The Harvest Generosity Week ✝ What's On ✝ To-Do List

Mission Grants ✝ Rural Community Energy Fund ✝ PGS ✝

Webinars ✝ ACAT ✝ Insurance Information ✝

EasyFundraising ✝ Who's Who

The National Giving Team have introduced The Harvest Generosity Week

This is a group of new resources to help your church explore God’s generosity and how it enriches our daily lives.

Harvest is a time to gather what we have, a time to thank God for all he has given us, a time to think and reflect on what God is calling us to create. These resources and materials can be used over the course of a week during the Harvest season and throughout the autumn to encourage people to live generously. We hope your church will join in and share this time to grow our understanding of God’s generosity and how it enriches our daily lives.

Churches are welcoming congregations back once again and with that there is a renewed vigour to ensure that everything is in place financially. To ensure that no financial opportunities are missed, we have made a to-do list of 10 jobs that you may consider useful for your church. From getting hall-lettings back to conducting an appeal or reviewing your online media, there is sure to be an idea there that will help to generate a little income.

As ever, should you need any advice or assistance then do let us know.

The PGS continues to attract new parishes and new donors. We now have 74 parishes who have registered and each individual giver donates an average of £18.07 per week to their church.

This figure is significantly more than the average weekly gift outside the PGS scheme of £11.37.

We believe this is largely attributable to the fact that gifts are received for 52 weeks of the year whilst other regular gifts through, for example, envelope giving, can often be less than weekly.

In October we will be running webinars explaining how you can launch the PGS to your congregations using the Generosity Week Harvest Materials.

Monday 5th October 2020 12noon and 7pm

Wednesday 14th October 2020 12noon and 7pm

Help and advice to support you in maintaining your church buildings and hopefully make a few financial savings along the way will be available in our new series of Church Maintenance Webinars. Working collaboratively with the DAC and Environmental Officer, we will begin with our first session on Tuesday 13th October at 12noon to 1:15pm called Introduction to the Maintenance of Church Buildings and Churchyards. More sessions will follow in November and the new year.

Will Aid is a special partnership between the legal profession and nine of the UK’s best-loved charities. Every November, participating solicitors waive their fee for writing a basic Will. Why not promote this service to your congregation and tell them what a difference a legacy gift would make to your church.

Appointments go fast so booking is advised now. Go to Will Aid to read more.

Are you still confused about online giving and the benefits it can bring to your church?

The National Giving Team are conducting a webinar that will show you how introduce online giving to your congregations and make the most of this new, safe way of giving.

Ecclesiastical Insurance run webinars on different aspects of church accounting and fundraising. Their Fundraising Hub is a hive of information and tips. The next webinar will be about how to write successful grant applications during Covid-19 and beyond on Wednesday 23rd September at 4pm. Register now to secure your place.

If you are wanting guidance and support on Treasurer tasks then ACAT is an organisation which provides advice, training and online guides. Membership is £15 per year and the Diocese will refund your joining fee on production of a receipt.

This autumn, ACAT are leading a series of online webinars for minimal cost. More information can be found here.

Thank you to all our churches who have supplied us with their insurance information. You have told us that your insurance premium can go up more than inflation at times and that prices vary between providers. We have been seeking guidance from the National Procurement Officer about the two insurers recommended through Parish Buying - Ecclesiastical and Trinitas, and there are of course, other specialist insurers, for example, Edwards and Kingdom Bank. We have been asked to publicise the Parish Buying Insurance Guide to help you make a decision about insurers and how to get the best deal.

The Insurance Guide can be found here.

If you have read in the press about the FCA's case in the High Court against insurers, including Ecclesiastical, you will know that it was all about whether their business interruption cover clauses included income losses due to government-mandated closure arising from Covid 19. For parishes, such income would include hall hire, event income and even cash donations.

The judgement is long (162 pages) and complex and if you have the time and like detail you can read it here. The parts relating to Ecclesiastical are on pages 104-113. The judgment (para 376) is not straightforward, and there may be an appeal, but their primary conclusion is that for closure by the competent local authority due to infectious diseases, other than those listed (which do not include Covid 19), "there is no cover under [Ecclesiastical policy] wording in respect of the closure of or restriction in the use of the premises".

With the big shopping season just around the corner why not explore the benefits using this special link for our Diocese: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/diocese-of-leeds