The Parish Church of Immanuel and St Andrew, Streatham

GIVING TO IMMANUEL AND ST ANDREW CHURCH

Contents of this page (click the item to go to the relevant section):

• Thanks
• How to give
• Gift Aid
• Planned Giving Scheme
• Planned Giving Scheme form downloads
• Planned Giving Scheme Notes for Guidance

First of all....

The income to support the work and worship of Immanuel and St Andrew Church comes almost entirely from the gifts members of the church and congregation give and the tax we recover on them through Gift Aid. We don't normally receive any significant contributions from anyone else. So first, to all our members, …

Thank You!

- for all you give.

If you want to know more about our finances - what our costs are, what our income is and where it comes from - go to the Our Finances page.

You can also see how much is given to Immanuel and St Andrew each month by going to the 'News and Notices' page.

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How to give

There are a number of ways you can support Immanuel and St Andrew financially.

If you regard yourself as a member of our congregation please consider joining the planned giving scheme (also called the 'stewardship scheme'), if you are not a member of the scheme already. Members of the scheme normally use a bank standing order or envelopes to make their gifts regularly. See below for more information.

If you are a visitor, or for some reason cannot or do not wish to join the planned giving scheme, the simplest way to give is to put your gift(s) in the collection. Collections are taken at most services, either by passing a collection bag round at an appropriate time or by placing a plate at the back of the church or near the entrance. Please put your gift in the bag or plate. Please also consider using Gift Aid - see below.

Donations can also be handed to the treasurer or sent to him at the church address at the top of the page.

Either cash or cheques are welcome, but we are unfortunately not able to accept gifts by debit or credit card.

Cheques should be made payable to PCC of Immanuel and St Andrew

Please note that gifts and donations are normally accepted on the basis that they will be paid into the general funds of the PCC (Parochial Church Council) even if they were requested or given for a particular purpose. While every effort will be made to use gifts in accordance with any request by the donor the PCC cannot guarantee that this will happen. The only exception to this is donations made or requested specifically for causes or organisations outside the direct control of the PCC, such as a Christian Aid Week collection or the annual Gift Day collection for work outside the parish, when the money collected will all be sent to the cause or organisation concerned.

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Gift Aid

However you make your gift, please consider using Gift Aid to make it worth more to the church at no additional cost to you. By completing a very simple declaration (Gift Aid declaration), any donors who are taxpayers can enable the church to reclaim the tax they have paid on the donation(s) they make - making every donation worth 25% more to the church.

Gift Aid can be used for single donations, however large or small - it is not restricted to donations made under the planned giving scheme. For single donations or any not made under the scheme there are special envelopes available which have the necessary declaration printed on them. If you are a taxpayer and will pay at least as much tax in the tax year as the church can reclaim on your gift, please ask one of the stewards for a Gift Aid envelope, use it for your gift and complete the declaration - thank you. (For more details about the declaration see under the planned giving scheme below.)

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The Planned Giving Scheme (or Stewardship Scheme)

Joining the Planned Giving Scheme involves making a pledge to give a regular amount to the church, usually weekly or monthly. This helps the church by giving it a regular reliable income. The gifts are usually made either by placing the money in a numbered envelope which is then put in the collection or by making a standing order for your bank. For more information see the notes for guidance below.

We would encourage all members to join the scheme if at all possible and to continue to:

• review their giving to the church regularly and prayerfully. Is it still an adequate response to what God has done and the needs of the church, bearing in mind their personal circumstances?
• give proportionately to their income, so that, when their income goes up they put up what they give to the church in proportion. (For more guidance on this see note 4 in the notes for guidance below.)
• give tax-efficiently through Gift Aid. As already explained above, by completing a very simple declaration (Gift Aid declaration), any donors who are taxpayers can enable the church to reclaim the tax they have paid on the donations they make - making every donation worth 25% more to the church at no additional cost to them!

You can view the Gift Aid declaration by downloading a copy of the response form from the 'Downloads' section below. It requires only your name, address and signature to confirm that you are a taxpayer and that you want the Church to claim Gift Aid on your donation(s).

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Anyone wishing to join the planned giving scheme or to review what he or she gives is asked to complete a simple response form. There is in addition a separate standing order form to be completed by those who wish to make or change a standing order. (We will send this second form on to the bank.) Forms are normally available in the entrance hall at church and can also be obtained from the treasurer, David Gray. If you have either Adobe Reader or Word (or a compatible word processor or a Word viewer), and your browser supports it, you can download copies from the 'Downloads' section below and either save or print them now.

Below, there are some notes for guidance in the form of "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) about giving to Immanuel and St Andrew Church.

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Some "Notes for Guidance".

If you need any help completing the response form or have any other queries about giving to Immanuel and St Andrew please contact the Treasurer, the Envelope Secretary, or the Gift Aid Secretary:

• Treasurer: David Gray *
• Envelope Secretary: Joyce Lynch *
• Gift Aid Secretary: Caroline Hewitt *

*To protect individual privacy, private addresses and telephone numbers of members are not normally shown on the website. If you wish to contact one of the people above and do not have the information you need, please refer to the Home Page or the "Who's Who" page for general contact details, or call the Parish Office on 020 8679 6888 (24-hr answering service).

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The following "Frequently asked questions" (FAQ's) about giving to Immanuel and St Andrew Church may be helpful:

1. Why a planned giving scheme? If most members join the scheme it will help us to manage the church finances as we can be reasonably sure of a regular income. Also, in order to benefit from Gift Aid, the church must have a record of each gift - who gave it and how much - and the scheme provides that. It may also help individual members with their giving to make a firm commitment and have a standing order or envelopes to pay it regularly.
2. What about confidentiality? The responses on the forms are kept confidential – only the treasurer, the Gift Aid secretary and the envelope secretary (see above) see the forms and know what is put on them. The vicar and other church leaders never see them.
3. What happens if I can’t keep up my payments? You make no legal commitment when you join the scheme. If your circumstances change you can reduce or stop your gifts, although it will help if you tell us – in confidence of course. If you have made a standing order you will need to contact your bank.
4. What is meant by giving proportionately? This means that you decide to give a fixed proportion of your disposable income (ie income after tax and other amounts deducted at source). What that proportion is we leave up to you to decide. The General Synod - the governing body of the Church of England - recommends 5%, or 5p out of every £1, but that will be too much for many people. On the other hand, others will be able to give more. Try to decide what is a reasonable response from you to God's love, bearing in mind your income and the commitments you have. If you decide on, say, 2% (2p out of every £1) and your income is £100 per week, then you would give £2 a week. If your income went up to £105 per week, you would then put your gift up to £2.10 a week. If your income goes down – because you retire, say, or lose your job – you can similarly reduce the amount with a clear conscience!
5. What happens with standing orders and envelopes? With a standing order, you give your bank instructions to pay a regular amount, usually monthly, straight from your bank to ours. We will provide a form for you to complete, which we will send to your bank. Once the order is set up you can ignore the collection bag when it comes round in the service! With envelopes you will be given a set of numbered, dated envelopes and you use these to put your gift in the collection bag or plate, usually weekly. If you miss church please remember to bring the envelope (full!) for the week(s) you missed next time!
   
   From our point of view the standing order is best – it is more secure and involves a lot less work. But we know not everyone can give this way.
   
   
6. There is a box on the form to tick for "some other method". What other methods are there? A few people find that neither envelopes nor standing orders are appropriate for them, but they still want to be part of the planned giving scheme. For example, some people find it more convenient to give a lump sum, say, once or twice a year. Others may want to use a special charity account rather than a bank account - for more about charity accounts see below. These are the alternatives that people use at present, but there may be others that would be perfectly acceptable. However, it is expected that most people will be happy to use either a standing order or envelopes.
   
   Charity accounts can be set up with various organisations, such as Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), Stewardship Services and Justgiving. They make it possible to cover donations to any number of charities with a single Gift Aid declaration, simplifying record keeping for tax purposes. Gifts from such accounts can usually be made by standing orders, online, by phone, using vouchers (sometimes called "charity cheques") or using a card similar to a debit card such as "Charitycard". They can be regular gifts or "one-offs", and there are not usually any minimum or maximum limits. Why not get your charitable giving organised - and fully tax-efficient - and set up an account for yourself?
   
   Note. The list of organisations operating charity accounts above is not intended to be exhaustive and the PCC does not endorse or recommend any particular account or organisation.

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Links to the main pages are at the TOP of the page.

Page last updated 24 June 2011.

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Page design by David Gray 2009
© Copyright David Gray and PCC of Immanuel and St Andrew Streatham 2004-9. Photographs copyright David Gray 2002-9 except where otherwise stated.

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If you want to know more about our finances - what our costs are, what our income is and where it comes from - go to the Our Finances page.

This page suggests ways to support Immanuel and St Andrew financially.

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You can also find out more about our finances from our Annual Reports and Financial Statements, which may be downloaded from Annual Reports and Financial Statements page. Alternatively, copies may be obtained from the Parish Office at the address at the ^TOP^ of the page.

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Links to related pages...

Annual Reports and Financial Statements page

Our Finances

Church Flowers

Our CMS Mission Partners

Links to the main pages are at the ^TOP^ of the page.