1. Registered England No: 8824540 Registered Charity Number: 1156606
The PCC has decided to join the parish giving scheme which represents a real opportunity for our parish.
The hope is that by the end of this session you will not only see the benefits of the scheme, but will be willing to sign up to this method of planned giving
Registered England No:
Registered Charity Number:

2. Responds to Church Needs Up to date & Modern
PGS – What is it?:
Giving by Direct Debit
Common Sense
Straight Forward
Responds to Church Needs
Up to date & Modern
New method of giving by direct debit. It is a new method to the Church but in the charity sector as a whole, direct debit giving really isn’t new. I bet many of you give to other charities by direct debit.
In the context of our church life and the many things we are trying to achieve in our parishes, it makes sense as it can bring benefits without masses of effort and can then reduce the demand on already stretched volunteers
It is remarkably easy. And this is true from the point of view of church volunteers
Our parish along with all churches across our Diocese have a need for smooth systems which bring a steady cash flow from which we can budget and function and if possible inflation proof our income.
It is modern and update – it is a quality product that has a look and feel to it that fits with the world in which we are placed. The resources speak of a quality and communicates that we value those who support our churches.

3. On the first day of each month, donors make their gifts by direct debit to the PGS.
On receipt of the gift on the 3rd of the month, that gift is allocated to your parish.
On 4th of the month, the PGS know exactly how much has been received after any bounced transactions etc and send the gift aid claim to HMRC.
On 10th working day of the month, the parish receives the total donations as a lump sum, into the parish bank account.
The 10th of the month is the earliest PGS can guarantee for all gifts to be forwarded. The reason for this relates to the three working day transfer window operated by all banks . A good example of the date constraints would be October 2016 and is a scenario which repeats with relative frequency.
The donations didn't arrive in the PGS account until Monday the 3rd (because the 1st of the month was a Saturday). PGS then had to wait to be notified of any rejections (Direct Debits, which had been cancelled or unpaid) and these didn't clear until the 5th of the month. PGS were only confident on the 5th of the month as to which gifts had been successfully collected. PGS then instructed the forwarding of these gifts to each parish on the same day (5th) and no later as we needed to allow for the three working day return to ensure the gifts were in the parish accounts by the 10th. This wasn't helped by the fact that the 8th and 9th of the month was also a weekend.
As from 1st April 17 PGS will now be in a position to potentially forward gifts one or two days earlier on occasion, but as a pledge PGS can only ever guarantee the 10th of the month.
At a date later in the month the parish will receive all the gift aid due on their eligible gifts, again as one lump sum. This is paid as soon as it is received from HMRC. In recent months this has been or on about 13th of the month.

4. Monthly Statement:
The statement is available to the statement receiver online and this happens shortly before the gifts are paid into the parish bank account .All the information is there:
Donor Name or anonymous if they have chosen to remain anonymous at parish level
The donors ID number which is individual to each donor
How much their gift was in that period
The amount of gift aid claimed
The total amount therefore from each donor as gift and gift aid.
Please note that donors who are not tax payers can still give through PGS if they wish. The statement would simply show a zero in the gift aid column The columns are therefore totalled. When entering these into the accounts the Treasurer would only need to enter the planned giving figure and the gift aid figure. If these donors were all Standing Order Givers, then instead of processing 9 entries on a bank statement becomes one.
The statement also indicated whether a donor has chosen to give monthly, quarterly or annually. The most popular option in our Diocese is monthly and this is unsurprisingly the case nationally.
The column on the far right also indicates whether a donor has chosen to increase their gifts inline with inflation.
The statement also shows joiners and leavers.

5. Aids Succession Planning Improved Cash Flow Potential For Anonymity
Benefits PGS Can
Bring To Your Church?
Reduces Workload
Efficient
Aids Succession Planning
Improved Cash Flow
Potential For Anonymity
Inflationary Increase
The nature of the scheme means volunteer workloads are reduced. Less money to count, fewer envelopes to process, fewer spreadsheets to maintain, less admin around gift aid processing, fewer bank statement lines for the Treasurer to process and reconcile.
Because it is run centrally it is an efficient way of processing gifts. It is a system we would struggle to run at Diocesan level in such a cost effective way and it certainly could not happen at parish level. As it grows with the new Dioceses joining we are benefitting from economies of scale.
As the work of treasurers and gift aid officers is reduced the more people that sign up to the scheme it has the potential to ease succession planning as you are talking about people having to commit fewer hours. This is potentially significant regardless of how well your parish handles these volunteer posts. Another way to look at it is more time to devote as volunteers to other aspects of parish life – growing the kingdom
Anonymity and Inflationary Increase require a little more exploration and explanation

6. Benefits PGS Can For Donors? Control your giving Simple Method
Direct Debit Guarantee
Option to inflation proof
Potential For Anonymity
Once you set up the direct debit you still keep control. Any changes are at your request and can be done by letter, telephone or to PGS.
It is straightforward – complete the form and send it off. Communication from PGS is proven to be easier to understand and clear.
The direct debit is automatically covered by the direct debit guarantee so if something went wrong eg a double payment then you would get your money back
Anonymity and Inflationary Increase require a little more exploration and explanation

7. Unique benefit: Donors Can Remain Anonymous at Parish Level
Some people previously declined regular giving
Decide how you want to communicate this slide to meet your local circumstances and need.
Some people may previously have shied away from planned giving due to this issue so it may attract additional people.
Experience is showing that people don’t mind treasurer etc knowing they do give but just how much is where the anonymity is required.
You can still communicate with donors via PGS who will forward letters on to the anonymous donors.

8. Clear Gift Form
It does not mean that if you don’t tick the box on the form somehow all confidentiality in parish around giving levels will be lost. If donors don’t tick the box, current confidentiality mechanisms remain unchanged. However, if the box is ticked, no one in parish knows who the donor is. 8

9. Unique benefit: Giving to rise in line with inflation annually
A Good Response to the Challenge of Static Giving
One of the biggest challenges for the church nationally is static giving and that is a reality and factor for our church

10. How the PGS can help: Extra £336.48 a year
2000 = £40 + £10 Gift Aid = £50.00
Gift increases in line with Retail Price Index (RPI)
2017 = £ £15.61 Gift Aid = £78.04 tax efficient gift a month
Extra £ a year

11. Accepting the Increase
2000
2010
2014
2015
2016
2017
40.00
52.32
60.65
61.32
61.52
62.43
+ £12.34pm over a decade
+ £8.33pm over 4 years
+ 67p pm
+ 20p pm
+ 91p pm
If a gift in parish was £40 in 2000 and increased annually in line with inflation, it would be £62.43 by 2017 but that increase was achieved in small, steady increases each year.
From the increase would be £12.34 per month but spread over 10 years which have been a monthly increase of £1.23 year on year.
For the monthly increase would have been £8.33 which would have been an average monthly increase of £2.08 year on year.
When we look at , the monthly increase would have been:
2015 – 67p which would equal £8.04 over the year
2016 – 20p which would be £2.40 over the whole year
2017 – 91 p which would be £10.92 over the whole year.

12. Clear Gift Form
It is easy for a donor to OPT IN to having their gift increased annually in line with inflation.
This increase would be applied on the anniversary of the donor joining the scheme
A month before it is to happen, the donor receives a letter from PGS confirming what the RPI was at January of that year, what that would mean for their giving. If the donor is happy with the amount then they simply do nothing. If they want to change the amount up or down then all they need do is ring, or write a letter to PGS direct.
Nationally 56% of donors are increasing their giving inline with inflation. In Portsmouth Diocese at the mid point of the pilot almost 70% of donors were inflating their giving inline with inflation.
The success of this option does depend on the amount of explanation given at parish level, so the donor control is significant as is the amount of the annual increase, in that the earlier slides show relatively small changes happening over a long period so the annual steps are much smaller. (Obviously this will depend on the amount of the original gift). 12

13. Portsmouth Experience- Donor Views:
“PGS is a very good idea and it is easy to use. It makes donating much easier and gives the parish a regular donation”
John – Portsmouth Pre-Launch Donor
“The Scheme is very impressive”
Anonymous Portsmouth Pre-Launch Donor

14. What Do I Need To Do? Collect a Donor Pack
Read, ‘Giving to Your Church Through the PGS’
Decide how much you want to give and how often
Decide whether you need to remain anonymous
Decide whether you are able to increase your giving annually inline with inflation
Complete the form accordingly
Send your completed form direct to PGS
Contact PGS direct to change details or giving

15. Question & Answers
Don’t forget the Stewardship Adviser is available to help with any with any tricky questions
Victoria James – ;