Parish Giving Scheme - Diocese of Derby

The Parish Giving Scheme

What is the Parish Giving Scheme?

The Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) is a direct debit system set up to help parishes in the Diocese of Derby encourage and grow regular donations and is offered to all churches in the diocese free of charge.

Donations can be made on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis by Direct Debit online, on the phone, or using a PGS gift form.

PGS manages the donation process to ensure all donations are delivered quickly and safely to the parish, and will process the gift aid on those donations meaning the parish receives regular gift aid payments each month.

A unique feature of the scheme is the option for the donor to commit in principle to increase their gift annually in line with inflation.

Whilst this is a voluntary decision, it is one that could potentially have a huge impact on the life and future of the church by tackling static giving.

See also: Giving and Generosity

Parish Giving Scheme Key Benefits

The Parish Giving Scheme is a modern and efficient way of managing planned giving to your church. Tried and tested, this scheme will:

Improve cash flow through the efficient reclaiming of Gift Aid
Overcome static giving with the option of donations automatically uplifted by inflation each year
Offer an opportunity for parishes to re-engage people in thinking about their own level of financial generosity
Reduce the time your Treasurer and Gift Aid Secretairies need to spend on administration

How does the Parish Giving Scheme work?

The Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) enables a planned giver to donate to any parish registered with the scheme. Donations can be made on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. They are collected by Direct Debit on the first day of the month. The donations are then passed on to the specific parish by the tenth of the month. The Gift Aid is then remitted to the parish once the PGS office has received the money from HMRC. The timing of the Gift Aid payment will accordingly vary each month.

Here is what the process looks like. based on an example gift of £50 a month:

PGS Cycle

Managing inflation

One of the biggest challenges faced by many of our churches is that of 'static giving'. Churches like every organisation and household, are affected by inflation, eroding the value of your gifts. The Parish Giving Scheme makes it easy for doners to agree, in principle, to increase their donation in line with inflation each year.

Encourage Giving and Generosity in your parish

As well as the benefits listed above, the introduction of such a scheme offers a clear and excellent opportunity to engage people in thinking about leveles of financial generosity.

We are recommending that a Church commits to a stewardship initiative when they join the Parish Giving Scheme.

Parish Giving Scheme resources

Hard copies of all the materials below - plus the PGS Donor Direct Debit Gift Form, Parish Registration Form and PGS Token are available from:

Steve Johnson
Living Generously Advisor
steve.johnson@derby.anglican.org
07359 067631.

For Donors:

For Church Leaders:

Other Resources

The Diocese of Liverpool "Giving in Grace" programme: www.givingingrace.org
An enormous resource for encouraging giving and stewardship. Alongside practical tools for reviewing giving, it includes theological reflections, preaching notes and Bible studies.

The Church of England's Parish Resources Website: www.parishresources.org.uk
Access to a wealth of practical resources to support the life and work of parishes.

Encouraging Giving and Stewardship: www.parishresources.org.uk/giving
Preaching and teaching on giving and stewardship; re-imagining the offertory, moving from 'collection' to 'offering', and helping to generate a sense of joyful offering in responce to God's generosity; and parish-based programmes to review giving and encouraging stewardship (including the parish Funding programme, Giving in Grace, a Simple Giving Programme for Smaller Churches, and Giving for Life).

Gift Aid: www.parishresources.org.uk/giftaid/
Factsheets about Gift Aid, the government scheme that allows parishes to relaim the tax paid on donations, including the Small Donations Scheme.

The Church Legacy website: www.churchlegacy.org.uk
Information about how to encourage individuals to remember the Church in their wills. Parishes receive over 5,000 legacies each year - gifts to finance mission projects, maintain beautiful church buildings and grow faithful communities. These gifts make a real difference to the future work of the Church - as regular giving often concentrates on maintaining the existing mission and ministry.