The Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) enables people to give regularly to their local church by direct debit. PGS is offered to all churches in the diocese free of charge as the Diocese covers the administrative cost.
It is highly beneficial for your local church as the scheme automatically claims Gift Aid on your behalf and ensures it is paid to your church each month. This saves administration time and increases cash flow, making the job of the treasurer much easier.
Used by the majority of dioceses in the Church of England and 25% of our own parishes, this is a tried and tested tool. When launched well, many of our own churches have also experienced growth in income to support their local parish mission.
We launched the Parish Giving Scheme in our Benefice with two churches at the end of the year, the other one just after Christmas.
The generous giving team had been a real help both in our Deanery meetings and with our individual PCC’s. There was help available for finding out about the whole process and any practical questions we had.
It was therefore very easy with the help of our treasurers and church wardens to set up and launch in our churches. As we had been in lockdown while we were rolling out the scheme, we had to be a bit creative at how we sent the packs out. We felt we still needed to launch at this time as we need all the help we can get with our finances at this time!
It is still a bit early to assess any success the PGS has had but we already know that PCC and congregation members have joined and found it an easy process. Some who joined have agreed to inflation proof their giving. We were pleased to find that we also have had new givers.
Revd Gill Pinnington, The Benefice of Coalville with Bardon Hill
and Ravenstone & Area Dean, North West Leicestershire
Frequently asked questions:
What is the Parish Giving Scheme?
The Parish Giving Scheme is a free tool to facilitate regular giving in your local church, to maintain current mission and ministry and to enable new ways of sharing the love of God. It is used by more than 80 churches in our own Diocese and the Parish Giving Scheme enables churches to have sustained, regular funding, whilst significantly reducing the administration time for treasurers and Gift Aid secretaries as Gift Aid is automatically claimed from HMRC. It provides congregation members with a secure and up to date way to give and allows churches to address static giving levels. The scheme is available for free to your church to use with 100% of gifts and Gift Aid being returned to your PCC account each month!
What are the benefits of the Parish Giving Scheme for Donors?
- A simple way to regularly give financial support to their church
- Donors are in total control of their giving and can set up an manage their giving online, by phone, letter or email
- The option to increase giving annually to protect their gift against inflation
- The protection of the Direct Debit Guarantee Scheme Option to give monthly, quarterly or annually
- Option to be anonymous
What are the benefits for your Church?
- Stable and predictable giving making it easier to budget for the year ahead
- Efficient reclaim of Gift Aid Protection against inflation by church members choosing to increase their gift annually by inflation rate.#
- It is free of charge to the church and donors, as costs have been covered by the diocese
What are the benefits for your Church Treasurer?
- Reduced administration and paperwork
- Saves time for Treasurers and the people who count the money
- Makes the role easier to hand on to a new treasurer
How does the scheme work?
Donors can set up a Direct Debit with PGS online, over the phone or by completing a gift form. Donations can be made on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. Each donation is restricted to a parish church chosen by the donor and cannot be used elsewhere. The donation will be passed back to the church of the donor's choosing by 10th of the month. The Parish Giving Scheme cycle of payments is shown below. Any eligible Gift Aid will be sent separately to the church once it has been received from HMRC. 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. This is entirely at the donor’s discretion on an opt-in basis, but it is proving popular - with more than 55% of the donations received currently are index-linked.
How does my church register for the scheme?
The Parish Giving Scheme is easy to set up and manage. All the Parochial Church Council (PCC) needs to do is pass a resolution to start the scheme. This can be as simple as: “We the PCC of ... request the Parish Giving Scheme to commence operation of the scheme on our behalf.” To register all you then need to do is to complete a PGS Registration Form (For a single church download form here. For multiple churches download form here) and return it with a picture of a blank paying-in slip, by email to Phil Leech philip.leech@leicestercofe.org
My church has joined PGS – are there any resources to help us promote the scheme?
Yes! There are digital resources available to all statement receivers in the resources section of the Parish Giving website and within the ‘My PGS’ area of the PGS website – There are also printed resources available to order from Colour Connection and all statement receivers will receive a welcome pack from PGS.
How do I find more information?
The Generous Giving team is available to explain the scheme to treasurers and PCC’s and support churches in launching the scheme well. For more information please contact Ariel Baker ariel.baker@leicestercofe.org or visit parishgivingscheme.org.uk
