Financial Appeal 2024
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Guildford Parish has a serious financial problem.
We are spending much more than we are receiving. Unless our income increases, we expect to see a deficit of about £73,000 this year. This is clearly unsustainable. We cannot carry on like this.
As a Parish, we can be very happy with what we are achieving. Mass attendance is rising. Encouraging numbers of people are joining the church. Our spiritual and outreach work continues to expand. We work actively with children, youth and families. We have recently accepted responsibility for the students at the University. We operate a Parish pantry for those who require support. Livestream has been a great success. It has also enabled those, unable through disability to feel part of the Parish again, as well as enabling us to welcome an extended family overseas.
Unfortunately, our income has not kept pace with the cost of supporting all these activities, despite exercising very careful control of our expenditure. It would be awful to have to contemplate cutting back on our activities.
You may ask why we are experiencing financial problems. Very simply, it's because the average parishioner has hardly increased their contribution in the last five years. We were reluctant to ask for increased contributions whilst everyone was suffering from Covid and rampant inflation. Instead, we dug into
reserves, but we cannot continue like that.
It is time to ask you to recognise that the cost of supporting your church has gone up in the same way as the cost of running your car, and for you to budget accordingly. The average adult parishioner is giving less than £3 a week in offertory. That's an average, and some give much more. For that we are really grateful.
We ask you to do your bit in putting our finances straight.
So please think carefully about how much you are giving each week. Our most important source of income is standing orders. if you have already got one, please increase it. If you haven't already got one, please set one up - a regular income helps the church so much. We will be providing further
details about how to do this, or you can simply see me or your Gift-Aid coordinator after Mass.
You can also give using the contactless machine in the Narthex, via the Parish website cpg.church, or using the QR code, which will be on the handout after Mass.
How ever you give, please register for gift aid if you are a taxpayer. Gift aid adds 25p in the pound to every donation, and is a hugely important source of income to the church. We are concerned that we are not maximising our giftaid recovery, and would therefore ask you to register if you have not already done so. It doesn’t increase your cost, and only takes a few moments. Or if you prefer, there is always the collection plate which is passed around during Mass.
Other ways of giving to the Parish include leaving a legacy in your will. You can make a one-off donation or join the 200 Club.
In addition to regular donations to repair the damage to our reserves, we are also launching a major project fund. There are a number of important projects which need to be tackled. The finance committee is currently costing and prioritising those projects, but they may not go ahead, unless we have enough
money in the bank. The more money we can raise, the more freedom and flexibility we will have to carry out those works sooner rather than later.
So to summarise: We have a thriving and healthy parish, but need to be able to finance our activities. Please think very carefully about what you can do to help us.
We know that many of you will respond positively, and I thank you in advance.
Thank you also for reading this appeal.
God Bless this Parish!
Details of who to contact about this appeal in each church community can be found in the attached documents:
We are spending much more than we are receiving. Unless our income increases, we expect to see a deficit of about £73,000 this year. This is clearly unsustainable. We cannot carry on like this.
As a Parish, we can be very happy with what we are achieving. Mass attendance is rising. Encouraging numbers of people are joining the church. Our spiritual and outreach work continues to expand. We work actively with children, youth and families. We have recently accepted responsibility for the students at the University. We operate a Parish pantry for those who require support. Livestream has been a great success. It has also enabled those, unable through disability to feel part of the Parish again, as well as enabling us to welcome an extended family overseas.
Unfortunately, our income has not kept pace with the cost of supporting all these activities, despite exercising very careful control of our expenditure. It would be awful to have to contemplate cutting back on our activities.
You may ask why we are experiencing financial problems. Very simply, it's because the average parishioner has hardly increased their contribution in the last five years. We were reluctant to ask for increased contributions whilst everyone was suffering from Covid and rampant inflation. Instead, we dug into
reserves, but we cannot continue like that.
It is time to ask you to recognise that the cost of supporting your church has gone up in the same way as the cost of running your car, and for you to budget accordingly. The average adult parishioner is giving less than £3 a week in offertory. That's an average, and some give much more. For that we are really grateful.
We ask you to do your bit in putting our finances straight.
So please think carefully about how much you are giving each week. Our most important source of income is standing orders. if you have already got one, please increase it. If you haven't already got one, please set one up - a regular income helps the church so much. We will be providing further
details about how to do this, or you can simply see me or your Gift-Aid coordinator after Mass.
You can also give using the contactless machine in the Narthex, via the Parish website cpg.church, or using the QR code, which will be on the handout after Mass.
How ever you give, please register for gift aid if you are a taxpayer. Gift aid adds 25p in the pound to every donation, and is a hugely important source of income to the church. We are concerned that we are not maximising our giftaid recovery, and would therefore ask you to register if you have not already done so. It doesn’t increase your cost, and only takes a few moments. Or if you prefer, there is always the collection plate which is passed around during Mass.
Other ways of giving to the Parish include leaving a legacy in your will. You can make a one-off donation or join the 200 Club.
In addition to regular donations to repair the damage to our reserves, we are also launching a major project fund. There are a number of important projects which need to be tackled. The finance committee is currently costing and prioritising those projects, but they may not go ahead, unless we have enough
money in the bank. The more money we can raise, the more freedom and flexibility we will have to carry out those works sooner rather than later.
So to summarise: We have a thriving and healthy parish, but need to be able to finance our activities. Please think very carefully about what you can do to help us.
We know that many of you will respond positively, and I thank you in advance.
Thank you also for reading this appeal.
God Bless this Parish!
Details of who to contact about this appeal in each church community can be found in the attached documents:
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