Finance update for clergy, church treasurers, secretaries and fundraisers

Money For Mission

Monthly E-newsletter from the Finance, Stewardship and Income Generation Teams

In this edition

Revd. Dan's Reflection

NEW EVENTS - Giving Days

NEW WEBINARS - Storytelling and Giving Programmes

The Parish Giving Scheme

Grants from the Diocese of Leeds

Parish Share Thank You Packs

Ecclesiastical Fundraising in Rural Parishes

The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme

Training from ACAT

Giving is Revealing. (Matthew 2:1-12)

Greetings to you, in this first edition of Money for Mission for a new year.

This month as we contemplate the life lived generously, I’ve been drawn to consider the readings we share at Epiphany. The Gospel passage is something of a gift (sorry, couldn’t help it) in that not only do we find some rather expensive and poignant gift-giving by the magi, also through the insight into Jesus’ true identity and status, we are granted an insight into our own identity and status.

Let’s consider identity and status. Put simply, if we acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God, who spoke the world into being in the beginning, then we are bound to acknowledge too that ‘all things come from Him’. In short, He is the true and rightful owner of everything that is. A corollary of this is that as we cannot be the true and rightful owners of anything that belongs to someone else, we must therefore be stewards of all that we possess. Our duty then, is that we should use for God’s purposes the things that we steward on behalf of God. That is, our time, abilities, money, minds, hearts, voices, and… you get the idea. Giving, however generously, doesn’t get us off the hook. We have to steward the things we keep hold of as God leads us to, too.

Well those, such as they are, are my thoughts for this month. I pray that they may provoke something good and useful for you. As you continue to use the gifts of your time and abilities for God’s glory to usher in a more faithful and generous church, thanks to each and every one of you.

Bless you,

Dan

New events for 2022 - Giving Days

We will be visiting towns all over the diocese to talk about giving this spring/summer.

Covering topics such as the National Giving Teams’ Building a Generous Church, giving reviews, online and contactless giving, grants, treasurer support and the PGS these full day events will be of interest to Clergy and PCC members.

More details will follow in next month's Money for Mission, but for now please save the dates:

Tues 22^nd March – Ilkley, All Saints

Thurs 31st March – Wakefield Cathedral

Weds 11^th May 2022 – Huddersfield Parish Church

Weds 18^th May 2022 – Settle, Holy Ascension

Weds 25^th May 2022 – Leeds, Church House

Weds 8^th June 2022 – Richmond, St Cuthbert’s Church Hall, Colburn

Weds 29^th June 2022 – Bradford Area Offices, Bingley

New webinar - Telling our stories and promoting a vision. How churches can attract donations

Thursday 24th February 2022, 12noon - 1pm

Attracting monetary gifts for your church from congregants or the local community can seem a challenge, even though people give generously to causes they believe in.

In this webinar we will explore how, by telling stories, we are promoting our vision of a better world and helping givers of faith and those of none to see that the church is a worthy recipient of their gifts. Practical ideas of how and where we tell our stories will also be discussed.

New webinar - Ways to plan & run a generous giving programme in your parish

Thursday 17^th February 2022, 12noon – 1pm

Join Stewardship Officer Janet Edmond in this webinar for helpful guidance on running a Generous Giving Programme in your parish. We will explore ways to help you decide whether and when to run a programme, what’s involved and where to find resources that will help with planning, delivering and evaluating your programme.

The PGS is working! In Leeds, givers are donating, on average, £5 per week more to their chosen church through the PGS than other regular givers using the offertory plate or standing order.

It's now easier than ever for givers to make a regular gift to your church. They can:

Give Online
Give by Phone
Give by a Gift Form

Giving Online is fast becoming the most popular method since the PGS Digital Service was launched in March 2021. Find out more here.

Successful Church Buildings Grants Scheme to Continue in 2022

The Diocesan church building, grants and loan scheme supports churches with maintaining and improving their church buildings as vital centres of worship, community and mission. We are particularly keen to support projects that reduce the environmental impact of our buildings as we aim to meet the Church of England's 2030 carbon net-zero target. Alongside this, we will consider awarding the church building grants towards all items of maintenance and improvement to the structure of the church.

The grants scheme will continue in 2022 with the first grant deadline being Monday 28^th February.

Parish Share

We are busy posting out thank-you packs for 2021 and these should arrive with you in the next couple of weeks. In your pack there is a thank you letter, a certificate and a Diocesan budget poster which explains how we spend the money received from Share, fees, investments and grants. Please feel welcome to display any of the material in church and get in touch by emailing resourcingparishes@leeds.anglican.org if you need more copies.

As always, thank you and your church community for your Parish Share.

Read More About Parish Share

Ecclesiastical - Fundraising in Rural Parishes

A lone church on top of a hill surrounded by fields is a distinctive feature of the UK countryside. Although there’s great affection for country churches, that doesn’t make it easy to pay for their upkeep and care, or for the ministry that happens in them. Ecclesiastical Insurance understand that fundraising is just one of the many challenges faced by the hard working church communities in rural parishes and have produced the fundraising in rural parishes webpages full of ideas, inspiration and guidance.

Visit Ecclesiastical Fundraising in Rural Parishes

The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme is Renewed

Good News! The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme has been renewed until 31st March 2025.

This is the scheme which allows listed places of worship to claim back an equivalent sum to the VAT that has been paid on repairs and alterations, within a time limit. Further information about the scheme can be found here: http://www.lpwscheme.org.uk/

Training - ACAT, The Association of Church Accountants and Treasurers

We are pleased to be able to subsidise the cost of every finance-related training session with ACAT by 50%. All you need to do is book your place and send your paid invoice with your bank details for remittance to resourcingparishes@leeds.anglican.org.

New courses for 2022 have just been released and may be of particular interest to new treasurers.

Don't forget, if you wish to become a member of ACAT the Diocese will also pay your full joining fee.