Thanks to your generosity, churches across the Diocese received over £1.3 million in gifts through the Parish Giving Scheme last year, both as regular donations and one-off gifts.
Around half of churches in the Diocese have joined PGS since it was introduced in 2019, enabling parishioners to give regularly to their church via Direct Debit. It is simple for churches to sign up to the scheme and individuals can give their donations via the PGS website or the dedicated phoneline. Gift Aid is automatically claimed for the church and treasures can easily see what regular donations are coming in. Churches don’t pay any fees on their regular donations.
The Parish Giving Scheme also makes it easier for individuals to increase their regular donations in line with inflation. Each year, all those who have opted in receive a reminder and they have six weeks to decide if they feel able to increase their gift. Many of our church donors outside of the scheme give the same amount year on year, even though inflation means that their gift has less effect.
It is now possible for people to give a one-off donation to your church through PGS (there is a 1.5% fee on each donation). A QR code is provided for you to include on your website, pew sheet or orders of service which will take people directly to the page on the PGS website enabling people to give quickly and easily and reducing the need to have a separate online fundraising page. Since the one-off gifts option was launched at the end of 2022 PGS has seen gifts totalling over £150,000.
Holy Trinity, Old Hill in Dudley now receive 55% of their congregational giving through the PGS, with significant numbers of people automatically increasing their giving with inflation each year. This has helped to reduce the workload of the treasurer and has helped with budgeting. Holy Trinity in Malvern have also seen great success from the scheme and now have over 50 individuals signed up to the monthly giving plan.
Stewardship Officer Robyn Rooney said: “Since starting the role in January it’s been great to see the impact the scheme is having. PGS is so simple to set up and use and yet it is really making a difference. I am looking forward to getting to know the churches that have already signed up and learning what’s working well for them as well as being able to work with other churches to help them get signed up and started.”
Learn more about the Parish Giving Scheme here or contact Robyn Rooney.
