Stewardship Programmes and Planned Giving Appeals

Christian Stewardship Programmes aim to release the God-given gifts of time, abilities and money to resource mission in our communities.  They normally take the form of communicating the vision and plans of your church and the resources needed to support them to an audience ranging from the church membership to the wider community.  They are shaped to meet the needs of your parish and help is available from our Stewardship Advisers with planning the process and producing the materials for local use.

Planning and running a stewardship programme or a planned giving appeal can take up to six months, so an early discussion with our Stewardship Advisers is recommended!

• Mission & Stewardship Adviser for Dorset: Ian Bromilow
  01258 880044, ian.bromilow@salisbury.anglican.org 
• Mission & Stewardship Adviser for Wiltshire: John Kilbee
  01249 760776, john.kilbee@salisbury.anglican.org 

Help will include sharing the experience of successful appeals in other parishes, providing a range of materials from these appeals, help with preparing letters and leaflets to meet your local needs and arranging printing.

The main steps in planning your appeal are listed below, but there will certainly be local variations:

1. Initial meeting with the Stewardship & Resources Adviser
2. PCC appoints a group of 3-4 to run the appeal
3. PCC agrees the main ‘message’ on your church’s plans or mission initiatives to communicate in the appeal
4. Letters and leaflet(s) for the appeal pack drafted
5. Lists of church members / electoral roll members / wider community to be approached are prepared
6. Volunteers ‘recruited’ to deliver and collect packs
7. Packs printed
8. Letters / packs delivered, then responses collected over two week period
9. ‘Thank you’ letters delivered to all who have responded
10. Final results communicated to all involved

New diocesan material is prepared each year to support churches in their annual thanksgiving and renewal activities or Thanksgiving Sunday observance. This material can be adapted for other appeals or campaigns such as the beginning of a new mission initiative or the need to put church finances on a firmer footing. These major appeals provide an opportunity to invite participation in all aspects of the life of the local church through the offering of our time, talents and money. They can extend out from the regular congregation to Electoral Roll members and in rural parishes can include the wider community.

The main resources include:

• Time and Talents Commitment Leaflet – a listing of the opportunities for participating in particular activities and an opportunity to volunteer
• Financial Commitment Leaflet - a commitment to your Planned Giving Scheme, a Gift Aid Declaration Form and a Standing Order Mandate - all in one easy to complete leaflet that helps to ease the workload for your Treasurer
• Plans and Needs Leaflet - a simple explanation of your Church's Budget and other financial items; a summary of plans and mission initiatives and help with planning personal giving
• Planning your Thanksgiving Sunday - a simple step by step guide to planning your church's appeal
• Preparing your Letter - advice and examples for preparing letters to church members
• Request for Resources - how to order material from Stewardship and Resources
• Thanksgiving Sunday Feedback - a simple form to record the results of your annual thanksgiving and renewal

There is a wide range of material shared by diocesan stewardship advisors on the Church of England’s national stewardship website. This includes resources for those who preach and teach about stewardship, for Parish Treasurers, Gift Aid Secretaries and all those who have a concern for making sure the church has a firm financial base for carrying out its mission and ministry.

A wealth of ideas for giving programmes with supporting prayer, preaching and all-age resources can be found on the Diocese of Liverpool’s website Giving in Grace.