Support for Treasurers

Even if your treasurer is planning to be with you for many years, it is important to have in place a plan should they no longer be able to fulfil their role. For example, if the treasurer is ill, how will the church continue to make payments or pay in donations? For medium and large churches you may want to appoint an assistant treasurer, and for smaller churches it may be another member of the PCC or a churchwarden. They should get to know how the finances for the church work and make sure they are on any relevant bank mandates. 

When your treasurer lets you know that they are stepping down, see if it is possible that you can have a period of time to find the right person and a significant period for handover, especially if the new treasurer is likely to not be an accountant or in professional financial services. 

Knowing that you need to find a new treasurer, begin with prayer. Make sure that the prayer request is included in your parish newsletter and other prayer networks. 

It is helpful to create a role description, including predicted time commitments, to help potential volunteers. To begin, you should ask your current treasurer what they consider their job involves and the time commitment involved. Each church is different, for some it will include HR matters such as paying staff, some will have endowments, and others will include claiming Gift Aid, so while there are several example role descriptions available online, these will need to be tailored for your circumstances.

It may also be the time to consider, especially if you are in a benefice or multi-church parish, whether the finances could be simplified and the treasurer for one of your other churches take on the role for both churches. 

Parish Resources gives some suggestions as to what you might be looking for in a new treasurer and you may find the Charity Commission's advice on finding new trustees helpful. 

It is also important to consider what restrictions there are to someone being a treasurer. You may wish to ask them to self-declare if they are aware of any reason which could disqualify them.

Once you have a role description you will need to consider how you will consider if a volunteer is suitable for the role. As the role usually involves handling money and caring for the donations of your congregation, this will need to be someone who is trustworthy, is able to maintain confidentiality, and sympathises with the aims of the PCC. 

When these are in place, advertise as widely as possible. While your first port of call may be your own church, parish or benefice newsletter and website, you may also want to advertise in a village newsletter. If you are a larger church with more complicated finances, you may also want to advertise through the Diocese and through volunteering organisations. Many local Councils offer advertising for organisations looking for volunteers. 

If you would like some help putting together a job description, please contact the Diocesan Finance Team.. Also, if you would like us to advertise via the Diocesan website, please contact Sam Setchell.

Once you have advertised for a new treasurer, hopefully at least one person will come forward. It is important to check that they do fulfil the necessary aspects of the role, so an informal interview would be advised with the incumbent and a churchwarden. As the role involves handling money on behalf of the church and being a member of the PCC, you will also need to consider Safeguarding. 

If you find yourself in the fortunate position of having multiple qualified people apply for the role, then you could look and see whether the role could be split (so between someone who handles the finance and someone to handle stewardship) or shared. If it is decided to appoint only one person you will need to consider how best to appoint the right person, possibly by interviews. The HR section of our website can help you with this.

Also, remember that if a candidate is unsuccessful but would be suitable to be a treasurer, they might be willing to serve in a neighbouring parish or benefice. If you do not know who might be looking for a treasurer, please contact the Diocesan Finance Team.

If you do not have anyone come forward, please do speak to the Diocesan Finance Team, so we can help you with looking, see if the role could be simplified, or see if another solution could be found.

Allow for a period of handover, which ideally should cover a period of year-end, as this is when most questions arise. 

It is also important for the new treasurer to have time with the incumbent and churchwardens to help them understand the mission and aims of the church or parish.