OUR FINANCES - Giving to Immanuel and St Andrew's
In 2007 it will cost
£62,150
to run Immanuel Church!
That's a lot of money!
£62,150, or on average £1195 per week, is what it is expected to cost to run Immanuel and St Andrew's Church in 2007 - based on the PCC's budget for the year. And that excludes the costs of running the building, which the PCC has now separated out - see the note below. But...
We have a problem....
On present estimates we will not cover our costs in 2007. Our estimated income for 2007 is only £46,680, or £897 a week.
With expected costs of £62,150, we have a massive shortfall of
£15,470
- that's nearly £300 per week!.
If you want to discover how to help us and support Immanuel and St Andrew's financially please go straight to the section on the Planned Giving Scheme further down the page. If you want to know more about our finances first read on...
You can see a breakdown of the £62,150 in the table further down the page, together with some explanations of where the money goes. There's also a pictorial representation in the column on the left of the page. But first...
....where does the money come from?
Contrary to many people's expectations, the income to support the work and worship of Immanuel and St Andrew’s church comes almost entirely from the gifts members of the church and congregation give and the tax we recover on them through Gift Aid. We don't receive any contributions from anyone else. So first, to all our members, …
Thank You!
- for all you give.
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But here is how our income breaks down:
| INCOME | Per Week 2007 |
Whole Year 2007 |
Actual 2006* |
| Direct giving by church members and congregation - standing orders, envelopes, collections - and any individual donations | £644 | £33,500 | £32,334 |
| Tax recoveries (Gift Aid) | £125 | £6,500 | £6,774 |
| Other Income - including bank interest, Traidcraft sales, fees and fundraising events. | £128 | £6,680 | £4,376 |
| Total | £897 | £46,680 | £43,484 |
It is also quite possible that our estimates of what will be given are too high. We continue to lose members, and in recent years some very generous and committed ones have moved away - or, sadly, died. Our giving has been going down, and the figures are, if anything, optimistic when compared with those for 2006. Also, if the giving goes down, the tax we can recover under Gift Aid is likely to go down too. The tax we recover will go down even more next year, when the tax rate reduces.
So we ask all members to:
- review prayerfully their giving to the church - and to do so regularly, not just when we ask! Is it an adequate response to what God has done and the needs of the church, bearing in mind their personal circumstances?
- give proportionately to their income, so that, when their income goes up they put up what they give to the church in proportion. (For more guidance on this see note 4 in the notes for guidance below.)
- join the planned giving scheme (also called the stewardship scheme) if they are not members already, using a standing order or envelopes to make their gifts regularly. See below for more information.
- give tax-efficiently through Gift Aid. By completing a very simple declaration (Gift Aid declaration), any donors who are taxpayers can enable the church to reclaim the tax they have paid on the donations they make - making every donation worth 28% more to the church at no additional cost to them!
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How we expect to spend our money - the way the £62,150 was worked out
Below is a breakdown of our expected expenditure in 2007. There is further explanation below the table.
| EXPENDITURE | Per Week 2007 |
Whole Year 2007 |
Actual 2006* |
| "Fairer Shares" assessment - see the explanation below | £810 | £42,100 | £39,805 |
| Ministry costs - service expenses, teaching resources, books, music, clergy expenses, Traidcraft stock, outreach, etc. | £209 | £10,900 | £10,643 |
| Giving outside the parish - including support to CMS, our Youth Centre and our School | £58 | £3,000 | £2,096 |
| Support and Administration - office supplies and equipment, typing, copying, fees, fundraising | £118 | £6,150 | £6,406 |
| Total | £1,195 | £62,150 | £58,950 |
So, what does all that mean? For a start, what's "Fairer Shares"?
Our biggest expense is our vicar. While she serves us as priest and leads the ministry of the parish, Elizabeth needs a stipend to live on (effectively her salary) and a vicarage to live in – as well as pension provision and insurance. But we don’t pay this directly – the diocese pays it and we pay them.
The payment we make - £42,100 - includes an amount to cover central costs for the diocese such as training and running the payroll, and also for the Church of England as a whole, as well as various support services the diocese provides for parishes. The whole payment is called our "Fairer Shares" assessment because the total costs for the diocese are shared out among the parishes on the basis of ability to pay rather than the actual cost to each. As an inner city parish we are effectively subsidised by other, richer parishes in the diocese – the full cost for a parish like ours with just one paid priest is over £50,000 on average. (Elizabeth's actual stipend, of course, is less than half the total!)
And the rest is...
Our services and all our other activities cost money - £10,900. We have to buy supplies like communion wine and materials for Junior Church. We usually have to pay the musicians who play for our services. Elizabeth, our vicar, and often other members of the ministry team have expenses. Service books, hymnbooks and worship and outreach materials have to be paid for. We have a Traidcraft stall; it generally makes a small profit, but the stock has to be bought in the first place. They are often small things – but they mount up!
We also believe it is right to support the work of the church beyond the parish and other charitable work – for example, the Church Mission Society (CMS) and our new link mission partners, Sue and Richard Kellow, and nearer at home, our own school and youth centre. The amount shown, £3,000 is what we expect to give from General Funds but it will be supplemented by our Gift Day and possibly by other special collections.
Finally, there is £6,150 for support and administration, which covers the costs of producing service sheets, "Open Door", our weekly news sheet, teaching materials, PCC minutes - and much more!
* Actual 2006 figures are based on the Financial Statements for 2006 but have been adjusted to be comparable with the forecasts shown for 2007. They show only General Fund income and expenditure. As they appear here they cannot be regarded as giving a 'true and fair view' of the financial position of the church as at 31st December 2006 and reference should be made to the full Financial Statements which can be obtained from the Treasurer or the Parish Office.
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The Planned Giving Scheme (or Stewardship Scheme)
Joining the Planned Giving Scheme involves making a pledge to give a regular amount to the church, usually weekly or monthly. This helps the church by giving it a regular reliable income. The gifts are usually made either by placing the money in a numbered envelope which is then put in the collection or by making a standing order for your bank. For more information see the notes for guidance below.
We would encourage all members to join the scheme if at all possible and, once they have joined, to continue to:
- review regularly and prayerfully their giving to the church. Is it still an adequate response to what God has done and the needs of the church, bearing in mind their personal circumstances?
- give proportionately to their income, so that, when their income goes up they put up what they give to the church in proportion. (For more guidance on this see note 4 in the notes for guidance below.)
- give tax-efficiently through Gift Aid. By completing a very simple declaration (Gift Aid declaration), any donors who are taxpayers can enable the church to reclaim the tax they have paid on the donations they make - making every donation worth 28% more to the church at no additional cost to them!
Anyone wishing to join the planned giving scheme or to review what he or she gives already is asked to complete a simple response form. Forms are normally available in the entrance hall at church and can also be obtained from the treasurer, David Gray. If you have Word or a compatible word processor (or a Word viewer), and your browser supports it, you can download and either save or print a copy now. The form incorporates the Gift Aid declaration.
Click here to download '.doc' version. (For Word and compatible software.)
Click here to download '.rtf' version. (May work better with other word processing software.)
Use whichever version works best for your browser and word processor. You can either open the document directly and print it from your browser (if your browser supports this), or save it to disk and open it with your word processor later.
If you do not have Word or a compatible word processor click on the words "Word viewer" to visit Microsoft's website where you can obtain a free viewer program which you can install to enable you to view and print Word documents.
Standing orders and the collections made at services are the way most people find it convenient to give to Immanuel and St Andrew's church, but we are, of course, very pleased to receive donations at any time. They can be handed to the treasurer or sent to him at the church address at the top of the page. Cheques should be made payable to PCC of Immanuel and St Andrew.
Below, there are some notes for guidance in the form of "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) about giving to Immanuel and St Andrew's.
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Some "Notes for Guidance".
If you need any help completing the response form or have any other queries about giving to Immanuel please contact the Treasurer, the Envelope Secretary, or the Gift Aid Secretary *:
- Treasurer: David Gray
- Envelope Secretary: Richard Owens
- Gift Aid Secretary: Caroline Hewitt
*To protect individual privacy, private addresses and telephone numbers of members are not normally shown.
To contact us please refer to the
Home Page or the "Who's Who" page for contact details, or call the
Parish Office on 020 8679 6888 (24-hr answering service).
The following "Frequently asked questions" (FAQ's) about giving to Immanuel and St Andrew's may be helpful:
- Why a planned giving scheme? If most members join the scheme it will help us to manage the church finances as we can be reasonably sure of a regular income. Also, in order to benefit from Gift Aid, the church must have a record of each gift - who gave it and how much - and the scheme provides that. It may also help individual members with their giving to make a firm commitment and have a standing order or envelopes to pay it regularly.
- What about confidentiality? The responses on the forms are kept confidential – only the treasurer, the Gift Aid secretary and the envelope secretary (see above) see the forms and know what is put on them. The vicar and other church leaders never see them.
- What happens if I can’t keep up my payments? You make no legal commitment when you join the scheme. If your circumstances change you can reduce or stop your gifts, although it will help if you tell us – in confidence of course. If you have made a standing order you will need to contact your bank.
- What is meant by giving proportionately? This means that you decide to give a fixed proportion of your disposable income (ie income after tax and other amounts deducted at source). What that proportion is we leave up to you to decide. The General Synod - the governing body of the Church of England - recommends 5%, or 5p out of every £1, but that will be too much for many people. On the other hand, others will be able to give more. Try to decide what is a reasonable response from you to God's love, bearing in mind your income and the commitments you have. If you decide on, say, 2% (2p out of every £1) and your income is £100 per week, then you would give £2 a week. If your income went up to £105 per week, you would then put your gift up to £2.10 a week. If your income goes down – because you retire, say, or lose your job – you can similarly reduce the amount with a clear conscience!
- What happens with standing orders and envelopes? With a standing order, you give your bank
instructions to pay a regular amount, usually monthly, straight from your bank
to ours. We will provide a form for you to complete, which we will send to your
bank. Once the order is set up you can ignore the collection bag when it comes
round in the service! With envelopes you will be given a set of numbered, dated
envelopes and you use these to put your gift in the collection bag, usually
weekly. If you miss church please remember to bring the envelope (full!) for
the week you missed next time!
From our point of view the standing order is best – it is more secure and involves a lot less work. But we know not everyone can give this way. - There is a box on the form to tick for "some other method". What other methods are there?
A few people find that neither envelopes nor standing orders are appropriate for them, but they still want
to be part of the planned giving scheme. For example, some people find it more convenient to give a lump sum,
say, once or twice a year. Others may want to use a special charity account rather than a bank account - for
more about charity accounts see below. These are the alternatives that people use at present, but there may be
others that would be perfectly acceptable. However, it is expected that most people will be happy to use
either a standing order or envelopes.
Charity accounts can be set up with various organisations, such as Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), Stewardship Services and Justgiving. They make it possible to cover donations to any number of charities with a single Gift Aid declaration, simplifying record keeping for tax purposes. Gifts from such accounts can usually be made by standing orders, online, by phone, using vouchers (sometimes called "charity cheques") or using a card similar to a debit card such as "Charitycard". They can be regular gifts or "one-offs", and there are not usually any minimum or maximum limits. Why not get your charitable giving organised - and fully tax-efficient - and set up an account for yourself?
Note. The list of organisations above is not intended to be exhaustive and the PCC does not endorse or recommend any particular account or organisation.
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A note about our building
The costs of running our building and the income from it are not included on this page. That’s because the PCC has separated the income and expenditure relating to our building from the rest of our finances. The PCC is treating the building as a separate "business", and except for a few examples in the next paragraph there are no details about its finances on this page. We may have a separate page for it in due course. This page tells you something about the work and ministry of the church and what that ministry costs—and where the money to pay for it is to come from—not about running our building.
Our building covers its costs—in fact, it makes a huge contribution to our work and ministry because effectively we have the free use of it for all our services and meetings. The income we get from hiring out the hall and the other parts of our building covers the costs of maintenance, heating and lighting, insurance and cleaning and even pays our administrator, who spends most of her time managing it. But it also has to cover the costs of major repairs—like the drains which cost us nearly £10,000 in 2004 and the new church windows which cost us nearly £18,000 this year. It will eventually have to cover the cost of the next major refurbishment—like the one we did in 2002 which cost over £500,000! So, although in some years our building appears to make a surplus, that surplus is then used up in other years. We cannot just use it to make good the shortage on our other costs—in any case, it wouldn't normally be enough to cover it!
Links to the main pages are at the TOP of the page.
Page last updated 21 August 2007.
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© Copyright David Gray and PCC of Immanuel and
St. Andrew Streatham 2002-7. Photographs copyright David Gray 2002-7 unless otherwise stated.
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