Guidance and resources to support parishes to encourage generosity and enable giving.
On this page
Encouraging generosity
We believe in a generous God, who longs for us to share his generosity with others. A generous life is therefore a hallmark of our faith and a testament to it, as the more generous we are, the more we reflect the generous God we believe in.
Cultivating a generous culture
A generous culture is essential for a church to develop a sustainable ministry. Generosity can be expressed in many ways. It is not only about financial giving, but financial giving is part of living generously.
Understanding how to grow a culture is critically important. This is not about delivering a series of initiatives, but about changing our way of being and behaving. It requires patience, commitment, and determination and above all prayer. Leadership is crucial, but this is something that all need to be committed to so that we become the generous community we are called to be.
There are several resources available to support your PCC or leadership team to cultivate a generous culture:
- Generous Church Check-up - a simple way to ensure your church is heading in a positive direction with your finances and giving practice.
- Generous Church Review - a detailed ‘deep dive’ which requires time and commitment.
- Giving for Life - helps parishes review their approach to issues of stewardship and generosity, within a context of discipleship.
- Giving in Grace - comprehensive resources to enable clergy and lay leaders to create over time a culture of stewardship in the local church and release Christians to "excel in the grace of giving" (2 Cor 8:7).
- Reimagining the Offertory - resources to help parishes enable their offering to move closer to becoming both a joyful act of worship and a committed part of discipleship. Giving in the context of worship reflects the importance of giving in community.
Service and worship materials - Generosity Week
Generosity Week takes place in the Harvest season, so that as we thank God for his generosity to us, we also can think about how we might respond to that generosity.
Generosity Week is also deliberately flexible to suit all types of church. There are numerous resources available to use including service materials, activity ideas and challenges for young people.
In 2024, the national Generosity Week is running from 29 September to 6 October, but it can be run at any time of the year.
Find out more about Generosity Week and access the resources
Bible studies and courses
Growing in our understanding God’s generosity towards us helps us as disciples to live out generous lives in our communities. We can develop in our generous discipleship through resources, teaching and learning. Below are a variety of resources that can be used for individual or group study.
Living Generously
Films for small groups.
In this eight-session course, Director of Giving, Jonathan de Bernhardt Wood, explores the simple, powerful moment in which Mary, a friend and follower of Jesus, displays the kind of astonishing generosity God Himself pours out on us. The wonder of the gospel is that this can be our story too as we discover the freedom of living generously.
Watch the Living Generously trailer:
The course is free and all eight videos and accompanying course study guides can be accessed on the Church of England website:
Generous God, Generous Disciples
Generous God, Generous Disciples is an initiative that provides stewardship and giving support for parishes in Chelmsford Diocese.
Online webinars, sharing reflections and resources have been produced to help us consider giving as part of our Christian discipleship. Giving in response to God’s gift of love to us.
Find out more about Generous God, Generous Disciples
Communicating generosity
Developing a message about generosity is crucial to ensure that your potential givers understand the need and impact of their giving. It is important to build trust with your community so that people will have the confidence that the church will use their gifts wisely and well.
Your message can then be included appropriately in your communications and during worship. For example:
St Luke’s has been at the heart of our local community for over 500 years, offering care, nurture, and a holy space in which to celebrate key moments in life’s journey. We are entirely self-supporting and rely on people’s generosity to resource the life and work of this church; a generosity that is a hallmark of a lived-out faith. If you would like to make a gift to support the life of this church… [link to online giving / PGS, insert QR codes etc.]
You may wish to adapt this message to make it relevant to your own parishioners or personal to your church. You should tell stories about the difference your church has been making in your community.
How to communicate your message
Once you have developed your giving message, you then need to consider the best ways to reach your potential givers. It's likely that you'll reach different groups of people in different ways.
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Email
Email is one of the best ways to reach your potential givers and allows you to tailor your message to the person or groups of people you are talking with. Keep your email short and succinct and make sure your call to action stands out. By ‘call to action’ we mean the part of the email where you ask people to act, such as click on a link to donate.
Tools such as Mailchimp don't cost very much to set up and allow you to insert buttons which make your call to action very clear. Mailchimp and similar tools also allow you to comply with data protection legislation.
Use email for giving sparingly. People don't appreciate being emailed too often especially if they are being asked for money. Make sure you link through to your web page from your emails and that when people visit, they can get the information they need and are able to give easily.
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Letter
Sending a letter is still an effective way to reach many potential givers and can help convey a sense of importance that is difficult to achieve through electronic communication. Letters can be particularly useful for promoting Direct Debit where forms can be enclosed. Letters can be slightly longer than emails, but you should make sure that your call to action is very clear so that no reader can be in doubt what the letter is asking for.
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Website
Your website can play a key role in encouraging giving. It should make it very easy and obvious how people can give such as including a big button linking through to your online giving page.
You can also add donate buttons to your ‘A Church Near You’ page and create a custom video to encourage generosity.
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Social media
Financial asks in your social media posts should be used sparingly and should stay focused on the generosity message that you have created in order to build trust with your followers. You could include a generosity video that you have created (see above). Make sure that posts have a highly visible call to action linking through to your online giving. Social media posts work well as part of a planned giving campaign such as Generosity Week or a launch of the Parish Giving Scheme.
Links to online donations can be included on your Social Media profile pages which can be access by visitors at any time.
If you are broadcasting a live service, include a donation link on your stream for those engaging online.
We also offer a range of Canva templates that you can use to promote your generosity message and encourage regular and one-off giving. These include leaflets, bookmarks, infographics and backgrounds for contactless giving devices.
Generosity and giving templates
Enabling giving
To facilitate giving effectively it is essential to provide a variety of mechanisms to enable people to give as they wish. The resources below will help your parish to accept one-off gifts, setup regular planned giving and offer information on how to leave the Church a lasting legacy in a will.
Regular giving - Parish Giving Scheme
The Church of England Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) manages regular Direct Debit and one-off giving and is designed to support churches to fund their mission and ministry. It reduces the burden of work on church volunteers and provides a simple and secure service to givers.
Encouraging people to give by Direct Debit has major benefits for all concerned and should be a primary focus when it comes to enabling people to give regularly. Direct Debit gives your parishioners the convenience of not having to organise payments on a regular basis and it allows your church to be more confident about regular income.
The PGS provides a straightforward way for parishes to organise a direct debit programme whilst benefiting from Gift Aid being automatically claimed and allowing parishioners to opt in for inflation linked giving.
The Parish Giving Scheme is completely free an available to all parishes.
Find out how to register for the Parish Giving Scheme
Digital giving
Digital giving refers to donations made using a bank card or smart device, such as a mobile phone, either via a contactless donation device or through an online giving page accessed via a web browser or QR code.
In 2017 debit cards overtook cash payments in the UK, and since then the use of cash has been significantly declining. So, it’s worth investing in a digital mechanism to receive donations, making it easier for people who aren’t carrying cash.
Setting up online giving is free and there are low-cost options available for accepting contactless payments.
Find out how to enable digital giving
Legacies
Each year around 4,000 people leave a gift in their will to their church, funding mission projects, maintaining beautiful church buildings and growing faithful communities. For many people, leaving a gift in their will is a final opportunity to make a lasting gift to God.
Many supporters would like to know how they could leave a gift in their will to their parish church but may not know who to speak to or how to go about it. It is important for all churches to make information on gifts in wills available and to inspire members about the difference their gift could make.
Find out more information about legacies
Gift Aid
Gift Aid is an important source of income for our churches and can increase the amount of donations and regular giving by 25%. To benefit from Gift Aid your church will need to register with HMRC.
To claim, you will need to obtain a Gift Aid declaration from any donors that are UK taxpayers. This can be done in several ways depending on the circumstance:
- Online platforms such as Just Giving or Give a Little will obtain the declaration for you when somebody gives, provided you set up your account to receive Gift Aid.
- For plate collections, envelopes with a declaration form printed on the outside can be left in the pews.
- For regular giving, such as standing orders, givers can complete a one-off form and return it to you. If using the PGS, Gift Aid will be claimed on your behalf.
Your declaration form must comply with HMRC guidelines, and a template is available from the Parish Resources website.
Find out more about claiming Gift Aid
Parish Giving Advisors
Our Parish Giving Advisors are available to support you in encouraging generosity and enabling giving in your church. If you have any questions or would like further information, please email giving@chelmsford.anglican.org.
