Great News! From Monday 27th April new donors in
PGS registered parishes are able to set up their Direct Debits by telephone! PGS statement receivers have all been contacted via email by the PGS team to explain how this works. The full announcement can be read
here . Please do encourage this method of giving in your congregation, it really is so easy and doesn't rely on knowledge of internet banking or a risky trip to the bank to set it all up!
A PGS Coronavirus update from the Stewardship and Income Generation team can also be read
here
If your parish hasn't yet registered for the PGS then please consider doing it as soon as possible as it's now even easier for new parishes to join. Please contact
[email protected]
or visit
Register with the PGS
to find out more about how to register for the scheme. Once a parish is registered we would encourage PCC members to join as PGS donors and become familiar with how well the scheme works making it easier to launch to your congregation when this becomes possible.
55 parishes across the Diocese have now registered for the PGS since it was launched in January 2020.
Why not join one of our dedicated PGS Zoom-in meetings to have your questions answered about the PGS? See meeting dates above.
The best way to collect digital donations from your congregation is by Standing Order or by Direct Debit through the Parish Giving Scheme. This is because 100% of the donation comes to you. Donations through giving platforms are subject to charges by the providers or cost a monthly subscription fee.
Helpful Resources
The National Giving Team have been busy creating some useful resources for all Parishes:
1. Give Now Page/Button on A Church Near You (ACNY)
The ACNY developers are exploring how a 'Give Now' button can be added to the parish profiles, and this will take time (although we hope only a couple of weeks). For now there is a workaround so that churches can add a donations page to their A Church Near You profile. Guidance on how churches can add this to their ACNY profile is
here.
2. Giving Video on ACNY
A short animation for churches to use during virtual services and more widely online to encourage giving has been produced. There are a couple of versions of different lengths for use on social media too. The video talks about the need for people to give and asks those that can give at this time to do so. We hope that this will be really useful for churches less confident about talking about giving and an added bonus for those who are already doing lots of great things. Churches are able to customise this video with their own details using ACNY, in a similar way to the #followthestar and #livelent campaigns.
To customise the video with your church details and online giving page ACNY editors should log in to find the video in the ACNY video generator
here
3. Give A Little Online
Parish Buying have collaborated with Give A Little (GAL) to develop an online giving platform for churches to receive direct donations
. This will be available from Monday 27th April. The transaction fee is 1.95%. By signing up to use the online giving platform through Parish Buying, churches will receive 8 months free access to the Premium membership which enables gift aid. This applies to all Parish Buying GAL online accounts and is paid for by a subsidy from the Archbishops' Council. Offline (Android) GAL accounts will have to pay a separate charge. GAL/Sum Up users will be able to create a 'give now' button to add to ACNY in due course. This is possible with other providers too and I know some of our churches have explored Data Developments 'My Giving Online' for example. Give A Little are competitively priced and many churches are already registered with Sum Up.
4. Guidance on using online giving as part of virtual services/online
There is some new guidance on Parish Resources to help churches get going with encouraging giving online using the new features mentioned above.
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| Palm Sunday Worship 2020 - Click here to view video above |
For a lovely example of how our churches are encouraging giving as part of their
online worship please watch the You Tube video above of the Palm Sunday service delivered by Revd Robb Sutherland, vicar of Holy Nativity Church, Mixenden & Illingworth. Towards the end of the video (at approx. 33minutes ) Revd Robb encourages giving and has also incorporated the new C of E Giving Video as mentioned above. Methods and links for online giving have also been included in YouTube description text. I'm pleased to say that Holy Nativity Church received online donations following the service.
The Giving video can also be successfully added to your church Facebook page with great effect. See a good example of this from St John the Baptist & St James the Greater in the Diocese of Derby
here
Church of England Labs Learning Webinars
The national digital team have created a series of free webinars to take place over the summer months that explore the many
different ways your church can use digital communications to keep connected with those who attend your services and events, as well as reaching out and caring for those in your local community.
It's easy to join a CofE Labs Learning webinar. Start by searching through the webinar series of topics and dates
here
and register for the webinar you wish to join. The digital team will then email you with a link to the meeting. They are proving to be popular so be quick!
Seven Top Tips for Giving - From the Diocese of Leeds Stewardship and Income Generation Team
More information to help you implement these tips is on our webpage
here.
