The decision was made over five years ago to change the outdated standing order scheme offered by the diocese. This scheme collected the monthly giving for over 200 Parishes. It was decided to introduce and offer the Parish Giving Scheme as an alternative. This scheme was a direct debit scheme that has an optional mechanism built in to try to combat static giving. Let us explain, year on year the cost of living goes up, but invariably giving remains static. This has a massive impact on our churches. This new scheme from PGS has been good in this area, in fact nearly fifty percent of those signed up opted to accept that option. This has played a big role in lockdown where income in some Parishes increased despite not meeting over lockdown.
We now have over 3000 people on the new scheme and over two hundred Parishes using it.
As a diocese we recommend that regular monthly giving is the way forward, no longer can we rely on sporadic and unrealistic giving. If we are to sustain Gods ministry in our Parishes we need to start thinking differently.
The Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) is an established service for managing direct debit donations, designed to support churches to fund their mission and ministry. It reduces the burden of work on church volunteers and provides a simple and secure service to donors.
The service is freely available to all parishes, their churches and donors, within dioceses that have chosen to participate. Uptake is growing every year, with the majority of dioceses in the Church of England - and many of their parishes - now members of PGS and experiencing the benefits. The PGS makes it possible for donors to:
-
Donate monthly, quarterly or annually by Direct Debit.
-
Sign up to inflation-linked giving annually.
-
Enhance your gift to your church by having Gift Aid at 25% added to your giving.
Give securely and donate anonymously, if you prefer.
If you want to find out more about PGS, we are running some workshops in each deanery. Find out more here.
More information can be found on the PGS website or view the toolkit of resources here.