Digital Giving success!

A recent report from the Generous Giving Team shows that churches have been growing in digital giving with enormous success.

Recently-published national data has shown a significant uptake and use in forms of digital giving over the last two years. Supported by the Generous Giving team, churches in the Diocese of York have been registering for online giving, using platforms such as Give a Little, as well as investing in accessible contactless giving units.

The figures show that in 2020, churches across the Diocese of York received £41,433 through digital forms of giving, which has risen to £104,824 in 2021 - an increase of 153%. This was seen through 2,976 transactions in 2020, rising to 10,538 transactions in 2021 – an increase of 254%.

Whilst these figures show significant growth, they are even more impressive when we hold them against data from 2019 which show our churches received £13,676 through digital forms of giving through 788 transactions that year. This means that within two years between 2019 and 2021, our diocesan churches together have grown their digital giving by over 650%.

Commenting on this success story, Generous Giving Adviser Sammi Tooze says,

"I am so proud of our diocesan family of churches for this phenomenal achievement! Having grown digital giving income by such a large percentage, and not far off an increase of £100k.

"This really helps us to show how big a difference digital forms of giving can make in the lives of local communities, and I hope will serve as an inspiration for others to explore this exciting avenue."

Alongside digital forms of giving, we have also seen an increase in the uptake of the Parish Giving Scheme across our diocese.

The Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) is an innovative mechanism for facilitating regular giving in churches, carrying the benefits of reducing parish administration by claiming Gift Aid on churches' behalf, and offering givers the opportunity to increase their gifts by inflation each year, thus maintaining the value of gifts and combatting static giving.

The Diocese of York was pleased to become a member of PGS in 2021, endorsed by a video message by Archbishop Stephen Cottrell, news which has been well received by churches and givers since that point. We now have 55 parishes registered, with nearly 600 givers, covering nearly £50,000 of giving per month.

Phil McBride, new Generous Giving Officer in the diocese, is keen to see this increase further in the remainder of 2022. Phil comments,

“So far this year, PGS have already processed £200,483 of gifts for Diocese of York churches, meaning that within the first three months of the year we are only £69,000 off the amount processed last year in full - which is quite incredible.

"I'm really looking forward to encouraging more churches to register, and helping communities to grow in generosity by making best use of the Scheme."

Click here to find out more about digital, contactless and online giving.

Click here if you would like to find out more about PGS.

Go to Generous Giving pages