Avoid bank charges
I am treasurer of Cromer and also Sheringham PCCs and I became aware that at Cromer we are being charged over £100 a month in bank charges.
This works out at £1200 per year, which is no small amount. I became aware of The Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) and realised that we could save a lot of this cost. Although we already have a lot of people giving by standing order our congregation did not feel it was fair that the bank is taking a proportion of what they intended to go to the mission and ministry of our church.
I have worked in the banking world for most of my life and acknowledge that it won’t be long until all of our churches will be charged bank charges. Many are seeing it at the moment if they bank cash or cheques and it is only a matter of time before all parishes will be charged for standing orders etc as well. The great thing about PGS is that Cromer will be only charged for the one payment coming from PGS rather for each standing order as it is at the moment. PGS is free for all parishes to use.
I am also looking forward to having reduced work in claiming the Gift Aid on those gifts eligible for gift aid. Although we have very generous people here at Cromer I believe that the scheme is also good for people who are not eligible for Gift Aid, and this is my reasoning. If someone in our parish is putting £10 on the plate, I can claim £2.50 in Gift Aid through the Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme (GASDS). If they set up a direct debit, they guarantee their gift of £10 to support the work of the church. If they stay on cash and do not come one week you have lost the equivalent of four lots of Gift Aid. Also, it takes the worry out of finding cash for members of our congregation before they come to church.
If anybody would like to chat this through with me please don’t hesitate to drop me a line gernfhere@pebzre-puhepu.bet.hx
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