since a failing roof is what turns a manageable repair into a structural emergency.
• Masonry repointing and restoration — stone and brick facades on older church buildings routinely need repointing decades before most congregations budget for it.
• Structural repairs — foundation, framing, and load-bearing issues that threaten the building's stability.
• Exterior carpentry and window repair — including the elaborate wood trim and window surrounds common on 19th- and early 20th-century religious architecture.
• Stained glass restoration — a specialty category the program treats seriously enough to fund dedicated stained glass surveys as a Professional Services grant on their own.

What It Won't Fund

The program is explicit about its boundaries, and applicants who don't read this list closely waste review time on ineligible requests:

• ADA and barrier-free access improvements — a real and common need for older buildings, but not this program's scope. Congregations with accessibility needs should see our church accessibility grants guide for sources built for that purpose.
• Pipe organ restoration — despite being a fixture of many historic sanctuaries, organs fall outside the program's structural/envelope focus.
• Interior renovation — sanctuary redesigns, interior finishes, and similar work aren't eligible.
• Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing upgrades — HVAC, wiring, and plumbing systems need a different funding source; see our church HVAC energy efficiency grants guide.
• Routine maintenance, including exterior repainting — the program funds capital-level structural repair, not the ongoing upkeep every building needs.

The Application Process and Timeline

1. Confirm eligibility first — New York location, active worship use, and historic designation. Get the designation question settled before doing anything else if it isn't already.
2. Contact program staff before submitting. The Conservancy explicitly recommends discussing your project with staff ahead of a formal application — this isn't optional in practice, since it shapes whether you apply for a Construction or Professional Services grant.
3. Submit the online application ahead of one of the two annual deadlines: January 15 or June 1. (Professional Services applications from NYC congregations are reviewed on a rolling basis instead.)
4. Expect a site visit as part of the review — reviewers evaluate the building in person, not just the paperwork.
5. Receive a pledge within four to five months of submission if approved.
6. Match the award and sign contracts within one year of the pledge; funds are disbursed as checks only once the project is underway.

The Three-Year Moratorium

One detail catches repeat applicants off guard: institutions that receive a Construction grant face a three-year moratorium before they can apply for another construction-cost grant. Planning-cost (Professional Services) grants remain available during that window, so a congregation can still apply for a conditions survey or engineering assessment on a different part of the building while the moratorium on construction funding runs.

Plan multi-phase preservation projects with this in mind. If your building needs both roof repair and masonry repointing, it may be worth sequencing which phase you apply for first and using the moratorium period productively — completing planning work, fundraising the match for phase two, or pursuing a different funding source for the interim.

Combining Sacred Sites With Other Preservation Funding

Because Sacred Sites typically covers only a portion of total project cost, most congregations pair it with other sources. Depending on the specifics of your building and project, our National Fund for Sacred Places guide and historic tax credits for churches guide cover two of the more common companion programs — the former funds larger-scale rehabilitation projects nationally, and the latter can offset costs through tax credits rather than direct grants (with its own restrictions on active religious use that are worth reading closely). If your building is also a designated cemetery or historic burial ground on the property, our church cemetery preservation grants guide covers a related but distinct funding track. New York congregations balancing preservation needs against a separate security-hardening project should also see our New York SCAHC security grant guide — the two are entirely separate programs with different funders and different eligible costs, so there's no conflict in pursuing both simultaneously.

The realistic funding stack for a mid-size roof or masonry project often looks like: a Sacred Sites grant covering roughly a fifth of cost, a denominational or diocesan capital fund covering another portion, and a congregation-led capital campaign covering the remainder. Very few congregations fund a major structural project from Sacred Sites alone, and the program isn't designed to be a sole funding source — plan your capital campaign in parallel with the application, not after a pledge comes back smaller than hoped.

Frequently Asked Questions