Finance Committee
News
Our Parishioners have responded brilliantly to our last appeal and our weekly giving is well up on last year. There are still a number of donors who have yet to sign up for the envelope scheme and we continue to lose out on the tax we could be reclaiming for there existing giving.
The figures for last year showed we made a small surplus of approximately £1,100. Now that we have our own priest we have to pay for the maintenance of the church and the presbytery. With costs going up generally our spend has risen significantly and this year we need to raise about £750 each week to cover our various expenses including the annual reduction to the Diocesan Loan of £6000.
If you would like to volunteer to be a member of the Finance Committee, then please click here.
The good news is that we have given the go ahead to have an industrial type dish washer to be installed in the Church Kitchen. This will clean a basket of crockery in a 3 minute cycle! We are also having installed at the same time a plate/food warmer.
The rather worrying news is that our Offertories have reached a plateau and indeed over the last three months are actually showing a reduction. These are the weekly averages:
| Weekly Average Offertories | August 08 | September 08 | October 08 |
|---|---|---|---|
Gift Aided Envelopes |
£140 |
£136 |
£100 |
Loose Plate |
£77 |
£56 |
£81 |
Bank Standing Orders |
£232 |
£222 |
£222 |
Total |
£449 |
£414 |
£403 |
It is not a good time to ask for more money, but could we remind parishioners to use Gift Aid if they are not already doing so. It costs no more but we can reclaim 28 pence for every £1 given. So for every tax payer who pops a £5 note in the collection, if it was in a Gift Aid envelope we would benefit by £1.40 each week. If five parishioners did that it would cover the annual lighting bill for the church!! Please speak to Bob Jones or Father Sebastian if you need a gift aid form.
Increasing your donations through Gift Aid
If you are a UK taxpayer, our church is able to reclaim, on your behalf, the basic rate of tax (22%) you have already paid on any of your donations. The only criteria is that your donations are able to be traced to you directly. We can do this by completion of a gift aid form and either provide you with a giving envelope for weekly donations in church or, alternatively, you complete a standing order form on which you can decide how much you wish to donate either monthly, quarterly or annually.
If you already use a standing order, you may want to change your donation - simply contact your bank and instruct them of the new amount.
If you want to complete a Gift Aid declaration form your can download one here. Please complete it and return it to the Priest in Charge at the address shown here.
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