Building or renovating a meetinghouse can bring up many questions. When Quakers work together to construct a new space, many questions can come up. How will the meetinghouse reflect Quaker values like simplicity and care for the earth? How can it be welcoming and accessible to everyone? How can Friends be good stewards of the funds and resources they have?
When a meeting decides to build, repair, or expand a meetinghouse, it helps to take time for careful thought and group discernment.
Helpful Resources
- FGC has some starter queries to consider. Test out these queries in your community to make decisions together in a Spirit-led way.
- There are also tips on working with contractors. These materials can help meetings be realistic and attentive to details
- Suggestions for zoning, budgets, and due diligence when building a meetinghouse
A Legacy of Friends Helping Friends Build Better Meeting Houses
For more than sixty years, the Friends Meeting House Fund (FMHF) of Friends General Conference served as a trusted financial resource for Quaker meetings seeking to build, purchase, or improve their meeting houses. From its founding through 2024, the Fund loaned or granted more than $4.6 million to over 200 meetings across 18 yearly meetings, helping Friends maintain spaces for worship, fellowship, and community service.
Friends Meetinghouse Fund guided meetings through all stages of facility development—from accessibility and energy-efficiency upgrades to major renovations and new construction. Its work reflected Quaker values of stewardship, sustainability, and community care.
Quaker meetinghouses are special places where Friends come together to worship, build community, and serve others. Taking care of these buildings is both a spiritual and practical responsibility. We hope that your meetinghouse draws the community together!
Partnerships and Programs
In 2017, the Fund entered a partnership with Everence Association, Inc., a member-owned, faith-based financial services organization founded by Mennonites and other Anabaptist peace churches. This fund is no longer active. Before it was laid down, Friends Meetinghouse Fund helped meetings access flexible, competitive loan options while Everence administered the loans.
Two grant programs supported those improvements: the The Green Meeting House Fund, which promoted sustainability and energy efficiency through projects such as solar panels, improved insulation, and better drainage systems; and the General Improvements Grant Fund. This fund provided small grants for accessibility and building enhancements.
Closing and Legacy
The Friends Meeting House Fund was laid down in 2024, concluding more than six decades of service. Its legacy continues in the meeting houses it helped sustain—spaces where Friends gather for worship, community, and witness—and in its example of faithful stewardship rooted in shared values.
Visit Everence to learn more about loans and financing for your meetinghouse.
Last updated December 17, 2025.