Snow Stopped Play
Andrew presented the longawaited result of our 2018 Renewal of Giving last Sunday morning. We suspected this was going to be a difficult year, for a number of reasons. Andrew likes to start with the bad news, and it rapidly became clear that our suspicions were correct.
Going down
For various reasons people need to reduce their giving. Retirement is an obvious example. Or unemployment. Coupled with that, we also have to take into account those who have moved away from the parish during the previous 12 months, who have died, or who have ceased to worship. We always have to go down before we go up when it comes to the Renewal of Giving result.
Reductions in giving this year meant that we were looking at an income that was going to be £3,967 less than last year.
When we added in those no longer in the giving scheme it fell by a further £3,441.
So, we were looking at a reduction of £7,408. That is a big sum by any standards.
Going up
Things could have been quite serious for us this year, but for two mitigating factors. Firstly there were those who were able to increase their giving, and then there were those who joined our giving scheme for the first time this year. Let’s take those in order.
Increases in ongoing regular giving meant that we were going to be receiving a further £5,702.
And those who joined the giving scheme for the very first time added a further £3,575.
Final Summary
So in total our net increase was £1,869 on last year. A further £1,000 in gifts gave us an offerings total of £104,791. Our forecast shortfall on budget is therefore £3,209.
As ever, we need to remember that we get no help whatsoever from the government. The only people who provide for the ministry of the church are those sitting around you. But there are still 18 cards out there so we could still make a dent in that final figure.