Home | The Community Marriage Initiatives Fund

The purpose of the Catholic Marriage Initiatives Fund is to dramatically increase the availability of and participation in high quality Catholic Marriage Ministries throughout the United States. We do this by empowering U.S. dioceses and parishes to implement high quality Marriage Ministries that are balanced between Vision, Skills, and Support, across all the ages and stages of the marital life-cycle. In this way, we are assisting and empowering the local Church to operationalize the Gospel by teaching people how to love.

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Current Grant Opportunity - Due December 10, 2022

In June of 2021, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved the release of a document entitled Called to the Joy of Love: National Pastoral Framework for Marriage and Family Life Ministry - which provides a framework for dioceses and parishes to follow when developing and implementing critically important Marriage and Family Life Ministries.

The CMI Fund is pleased to announce the availability of $1,000,000 of matching funds to be provided on a competitive basis to Catholic Dioceses within the United States who want to implement key elements of the recently published document - with each diocese able to submit a matching grant application ranging in size from a minimum of $10,000 to a maximum of $50,000. Details of this opportunity include:

Total funding available from the CMI Fund to these dioceses will be $1,000,000.
The size of each of the grants to the dioceses will range from a minimum of $10,000 to a maximum of $50,000.
These grants to the dioceses will be on a matching basis - in which the CMI Fund will provide a dollar for dollar match to funds provided by - or raised by - the respective dioceses.
All the money - the amount provided by the CMI Fund and the amount provided by each of the dioceses - must be utilized by the respective dioceses specifically to implement key elements of this National Pastoral Framework.
Each interested diocese will submit an application to the CMI Fund in which they describe their proposed project including how they would utilize the funds, what they would hope to accomplish with their project, and how they think their project would accomplish this.

To download a copy of the Pastoral Framework, please click the Download Framework button:

To download a copy of the Request For Proposal for this grant opportunity, please click the Download RFP

button:

During the November 2021 USCCB General Assembly, Archbishop Cordelione gave a 10-minute talk about the Pastoral Framework that included a description of this grant opportunity. To download and read his remarks, please click the Download Remarks button:

Application Due Dates

We expect to award up to twenty grants in 2022, across three rounds of grants. The current plan is to continue this process in 2023. The initial rounds of grants are in process. Due Dates for each of the next two rounds are:

Application Response to

Due Date Applications

December 10, 2022 January 10, 2023

April 10, 2023 May 10, 2023

Key Dates in the Process:

Thursday, October 21, 2021 - The CMI Fund and NACFLM, in cooperation with the USCCB, co-sponsored a webinar to explain this grant opportunity in more detail and to answer any questions. To view a recording of this webinar, please visit NACFLM.org
Thursday, October 28, 2021 - The CMI Fund and NACFLM co-sponsored a grant-writing training webinar - specifically tailored for this grant opportunity but useful for anyone interested in learning how to write successful grant applications. To view a recording of this webinar, please visit NACFLM.org. To download a copy of the handout from that webinar, please click the "Download Webinar Handout" button:
Wednesday, February 23, 2022 at 2pm ET - NACFLM hosted an Informational Webinar about the 2nd round grant opportunity and the first round of grant recipients.
Friday, August 10, 2022 - Applications for next round of applications are due.
September 10, 2022 - Response to Applications will be provided

Forms for the Application:

To download the Excel version of the Blank Timeline referenced in Item 3D of the RFP, please click the "Download Timeline" button:
To download the Excel version of the Diocesan Needs Assessment (DNA) you will need to complete and submit as part of the grant application, click on Download Assessment:
To view a recording of the 2019 NACFLM keynote entitled "Marriage Ministries - the Best Way to Operationalize the Gospel" - which is part of the application process, click "View NACFLM keynote":

Before watching that recording, please download the handout that goes along with it because you will need it in order to perform a couple exercises that are part of the presentation. To download that handout, please click the "DOWNLOAD Keynote Handout: