St John the Baptist, Claines
Following a request from the Stewardship officer for the Diocese of Worcester, the PCC of St John the Baptist, Claines, agreed to participate in a pre-launch trial of the Parish Giving Scheme.
PCC treasurer, Janet Wilson, shares her experience of implementing the Scheme:
Why did your church sign up to the Parish Giving Scheme?
As a church, we had always struggled to pay our Parish Share in full, so we welcomed any new ways of increasing our planned giving.
How did you personally get involved?
As Treasurer, I was involved in organising the trial, which proved very successful. Afterwards, I incorporated a presentation on the scheme into our regular stewardship campaign for the parish.
What did you hope to achieve?
The opportunity for everyone to appraise their giving and reduce “static giving”. Also to reduce both administration and bank charges, as a result of managing fewer transactions.
What has been the impact of introducing the scheme at your church?
Regular giving has increased, cash flow has improved, and bank charges have been reduced.
What were the key things you got right?
We found that a personal approach resulted a more positive outcome. We were very successful in converting donors from giving via standing order to giving via PGS. We gained some new regular givers and were also reasonably successful in converting envelope users to the scheme.
What were the benefits of the scheme?
I would say that the main benefits are the ease of signing up, and that it offers everyone the chance to review their individual giving. Enabling donors to give via the Parish Giving Scheme leads to a reduction in workload for those involved in the administration of our finances, as well as a possible increase in regular giving.
What changes might improve the scheme?
I can’t identify any major improvements at this time – though I will say that being able to sign up to the scheme via telephone has been a very welcome addition.
What would you say to a church considering introducing the scheme?
I would say that increased regular giving and reduced administration would be of great benefit to any church in the long term. And at the present time, with our church building closed, the scheme has been of enormous benefit, and we are so thankful to have had it in place.
