The Parish Giving Scheme is here
PGS is a free resource to help your church members plan their tax-efficient giving, which you may have already heard about or encountered in other dioceses – and we’re pleased to announce it’s launching here in the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham this year!
We want to resource our mission of growing disciples of Christ with compassion, confidence and courage. One of the seven areas of focus in the refreshed diocesan vision 2030 is that of encouraging generosity, because we serve a God of abundance, and every good gift comes from Him.
You will understand the challenges around generous giving and financial sustainability in your local context, and the need to regularly communicate to encourage giving reviews as part of whole life discipleship.
What is the Parish Giving Scheme?
Supported and operated by the Church of England nationally, the Parish Giving Scheme is a new and better way to encourage giving in churches across this diocese. PGS has been in operation for over 15 years and has had a huge impact on giving across the C of E.
Put simply, it’s three things – direct debits, automated gift aid and index linking. It is easy to access – by letter, phone or online. The graphic below shows how PGS works based on an example of £50 per month.
The goal is to ease the administrative burden for churches, while empowering all generations to give with confidence and to feel valued.
You can find out more about the scheme at parishgiving.org.uk.
What are the benefits of the Parish Giving Scheme?
This new scheme will give the opportunity for you to “inflation proof” your giving, replacing the regular standing order and envelope giving by a direct debit system. This allows for a voluntary opt in to an automatic cost-of-living increase in your planned giving each year, completely under the givers’ control.
Also, PGS allows for the automated claim of Gift Aid on all gifts claimed by them under the new direct debit scheme. As soon as the gifts reach PGS, they send them on to your Church’s PCC account and raise a claim to HMRC for the Gift Aid. So, for parishes struggling to make the GA claims, this will mean that the majority of that vital 25% additional funding will be claimed automatically.
Find out more about how your givers, your treasurer and your church can benefit from the Parish Giving Scheme here.
How can I get involved?
We are excited to announce that we are now looking for a small number of parishes to trial this new scheme over the summer. If you would like to be amongst the first on board, simply email Tony Brown and Anne Coyne, our Diocesan Giving Advisers, at pgs@southwell.anglican.org. The deadline for expressing interest in taking part in the pilot is Friday 14th June.
We hope that, as we launch PGS across the diocese later this year, it will give you and your parishes the opportunity to talk proactively about giving, as we continue to encourage generosity as part of the refreshed diocesan vision.