diff --git a/docs/custom-annotations.md b/docs/custom-annotations.md
index 850050765e..2e40fb65a4 100644
--- a/docs/custom-annotations.md
+++ b/docs/custom-annotations.md
@@ -86,6 +86,37 @@ If you'd like to use custom annotations with Mergeable Ingress resources, please
 
 * Minions do not inherent custom annotations of the master.
 
+### Helper Functions
+
+Helper functions can be used in the Ingress template to parse the values of custom annotations.
+
+| Function | Input Arguments| Return Arguments | Description |
+| -------- | -------------- | ---------------- | ----------- |
+| `split` | `s, sep string` | `[]string` | Splits the string `s` into a slice of strings separated by the `sep`. |
+| `trim` | `s string` | `string` | Trims the trailing and leading whitespace from the string `s`. |
+
+Consider the following custom annotation `custom.nginx.org/allowed-ips`, which expects a comma-separated list of IP addresses:
+```
+annotations:
+  custom.nginx.org/allowed-ips: "192.168.1.3, 10.0.0.13"
+```
+
+ The helper functions can parse the value of the `custom.nginx.org/allowed-ips` annotation, so that in the template you can use each IP address separately. Consider the following template excerpt:
+
+```
+{{range $ip := split (index $.Ingress.Annotations "custom.nginx.org/allowed-ips") ","}}
+    allow {{trim $ip}};
+{{end}}
+deny all;
+```
+
+The template excerpt will generate the following configuration:
+```
+allow 192.168.1.3;
+allow 10.0.0.13;
+deny all;
+```
+
 ## Example
 
 See the [custom annotations example](../examples/custom-annotations).
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/internal/configs/version1/template_executor.go b/internal/configs/version1/template_executor.go
index b03b30ad90..d2eaae8304 100644
--- a/internal/configs/version1/template_executor.go
+++ b/internal/configs/version1/template_executor.go
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ func NewTemplateExecutor(mainTemplatePath string, ingressTemplatePath string) (*
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	ingressTemplate, err := template.New(path.Base(ingressTemplatePath)).ParseFiles(ingressTemplatePath)
+	ingressTemplate, err := template.New(path.Base(ingressTemplatePath)).Funcs(helperFunctions).ParseFiles(ingressTemplatePath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ func (te *TemplateExecutor) UpdateMainTemplate(templateString *string) error {
 
 // UpdateIngressTemplate updates the ingress template.
 func (te *TemplateExecutor) UpdateIngressTemplate(templateString *string) error {
-	newTemplate, err := template.New("ingressTemplate").Parse(*templateString)
+	newTemplate, err := template.New("ingressTemplate").Funcs(helperFunctions).Parse(*templateString)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/internal/configs/version1/template_helper.go b/internal/configs/version1/template_helper.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c2b09f5c61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/configs/version1/template_helper.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package version1
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"text/template"
+)
+
+func split(s string, delim string) []string {
+	return strings.Split(s, delim)
+}
+
+func trim(s string) string {
+	return strings.TrimSpace(s)
+}
+
+var helperFunctions = template.FuncMap{
+	"split": split,
+	"trim":  trim,
+}
diff --git a/internal/configs/version1/templates_test.go b/internal/configs/version1/templates_test.go
index ddb894e88f..8a863dcc7c 100644
--- a/internal/configs/version1/templates_test.go
+++ b/internal/configs/version1/templates_test.go
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ var mainCfg = MainConfig{
 }
 
 func TestIngressForNGINXPlus(t *testing.T) {
-	tmpl, err := template.New(nginxPlusIngressTmpl).ParseFiles(nginxPlusIngressTmpl)
+	tmpl, err := template.New(nginxPlusIngressTmpl).Funcs(helperFunctions).ParseFiles(nginxPlusIngressTmpl)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Failed to parse template file: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ func TestIngressForNGINXPlus(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestIngressForNGINX(t *testing.T) {
-	tmpl, err := template.New(nginxIngressTmpl).ParseFiles(nginxIngressTmpl)
+	tmpl, err := template.New(nginxIngressTmpl).Funcs(helperFunctions).ParseFiles(nginxIngressTmpl)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Failed to parse template file: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -169,3 +169,49 @@ func TestMainForNGINX(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Failed to write template %v", err)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestSplitHelperFunction(t *testing.T) {
+	const tpl = `{{range $n := split . ","}}{{$n}} {{end}}`
+
+	tmpl, err := template.New("testTemplate").Funcs(helperFunctions).Parse(tpl)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to parse template: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+
+	input := "foo,bar"
+	expected := "foo bar "
+
+	err = tmpl.Execute(&buf, input)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to execute the template %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if buf.String() != expected {
+		t.Fatalf("Template generated wrong config, got %v but expected %v.", buf.String(), expected)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTrimHelperFunction(t *testing.T) {
+	const tpl = `{{trim .}}`
+
+	tmpl, err := template.New("testTemplate").Funcs(helperFunctions).Parse(tpl)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to parse template: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+
+	input := "  foobar     "
+	expected := "foobar"
+
+	err = tmpl.Execute(&buf, input)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to execute the template %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if buf.String() != expected {
+		t.Fatalf("Template generated wrong config, got %v but expected %v.", buf.String(), expected)
+	}
+}