Last updated 1st July 2020
We are aware that many parish clergy, churchwardens, treasurers and PCC members (as charity trustees) will be concerned about the effect of prolonged church closures on parish finances. This page is intended to provide links to guidance as it is issued and below that will provide suggestions and resources.
David Barlow, Chair of the Diocesan Board of Finance writes;
When the 2020 Parish Share booklet was prepared during Autumn 2019, none of us could have predicted recent events. Although our buildings are gradually reopening for private prayer and also soon for public worship, some churches, particularly those with a high rental or fundraising income have had a significant drop in revenue.
Many parishes have already been proactive in responding and have taken action to review income and outgoings and prepare revised cash flow projections for 2020. We’ve asked all parishes to make maintaining Parish Share a priority. In his introduction to the 2020 Parish Share booklet Bishop Julian noted that ‘as a diocese with minimal historic assets, we can only meet the cost of stipendiary clergy if our people give generously just as Jesus has given so generously to us.’
As we move through this year, below (and in word format here) is a checklist of seven stewardship steps all PCC’s should be taking to ensure that generosity continues to be encouraged and expressed. If you need help with any of these steps, our Stewardship Resourcing Officer stephanie.rankin@blackburn.anglican.org will be able to assist you. If you have carried out these steps and find that you need to reduce your Parish Share contributions, contact ruth.mcgaughey@blackburn.anglican.org if you have not already done so. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2Corithinans 8v13-14 ‘Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there will be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.’
David Barlow
Chair of Diocesan Board of Finance
|
|
ACTION |
RESPONSE |
|
1 |
How have you been regularly promoting the principles of generosity gift and grace as part of your online services? Have you made use of the ready-made customisable animation suitable for adding to your website, A Church Near You page, Facebook page and within your online services to encourage giving during the crisis? There is more guidance here. |
|
|
2 |
Have you made online giving options available? If not, you are advised to set up the extremely simple and cost effective SumUp solution from Parish Buying. There are more details on our website here. |
|
|
3 |
Did you prepare a cash flow projection and are you regularly updating it? If you have not prepared one, a suitable template is available from our website here |
|
|
4 |
If your parish has access to reserves, have you made use of these? Reserves are for emergencies, but now is such a time. Many churches are using reserves rather than reducing Parish Share. All parishes should have a reserves policy and you can find more information about these including examples here |
|
|
5 |
If your parish has employed staff who have been placed on Furlough but will be returning to work, have you explored the option of combining part time employment with part time furlough from 1 July 2020. |
|
|
6 |
Have you applied for any grants or looked into online fundraising events? Ecclesiastical Insurance has created a fundraising hub containing information about emergency grants for churches together with some suggestions for fundraising if your church relies on fundraising to meet outgoings. |
|
|
7 |
Have you investigated letting your hall for emergency use to schools looking for additional space or for use by local council services? Is your hall space being advertised online, and at costs that compare well with other facilities in the area? |
|
If you have an initiative that will support your parish's response to COVID19 and would like to be considered for Parish Vision Fund funding (up to £2,000) to support its implementation, please contact your relevant Archdeacon in the first instance.
Applications are particularly welcomed from parishes seeking to install projector and screens and/or wi-fi to support public worship after 4th July.
Now that churches are able to re-open for private prayer (and also for public worship in early July), it’s important to consider how to enable giving safely within our buildings. The Diocese of York has produced some helpful points to consider, which are reproduced below. This advice follows both the Church of England and the Government’s guidance on the re-opening of churches
It is important to say that handling cash increases the risk of infection. In view of this, we do not recommend promoting cash giving, particularly as all other forms of giving pose much less risk. If you are going to accept cash donations, make sure you have assessed the whole process, including thinking of those who will be counting and banking the money, and so will be exposed to risk. For those people, provide appropriate precautions including gloves and hand sanitisers.
Ensure that there is a mechanism to enable planned giving from your worshipping community. Using the Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) or Standing Orders provides a reliable and regular income for your church, and carries no infection risk.
These options are accessible and safe, often requiring no contact and meaning the donation goes directly into the church bank account. Where digital units include touch screens, we recommend putting hand sanitisers next to the unit, and cleaning wipes which can be used to clean the screen between each donation. Parish Buying have a really good list of recommended suppliers, which can be found here. When deciding which unit is most appropriate for your church, make sure you think about security, if you need a charging point nearby, and if you need WiFi for the unit to work.
QR codes are a really safe way to encourage simple giving—individuals simply use their phone to scan your unique QR code, which allows them to make a donation. QR codes are easy to set up, and Parish Buying has a guidance page on how to do this, which you can see by clicking here (or for instructions about how to do this with a different provider, watch this video). You can then put this QR code everywhere! On posters, notice sheets, emails, cards, banners, notice boards, and on-screen.
Find ways to tell people what their giving is enabling in your church. Use notice boards to share your vision, and display pictures of ministries through which your church serves.
This is such an important part of relationships with givers. It’s really easy to thank people, as simple as putting up a ‘thank you’ poster near to your donation points.
Income - for church members
The Charities Aid Foundation have a COVID update here . They have also provided information on CAF Donate which sits on a church’s website and allows the congregation to make a single payment, using their credit or debit card, whilst watching the service online. The donor can also confirm if the donation is eligible for Gift Aid, in which case the Gift Aid will be reclaimed from HMRC on the church’s behalf.
Look to reduce costs wherever practicable, including:
PCCs should aim to maintain a positive current account balance and not run in to an overdraft.
Suggested priority order for reducing payments:
Stewardship have produced a cash flow explanation here and a very simple statement https://www.stewardship.org.uk/downloads/plan-a.pdf
It is recommended that expenditure is split into 3 ‘silos’
The Church of England has received confirmation from HMRC that, where churches normally make use of the Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme (GASDS) in relation to small gifts given in weekly envelopes, they are happy to accept gift aid claims for separate weekly envelopes containing £30 or less given when Church buildings re-open or multiple gifts given in one envelope with a declaration stating how much was donated each week and the relevant dates.
This short guide includes comments about the potential applicability of these measures to support churches, along with key points to be aware of and basic information about accessing the schemes. It also includes details of support available from some other relevant organisations too.
The parish resources webpage is being regularly updated by the National Church of England team: https://www.parishresources.org.uk/coronavirus/
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: https://achurchnearyou.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360007655378-Setting-up-a-donations-page
A short animation for churches to use during virtual services and more widely online to encourage giving is available. 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 will be able to customise this video with their own details using ACNY, in a similar way to the #followthestar and #livelent campaigns. Hopefully it will be live on ACNY early next week, but for now, please find it here: https://vimeo.com/410988827
There is some new guidance on the Parish Resources website to help churches get going with encouraging giving online using the new features above.
https://www.parishresources.org.uk/encouraging-giving-online/
Following the decision announced by Bishop Julian in a letter to incumbents, curates and PTOs in April to suspend funeral fees for a temporary period of time, the DBF Standing Committee has produced some helpful guidance in the form of FAQs. These can be found here
Bishop Julian and David Barlow (Chair of the DBF) wrote to clergy on 28th May explaining the DBF Standing Committee's decision to reinstate DBF funeral fees when it is possible to hold a funeral in a church building. The full letter can be found here. A letter confirming the reinstatement of DBF fees from 4th July was sent to clergy on 19th June and can be found here.
Those with responsibility for maintaining the building and paying the bills will be anxious to reduce expenditure, but also be thinking how else they might raise funds and keep the books balanced.
It is inevitable that thoughts may turn to the possibility of selling church ‘treasures’ - some unused and ‘redundant’ communion plate, that old picture that the vicar acquired 30 years ago and nobody likes, some bits of old stained glass kept in the vestry, a piece of furniture stored in the gallery after it was removed in the re-ordering way back, and so on. The law relating to such items can be complicated.
I need to say to you, gently but firmly, that the sale of such items can only be done - if at all- by a formal petition for a faculty through the Consistory Court, that results in a Faculty being granted.
The full text of the Chancellor's note to the Parish Resilience Group can be found here.