frequently asked questions
Gift Aid
How should I make my gifts?
In the most convenient way for you. This can be:
- weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually.
- through an envelope scheme, by cheque or by Standing Order from your bank.
However, you may not give by Gift Aid through cash in the offering plate.
Suppose my circumstances change and I would like in increase the amount I give?
No problem. The agreement is between you and the PCC, so you can alter that agreement at any time. In fact, as long as you give by envelope, standing order or cheque, you don’t even have to tell people you are changing your amount.
Who will know how much I give?
Normally, only the Planned Giving (Gift Aid) Officer will know. However, if you pay by Standing Order from your Bank, the Treasurer will see the entries on the church’s bank statement.
I pay Income Tax at more than the Basic Rate. Can this be beneficial to the church?
Yes. You are entitled to reclaim tax on money given for charitable purposes, then pass the benefit on to your chosen charities. However, your Planned Giving (Gift Aid) Officer cannot do this for you.
A phone call to your local Inland Revenue office will provide you with more details.
Can I make a tax-free ‘lump sum’ donation?
Yes, and there is no upper or lower limit to your donation, provided you have paid enough tax for the church to reclaim and have signed a declaration.
Suppose I move to a different Parish?
Again, there is no problem. Simply sign a new declaration form at your new parish and discontinue giving to the previous one. The Planned Giving (Gift Aid) Officer will only reclaim tax on what you have actually given.
What if I die before the declaration expires?
Tax will be reclaimed only on what you have given. Your Gift Aid declaration does not apply to money given after your death (e.g. bequests). It does not become a burden on your family.
Stewardship FAQs
- How can we increase the level of our income?
- Increase the number of people giving in a planned way (envelopes, cheques or standing orders). Remember almost no-one attends church every week without fail, so it’s important that they give even if they are not there!
- Increase the number of people giving by Gift Aid – free money from the Government!
- Ensure that all planned givers are thanked annually and given an opportunity to revise their giving (up or down!).
- Ensure that those who have joined the church in the last year or so have received a visit to allow them to ask questions about the church and explore ways in which they can contribute their time, talents, experience and money to parish life.
- Ensure that the real cost of running the parish is communicated frequently, and in a variety of ways, to the whole congregation. Aim for simplicity. Most people don’t want the detailed accounts – they just want a few headings and what it means for them.
We’ve always given away a percentage of our income to other charities. Must the parish share take priority over that?
A qualified ‘Yes’ to that question. If you think of the parish share as being rather like making a contribution to the family purse, then, yes, it should have a higher priority than giving to another ‘family’. If you have a child at University, you are not obliged to contribute to their living expenses, but it would be a pretty poor show if you could, but chose not to! So if money is short, then paying the parish share should be right up there at the top of the priority list.
To put it even more prosaically, if the parish share were your electricity bill, you’d arrange your household finances to make sure it was paid.
- So we recommend that charitable donations be prioritised in the following way:
- Donations to causes for which Anglicans and parish churches are almost the only likely donors should be top priority, and, since the parish share is a contribution to the ministry of other parish churches as well as your own, it should be in this category, along with, say, CMS or USPG.
- Donations to causes for which Christians are almost the only likely donors. This category will include Christian Aid and a host of other specifically Christian causes.
- Donations to causes which can recruit donors from a much wider range of people. This category would include charities such as Oxfam, Help the Aged, RNIB and thousands of other similar, not-specifically-Christian causes, but with which you may want to identify, perhaps for local reasons.