DON'T MISS! - Give To Go Green Grants (Round 2)

Following the success of the first round of Give To Go Green in March, the Diocese of Leeds has been invited to take part in round 2. Give To Go Green is a match-funding grant scheme that doubles locally raised donations for carbon-cutting building projects. Churches will run a short, targeted fundraising campaign, and take donations using digital giving, all donations from this will be matched. There will be plenty of support and training to help you with each stage of this project, so do not be put off if digital giving is new to you.

Please have a read through the Project Pack here, and if you would like to find out more, or ask any questions, do be in touch with Stewardship Officer, Beth, at beth.vickers@leeds.anglican.org.

Applications for Give To Go Green are open now, and will close 28th July. Apply here!

All donations from this will be matched by the National Church

Catch Up on our Webinar: Top Tips to Help Grow your Church Income Webinar

Watch this recording exploring different opportunities to increase income for your church. Find out how to make the most of what you already have, through communication and promotion, as well as exploring new ideas for income generation.

Click below to watch the recording.

Webinar - Demonstration of the Online Grant Search Portal. 7pm Tuesday 23rd July.

The Diocese of Leeds subscribes to an online grant search portal called Open4Community, provided by Idox. It is an excellent tool and all potential users are encouraged to register and use it on a regular basis to gain the maximum benefit.

This webinar will explain how to: register to use Open4Community; search for potential funders and find out more about them; utilise the other tools provided; and set up regular email updates on potential funding sources.

After the training, attendees will also have the opportunity to arrange a one-to-one consultation with Matt Godfrey from Idox. During an online meeting he will provide guidance on how to use the site's search function to identify potential sources of funding to support your church's mission and ministry in its local community.

Start Planning Your Generosity Week for 2024 and Book in a 1-to-1 Planning Session

This year’s national Generosity Week will be from Sunday 29 September until Sunday 6 October. 

It covers two Sundays to give churches double the opportunity to explore generosity 

when they meet on a Sunday morning – one to consider God’s generosity to us, and 

the other to prayerfully work out our response to that generosity.

Get in touch with the Stewardship team at resourcingparishes@leeds.anglican.org to book in a session to go through the Generosity Week resources. We will discuss the service resources, and help you to plan the two Sundays, as well as any mid-week activities.

This year's resources are now available and there will be follow up mailings at the end of each month until Generosity Week. These resources, however, can be used at any time of the year at a time when it may be more convenient to run a Generosity Week in your church. You can find more information about Generosity Week at the link below.

easyfundraising - Free Fundraising Packs

Funding platform easyfundraising has 250 free fundraising toolkits to give away to help our churches raise money easily online. The packs contain shareable content to help you get your congregation raising money for you online, including social media posts, newsletter contents, poster, flyers and videos. 

Through easyfundraising, 8,000 online retailers will donate money to your church when your congregation and community shop with them. Retailers include Tesco, trainline, eBay, Argos, Just Eat, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis, Asda, Booking.com and 8,000 others. All you need to do is use the free packs to tell your supporters about it!

To get your complimentary pack, register your church for free with easyfundraising. When prompted, choose the option to schedule a call with a member of the team, who will then arrange for your free toolkit and explain how easyfundraising works. 

There are 250 packs available – don’t miss out, claim yours today using the link below.

New: Treasurer Forum Webpage

The first Treasurer Forum meeting took place online on the evening of 10th June and was attended by 56 of our treasurers from across the Diocese. Topics covered included the results of our treasurer training questionnaire, information on different bookkeeping systems, setting up a buddy system for treasurers, an invitation to become a Treasurer Ambassador and a Q&A section. The presentation slides delivered at the Forum are now available to download from the new Treasurer Forum webpage via the link below. The next Treasurer Forum meeting will take place in September and all treasurers will receive a direct email invitation.

Data Developments - Free Treasurer and Gift Aid Secretary Training Continues in JULY!

Data Developments provides software, services and training for churches to support church administration, accounts and finances.

In July, Data Developments are running two free training courses:

• Treasurer Training: A 4-week course taking place each Wednesday evening (5-6pm), starting on the 10th of July. This training course introduces and explains a variety of topics around church finances and accounts.
• Gift Aid Secretary Training: A 3-week course taking place each Friday lunchtime (1-2pm), starting on the 19th of July. This course introduces Gift Aid, GASDS and best practice.

ACAT Generating Income and Grant Applications Course in Wakefield

This one-day training course is designed for those looking to source funding for their church or for a church project. Take this course to enhance your skills and confidence in tackling the funding of church based projects.

This training course is being held at St John's Church Wakefield, on Saturday 13th July between 10am - 4pm. There is a cost of £40 per person to attend. Lunch and refreshments throughout the day will be provided.

Click the button below to find out more about this training course.

Parish Share Reports

May receipts of £883k show a slight decrease of £8k/1% over May 2023 and so YTD receipts of £4,006k are flat compared to last year.

You can find the latest Parish Share report on the website here.

Return of Parish Finance Deadline Extended

The deadline for submissions of the Return of Parish Finance has been extended to 31/07/2024.

Return of Parish Finance Guidance Video Now Available

A new video has been created to help guide you through the process of completing your parish finance return. View the video on our website via the link below. You can also find support and helpful resources, including an excel template for the return, on our website here.

Platinum Jubilee Village Hall Fund

Grants up to £75,000 to support larger improvement projects to rural community buildings in England such as full refits and extensions are available. This scheme uses government funding to improve buildings for the benefit of the whole community, whether that be extensions or improving energy efficiency and contributing to Net Zero. Church Halls are eligible under the scheme if they are the only community space in a village with a population of under 10,000.

Awards can be made to cover 20% of eligible project costs, from £7,500 up to a maximum amount of £75,000. There is a 6 month turnaround for this fund, so you need to be good to go before submitting an application.



Full details are available from ACRE at the link below.

Electric Vehicle Charging Points in Churches

If you missed the Webinar about how you can provide Electric Vehicle Charging services in your church car park, it is now available on Parish Buying to watch at your leisure. 

EV Charging through a charging supplier is a great way to create a modest income for your Church with no financial outlay and help with your journey towards being carbon neutral. You can also express your interest in joining the scheme and request a site visit to find out the suitability of your car park. You can access further information on EV charging through Parish Buying at the link below following the instructions given.

Government grants are available for small businesses and charities who want to add EV charging independently of a charging supplier. Details of this can be found here.