Oxford Diocese

Berkshire Giving Conference

Saturday 9th February 2019

Helen Richardson

Chief Executive

The Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) is a direct-debit facility

originally developed by the Diocese of Gloucester to

provide a professional, effective donation management

system to support parishes in funding their mission and

ministry.

1.Donations made through this scheme use a Direct Debit.

2.This can be made on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis.

3.Each donation is restricted to the intended church.

4.Gift Aid is reclaimed and passed onto the church directly.

What is the PGS?

Why we developed the PGS

1. Keep pace with the charity sector

2. Improve and engage with the donor journey

3. To grow the Church’s mission and ministry

4. Lighten the burden locally (recruiting successor)

➢ Offer our parishes unique benefits

Unique benefit:

Giving to rise in line

with inflation annually

Why is this important?

Problem 1:

Static giving

How the PGS can help:2001 = £60 + £16.80 Gift Aid = £76.80

Gift increases in line with Retail Price Index (RPI)

2016 = £92.28 + £23.06 Gift Aid

= £115.34 tax efficient gift a month

Extra £462.48 a year

Impact of the inflationary uplift

1. 55% of monthly givers inflate their gifts

2. In addition15% (inflation proofed givers) have

increased further, either by super inflation (6%) or as a

result of a parish request (9%)

3. Reductions: 0.5% donors have reduced their

contribution

How does it work?

PGS statement

Problem 2:

Level of giving

The importance of clear

communication

The message in the brand

First message: Who we are

Second message:

What we do

WORSHIPPING

TOGETHER

Enabling people to

encounter God’s presence

SHARING OUR

FAITH & VALUES

Enabling people to grow

in a relationship

with God

VALUING THE

BUILDINGS

Providing special places

to encounter God and grow as Community

SERVING THE

COMMUNITY

Putting Faith into action

through loving service

How the PGS can help:How we give influences how much we give.

Winchester Liverpool Gloucester

Average

Weekly giving

(Diocese)

£12.25 £10.58 £9.60

Average

Weekly

Giving (PGS)

£19.27

+57%

£14.73

+39%

£14.77

+48%

Source: 2014 Parish Finance Returns,

PGS data for 2016

Other benefits:

• Delivered locally

•Administration: local ➔ central (PGS, Gloucester)

• Donation returned in 10 days

• Improve cash flow

•Anonymity option

• Ease local book-keeping (reduces bank statement!)

PGS going online!

• Long held ambition – a 21st century solution

• Immediate and flexible access + reducing burden on

volunteers

• Attractive to a wider demographic

• Improves the reliability of the data

• Financial efficiency by reducing administrative overheads

• Provides a platform for developing the PGS offer

Home page

New donor process

Finding the ‘right’ church

Parish not registered?

Donor account:

Statement receiver account:

Supporting resources

Personal data

Technical securityAPI (Application Programming Interface)

A technical process that allows the PGS to receive data from

donors and parishes in a safe, secure and controlled transfer. API’s

are standard practice in for online banking and retail activity.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer)

- It’s the most widely deployed security protocol in the world. It

provides a secure channel between two machines operating

over the internet.

- EVC – Extended Validation Certificate. This is an additional

security check that requires a website to pass a thorough and

global standardised identity verification process. This provides

exclusive rights to user domain and confirm its legality.

The Journey So Far…

Where it all

began –

Gloucester

Diocese

Expansion

Live at end 2014

(4 dioceses)

Expansion

Live at end 2014

Joined in 2015 (+ 5

dioceses)

Expansion

Live at end 2014

Live end of 2015

Live at end of 2016

(+4 dioceses)

Expansion

Live at end 2014

Live at June 2015

Live at June 2016

Due to launch 2017

(+5 dioceses)

Expansion

2018Live at end 2014

Live at end 2015

Live at end 2016

Live at end 2017

Live by the end 2018

and beyond(+ 8 dioceses)

34 out of 41 Dioceses

Annual Growth

£0.1 £0.2 £0.8 £1.3

£3.6

£6.6

£9.9

£16.5

£23.0

£34.0

£0.0

£5.0

£10.0

£15.0

£20.0

£25.0

£30.0

£35.0

£40.0

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Mill

ions

Years of operation

Board of TrusteesChair: John Preston – Diocesan Secretary Worcester

Trustees: Victoria James (Diocesan Secretary) Portsmouth, Benjamin Preece Smith (Diocesan

Secretary) Gloucester, Rebecca Evans (Parish Support Advisor) Truro, David Brooke (IT specialist),

Adrian Beney (Fundraising and GDPR specialist) and Neil Williams (Finance Director) Exeter.

PGS Team

Helen Richardson CEO

Helen Taylor, Head of Operations leads a team of six

Last months (Jan 2018) productivity:

• Entered 1280 new donors onto the PGS

• Registered 43 new parishes to the scheme

• Issued 1744 inflationary increase

• Handled 1639 administrative changes to donors details and gifts

• Submitted a Gift Aid Claim for £616k

Value added1. Centrally run scheme reduces administration costs

2. The quick return of Gift Aid

3. Centralised resource purchasing keeps the cost low of

high quality resources through bulk purchasing

4. Only one database to maintain bank charges the same

regardless of volume or amount

5. Access to Stewardship expertise through member

dioceses and beyond

6. Releasing local volunteers & succession planning

Donation Management provider comparison

£0

£10,000

£20,000

£30,000

£40,000

£50,000

£60,000

£70,000

£80,000

CAF Give.net DataDevelopment

s

Church Suite PGS

New sign up/Subscription £1,080.00 £25,662.41 £19,137.50

Donation admin charge £47,199.54 £75,627.68 £22,965.00 £35,730.21 £27,358.00

Ad

min

istr

ati

on

ch

arg

e p

er

mo

nth

Donation management providers

In May 2018 the PGS processed 27,609 Direct Debit donations. The total value of

donations received (inc.GA) was £2,566,241. This was remitted to 1531 Churches

in 22 dioceses.

Summary

1. A choice that thousands of donors prefer

2. Combats static giving

3. Fits with good practice

4. Reduces work locally.

Question & Answers

Communication & Engagement Framework

Area of Work

Worshipping

Together

Sharing

Faith & Values

Valuing

Church Buildings

Serving

the Community

L

e

v

e

l

o

f

E

n

g

a

g

e

m

e

n

t

Outer Circle

Occasional

Membership

Stewardship