Diocese of Chichester

PGS was developed as a quick, secure, and user-friendly way for people to give to their local church, ensuring that the church receives all donations and any Gift Aid without needing to handle Gift Aid claims themselves. First established in the Diocese of Gloucester, it was quickly shared with the wider church community. The Diocese of Chichester was the third diocese to adopt the scheme and has consistently ranked high in the PGS league table for both the number of participating churches and givers.

Sarah Rogers, Parish Advisor for Finance, Stewardship & Governance, commented: “As we mark this tenth anniversary, we want to say a Big Thank You to all the parishes in our diocese. Thanks to them, we have nearly 6,500 regular givers using PGS, collectively contributing over half a million pounds every single month.

“We are currently ranked second in the league for total incoming gifts, yet there's room for improvement. For instance, we are 21st in the league for the average weekly gift, which is £18.68. We pray that generosity and the levels of giving may increase as the message of the journey of generosity is more widely spread across our parishes. 

"This anniversary year, we aim to increase individual pledges and encourage parishes not yet registered to join the PGS scheme. Why? Because across the country the PGS now enables more than 75,000 givers to support their local parishes with approximately £85 million annually, with over £2 million in one-off gifts since that feature was introduced two years ago. Of this £85 million, nearly 50% is inflation-proofed, ensuring that local churches don’t lose out as people forget to update their Standing Orders.”

Anita Colpus from TRINITY in Lewes said: "The Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) has been a key component of the generosity campaign here at Trinity,  playing a crucial role in boosting the church's giving". She explained, “Giving is part of our discipleship life. We have a generous, extravagant God who has given to us in so many ways, and we give back to Him. Our goal is to see people respond by regularly contributing to the ministry and mission of the church. We've been encouraging parishioners to increase their giving through PGS and to recognise the significant impact their generosity has on our mission here in Lewes.”

We give thanks for PGS, for the vision of the Diocese of Gloucester, and the recent support of the Archbishops Council that has allowed the PGS to be available to all Dioceses; and for the hard work of our treasurers and Gift Aid secretaries who have explained, encouraged, and reassured others about the scheme. Most importantly, we thank the committed givers across the wonderful Diocese of Chichester whose sacrificial giving makes mission and ministry possible in and through so many of our parishes.

If your parish would like to be part of the scheme please contact Sarah Rogers Parish Advisor.