Giving > Parish Giving Officer > Four Key Tasks

Four Key Tasks

There are four key tasks which have been identified as priorities for those seeking to encourage giving in the parish context :

Say Thank You!

Saying thank you is more than common courtesy, it is a vital element of feedback to donors. The level of giving from the average church member is very high when compared with other charities, yet too many churches fail to acknowledge such generosity.

Click here to find out more, and to download a sample letter.

Encourage regular communication on Stewardship

Probably the most vital element of the role of Parish Giving Officer is to generally promote Christian Giving and Stewardship. What is important is that there is a steady, gentle flow of communication, rather than a "big bang" at the beginning with a very long pause afterwards. There are a variety of communication channels for such communication : 

• distributing leaflets on giving. 
• encouraging the clergy to teach on giving regularly. This need not always be a complete sermon, but a short point dropped into another sermon. You might like to let your preachers see a copy of Stewardship for Sundays, or to browse some of our sample sermons.
• encourage church members to make or review their will. Click here to find out more about encouraging legacies, and articles and leaflets you can use.
• putting an article on giving into your parish magazine.  To access a range of magazine article snippets about giving for you to adapt, click here for Word format, or here for pdf format
• helping communicate what the money that has been given has been used for, and the mission benefits of the money given to the church. 
• reporting back how much the church has given to mission causes.

Making the link with Church finances

Church members give generously, but if they are exercising good stewardship, they may want to know more about how the money is spent. The Parish Giving Officer can work in partnership with the treasurer to make sure the church communicates this well.

Click here to find out more.

Annual review of giving

Once a year, church members should be encouraged to review their giving. This "Annual Renewal" may take a variety of different forms, and it is good to vary this each year according to the need of the parish, and to keep the focus fresh.

Click here to find out more about annual renewal.