New resources have been released to help churches share more information about the Parish Giving Scheme.
The Parish Giving Scheme is a planned giving scheme for churches, which launched in our diocese at the start of 2020, and is now being used by over 160 parishes, with over 2400 gifts processed each month.
The PGS provides an easy mechanism for church donors to give regularly, and leave one-off gifts, to their church.
The PGS is unique in that all eligible Gift Aid is claimed by the team, instead of relying on church volunteers.
Cal Bailey, PCC treasurer for Woodside St James has said that the PGS has “been great for us due to the ease of recovering gift aid, saving my time, and due to earlier gift aid recovery, we see improved cash flow in the church.”
Fr Robert Hart, incumbent for the Parish of Hemsworth, agrees that the PGS enables giving to be efficient by “reducing volunteer time not only with Gift Aid claims but also by reducing banking, processing and recording cash donations, especially with the loss of local banks.”
Once a church has registered for the PGS, there are many resources to help them promote this new giving mechanism with their congregation, including some new resources.
These include a customisable pew card designed to direct people towards the church’s PGS giving page using a QR code, as well as a more detailed information brochure which explains how the PGS works and how to start giving.
These are both editable using Microsoft Word to ensure they are accessible and easy to use for all churches.
Richard Davis, part of the Stewardship team for the Parish of Cayton, said: “The PGS QR code is now on our pew cards and service sheets, online services and newsletters.
“The introduction of one-off donations has provided an additional source of income, particularly at baptisms, weddings and funerals.
“The PGS has been a great success for our parish.”
The Stewardship Team are holding a webinar on Thursday, May 9 to demonstrate how to use these new resources, as well as pointing towards the existing resources, and giving a brief demo on using Canva to customise resources.
To sign up for this webinar please click here.
Find out more about the new PGS resources here.