Parish Giving Scheme - now available

Parish Giving Scheme - now available

The Parish Giving Scheme is now fully available to parishes across the Diocese of York. Since our pilot phase of the Scheme earlier this year, many of our parishes have already registered and have started using this inspired mechanism of regular planned giving in their churches.

The PGS is a mechanism for planned giving using Direct Debit, and offers many benefits at both individual and parish level. Through claiming Gift Aid on the church's behalf each month, the Scheme reduces administration and increases cash flow, as well as offering the popular option of increasing gifts by inflation each year, which helps to combat static giving. Giving through this mechanism is safe and secure, and helps us all towards a sustainable future.

The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, says, "We're launching this Scheme which is quite simply the simplest and most efficient way for people to give as generously as they can to the work and witness of the Church.

“You don’t need me to tell you that we are all facing great financial challenge, so if we can find a way of giving more efficiently, more sacrificially and more generously, and also to do it in an easy way then that's going to help all of us – so please look into using the Parish Giving Scheme in your church."

Registering your parish with one of our Giving Advisers is a very easy process, as is setting up individual gifts, which can be done either through their dedicated phone line or through a paper Gift Form. There are lots of resources available too to help you to promote PGS in your community, including letter templates and prayer cards.

Nick Barnard, Treasurer at East Harlsey, says, “The process of signing up was really easy and the person I spoke to at PGS was fantastic.

“My experience of that has been excellent, I see it very much as a positive, making the Treasurer’s life and the Church’s life much easier.

“The PGS team are lovely to chat to and well informed, it was all done in a clear and concise way – its ease of use will give everyone confidence that it’s the right thing to do.

“We can receive the Gift Aid in real time, and that means that from a cash flow and resource point of view, we have more money in the account and we’re up to date.

“Perhaps although the timing of this was not deliberate, it’s good for all of us to be joining a Scheme like this for sustainability – but also, on an annual basis we can keep this money flowing in so that we can go out and sustain our parish, our message and mission.”

If your church is interested in finding out more about the scheme, click here. If you would like to have a conversation with an Adviser about using PGS in your parish, click here to contact the Generous Giving Team.