Diocese of Chichester

In this time of CoVid 19 lockdown, every parish has had the same issue, that collecting their regular cash giving is no longer possible in the traditional ways we are used to. With this in mind, John Kemp has some suggestions about other methods of giving that can be used.

Parishes have been discovering how these new alternative ways of cash giving produces more income than they thought possible. More and more donors are ready to use online giving as a method of funding their church’s ministry. There is the normal routes of through direct debit and PGS ( contact John for more details), but there are now a range of alternative on line methods that are cheaply and easily available to every parish, who has a web site or facebook page.

Why not consider

• Donate buttons which can appear on your church’s website, Facebook or A Church Near You page. Many churches have done this and have found a steady source of income after broadcasting their services.
• Unattended Contactless devices when visitors come to the church, now that they are re opening for private prayer.

These are just two ways and the Church of England’s Parish Buying website contains a wealth of resources to enable online giving as an alternative to receiving cash. It provides short video step-by-step guides on how to set up online giving and churches that have done so are already expressing their surprise that a considerable number of donations are being received from people other than the usual parishioners. During this difficult period we need to reimagine everything we are doing in church and this includes how we help people to donate to sustain the ministry now and in the future. More information https://www.chichester.anglican.org/contactless giving/ or contact Helen James helen.james@chichester.anglican.org for more advice and help.