St John the Evangelist – Resourcing for our Future
In normal times the St John’s church accounts for 2019 would be presented to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) on Sunday 26th April. At the same meeting Church Wardens and members of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) would also be elected and Sidespersons appointed. As we are not in normal times right now, we are publishing this information on our website in Holy week, the most important week in our church calendar, so you can understand how your donations are used in the mission and work of our parish.
How did St John’s finances turn out for 2019 and what does it mean going forward?
Last year we spent nearly £250,000 against an income of around £156,000, resulting in a huge overall deficit financed by drawing on reserves built up from some very generous past legacies.
After stripping out one off spend and income (e.g. spire costs and fundraising)
What is regular spend?
Like many organisations the main on-going expense is staff costs. For churches, that means staff in the diocese the who support and advise us on such things as safeguarding, mission and training; as well as the vicar’s salary, national insurance and pension contributions. These costs are paid centrally by the Diocese of Southwark (DoS) out of a contribution from each parish. Every parish makes a ‘Parish Pledge’, based on what they can afford. Our contribution (£80,000 in 2019) appears in the accounts as ‘Diocesan Parish Pledge’ and is set by the PCC at a level that at least covers all those costs linked with having a full-time vicar.
More detail is shown in the following chart. The Parish Pledge is here shown as ‘Staff’. The next largest expense is ‘Buildings’ and covers regular items only, so including the maintaining the church churchyard but excluding the works on the spire. ‘Office’ covers printing including service sheets and the newsletter. ‘Services’ includes payments to the organist, performing rights payments and altar requisites.
What is regular income?
Around 75% comes from planned giving and the linked gift aid tax reclaimand5% from collections. The remaining income derives from church cottage (rental after expenses), fees for weddings and funerals and other including charges such as the hire of the Tamberlin Room.
So what is ‘Planned Giving’?
Planned Giving is a commitment by our congregation and friends of St John’s to financially support on a regular basis the work of God through the Church in Shirley. Mostly this is done through a monthly standing order. Those who pay tax have made a Gift Aid Declaration that allows the church to recover income tax paid from HMRC, so adding 25% to your donation.
Mind the gap
In 2019 the income gap was bridged by various fundraising events and drawing on our reserves built up from past generous legacies. These reserves are now exhausted and we cannot rely on receiving such generous legacies in the future.
Nor should we rely on fundraising events that are designed to raise money for particular projects outside of our regular spend. There will be more in future, such as the 25-year overhaul of the organ.
Looking forward
We need to close the gap and are looking to spread the load over more donors and to ask existing donors to consider if they could give a bit more. More details are to follow as part of our 2020 Giving Campaign.
If you are not currently giving regularly, and feel you may be able to start, please visit our Giving page for further details on the different methods you might like to choose.
In these uncertain and challenging times for everyone, let’s give thanks to God for all that He has given us and recognise our responsibility to share in the life, mission and upkeep of St John’s, Shirley.