You can make a one-off donation to St Andrew’s by using the button below:
DonateBut please read on…
Almost everyone who comes to St Andrews regularly is a regular giver. Some of us are well paid and give a lot. Others are on low incomes and give a little. But almost everyone makes a regular commitment.
That makes a huge difference. Instead of relying on a few generous givers, we have a robust and broad base of givers. Everyone has a stake: we contribute to our shared life as well as enjoying its benefits.
Overall, we try to meet our regular outgoings (staff, heat and light, maintenance) from regular income, and almost all that regular income comes from our regular givers.
You can see more about our finances in detail by reading our latest annual report.
THANK YOU for considering becoming a regular giver.
More about our situation
If you want to know in detail about our financial situation, you can look at last year’s annual accounts, including the annual report.
For many people that is more than they want to know, so we have this information leaflet, which summarises our income and expenditure on a single page. Link coming soon!
Who does what
Simon Peyton Jones is the giving coordinator. He is usually the one who may approach you to ask if you would consider giving to St Andrews. He’s a good person to ask if you are thinking about changing what you give or the way you give. His email is simon@peytonjones.org
Michael Grande is the PCC Treasurer. He is overall responsible for the church’s finances, and for making sure that our annual accounts give an accurate picture of our financial situation. His email is treasurer@standrews-chesterton.org
The specifics of each person’s giving are known confidentially to these two and no one else — not even the vicar!
How to give
It is possible to give through the weekly collection in church, and that is much appreciated. But it is much, much better if you are able to give regularly, by monthly direct debit.
- Direct debit means that your giving is predictable; we can plan around it.
- Direct debit means that your giving is steady, even when you are away.
- Direct debit allows you to plan your giving for the year, rather than having to make a fresh decision week by week.
- Direct debit involves much less administrative overhead than weekly cash donations, especially when Gift Aid is involved.
Using direct debit does not imply that you are making an open-ended commitment. You can increase, decrease, or cancel altogether at any time.
Gift Aid
Most of us are taxpayers, including those on a pension. Gift Aid allows St Andrews to reclaim from the government the tax you have already paid on your donation. This makes a big difference: it boosts your donation by 25%.
Annual increase
Every year, costs go up. But our experience is that no one makes an annual cost-of-living increase in their donation to St Andrews. It’s just too much hassle! As a result, many people are giving the same as they were ten years ago, although their underlying intent would almost certainly be to keep up with inflation, or more.
Direct debit makes this easy. You can tick a box that allows St Andrews to increase your direct debit, annually, in line with the increase in Retail Price Inflation (RPI). It gives you zero admin overhead and is a huge help for St Andrews.
Please tick the box!
How to set up a direct debit
The actual mechanism is called the Parish Giving Scheme, run by the Church of England. The donors section is the main bit you may want to read. All of your donation, including Gift Aid, comes to the parish: the PGS does not take a cut! Here is a two-minute video that explains how it works.
Here’s what to do:
- Online. You can set up a direct debit online, through PGS, on this link. You can update, change, or cancel your direct debit at any time.
- Phone. If you’d prefer to speak to a person, call the PGS dedicated phone number 0333 002 1271 to set up a direct debit; lines are open Mondays to Fridays 9am-5pm. You will need to have your bank account details, church/parish name (St Andrew’s Chesterton) and PGS parish code (140614046) to hand.
- In writing. Alternatively, email admin@standrews-chesterton.org to ask Rachel to post a Parish Giving form to you, which you then complete and send by post to the PGS office (the address is on the form).
Once you’ve done that, please email Simon and/or Michael to say what you’ve done, so Michael knows to look out for your donations.
Crucially, please don’t forget to tick the box for “automatic RPI increase”.
If you are tax payer, please complete the Gift Aid part of the form too.
Making changes
Each year the vicar writes to the entire congregation, inviting them to review their giving in the light of the particular opportunities or challenges of the moment.
If you want to increase, decrease, or cancel your donation, you can do so through PGS, online (at the link above), by email, written letter, or phone. Contact details are here. Please also let Michael and/or Simon know.
Other ways to give
If you don’t want to use the PGS scheme, this is what you can do instead:
- CAF standing order. If you have a Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) account, you can set up a standing order from it to St Andrew’s
- Bank standing order. You can set up a standing order from your bank account and adjust it annually.
- Text. You can donate by text using the following codes:
- Text STANDREWS10CH to 70085 to donate £10. Texts cost £10 plus one standard rate message.
- Text STANDREWS5CH to 70085 to donate £5. Texts cost £5 plus one standard rate message.
- One-off online donations. You can make a single online using the button below
Any of these would be very welcome.
Any questions?
If anything is not answered by this page, please ask Simon Peyton Jones (simon@peytonjones.org)