Following the announcement that places of worship are able to open for prayer and public worship, we have prepared the following advice on how to encourage safe giving within our buildings. This advice is in line with the Church of England's coronavirus guidance and the Government's guidance.
Re-opening Churches: Encouraging Safe Giving
When our church buildings re-open, it's important to have accessible and safe options for people to make donations - here's some advice.
Top Tips to Encourage Safe Giving
- Encourage regular giving. Consider joining the Parish Giving Scheme (PGS), and promoting it as a mechanism of planned giving to your worshipping community. Using PGS and Standing Orders provides a reliable and regular income for your church, and carries no infection risk.
- Explore contactless and online giving options. 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. Some advice on choosing contactless units can be found here, whilst advice on online giving can be found here.
- Get a QR code. 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 can be used to direct people to your online giving page. You can then put this QR code - everywhere! On posters, your website, on e-notice sheets and emails, on cards and banners and welcome notices.
- Make precautions for cash. 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. In public worship, a giving plate should not be passed around, and instead be kept stationary in one place, and only handled by one individual. This is in line with Government advice.
- Share your story. 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.
- Thank your givers. 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. Templates can be requested from our Giving Advisers by clicking here.