I want to give, but who should I support?

Take a look at our six tips to consider when deciding which charitable cause to support.

1. Pray!

The Bible calls us to present ourselves as “cheerful givers” (2 Corinthians 9:7) but also to be faithful stewards of the resources that God has given to us. While we may understand what the Bible teaches us about giving, putting it into practice isn’t always easy. If you are struggling to decide what, how much, when and where to direct your resources, hand it over to God and ask that he guides your big, booming generous heart.

2. What are your priorities?

Perhaps you feel led to give primarily to your local church? Or perhaps you view giving to the Church as supporting a whole multitude of ministries, at home and abroad? Maybe you care about the environment? Have a heart for a particular country or want to support the work of a Christian mission worker linked to your church? It’s important to choose a cause whose work you value so that, ultimately, you become an advocate for that cause and encourage others to get involved. Make a list of issues or areas that are important to you and go from there.

3. Draw on your own personal experiences

It’s likely that at some point in your life you have personally encountered a charity who has worked with you, a family member or friend.

Perhaps at some point in the past you have been in debt, suffered an illness, or have experienced loss. A charity came alongside you and made a real difference to your circumstances. You may not, at the time, been able to ‘give back’ to the charity financially, but now feel in a position to do so.

4. What sort of work does the charity do?

Many charities operate in order to respond to an immediate need. Soup kitchens, for example, are set-up to care for the day-to-day needs of the homeless.

Other charities often look to prevent and respond to long-term issues. There are many charities, for example, who look at the root problem of homelessness, and work to help individuals off the street altogether. Likewise, there are charities who work to make a difference in both the long-term and short-term, however most charities usually have a particular emphasis to their work.

In your giving, it may be helpful to consider whether you looking to make a different to the needs that exist in peoples lives NOW or are looking to contribute to longer-term change.

5. Do you want to give to a small or large organisation?

Large charitable organisations can often be very well run, forward-looking and efficient with their money. Just because large charities can have bigger overheads, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t consider supporting them. Giving to large organisations can often ensure that your money is being put to good use in targeted areas that have been well-researched as a result of the work that has gone on behind the scenes. That said, you may feel it important to research a charities overheads before you start giving to them.

On the other hand, when giving to a smaller charity or individual Christian worker, your gift may constitute a considerable percentage of their annual budget. It may feel that your money is making a bigger impact to the work that they do. You may also find to easier to interact with a smaller charity set-up and even have the chance to get involved yourself with voluntary work.

This leads us nicely onto...

6. Volunteer

Volunteering for a charity can be a great way to get to know a charity more and understand the day-to-day work that the charity puts in to accomplish its mission. If you don’t have time to regularly volunteer, why not dedicate some holiday time to volunteer either locally or abroad? Some charities even organise teams of volunteers to visit other countries; learn about life in disadvantaged communities and encourage you to provide practical help to particular causes.

help us fight the charity tax relief cap proposal

The Government proposes, from April 2013, to restrict the tax relief for charitable gifts – whether under gift aid, payroll giving, or gifts of shares, and land and property. Whilst this will not impact on most donors, major and sacrificial giving will be impacted. Anyone who gives a gift aid gift or gifts in a year of over £40,000 may see their tax relief restricted, and may even find that they have to pay HMRC for the privilege.

If you do personally make large gifts to charity that could be affected, would you be prepared to help us resist this measure? We need evidence of the potential impact to take to HMRC and the Treasury. If you would be prepared to speak to us about your personal experience, send an e mail to Kevin.Russell@stewardship.org.uk with a contact telephone number. Anonymity can be protected where requested.

image courtesy of www.giveitbackgeorge.org

charity campaign of the month: a Lent campaign round-up

The Christian festival of Lent has had a recent reinvention. It’s no longer just the annual opportunity to forgo chocolate or caffeine. These days you can give up chocolate and give out free hugs, or plant trees, or cut your carbon footprint, or ask the big questions, or read a section of the Bible alongside hundreds of others online.

Lent has become a time for generosity and thoughtfulness. This month, we celebrate the charity campaigns that have helped thousands of people to reconnect with Lent in a meaningful way.

Christian Aid: Count Your Blessings

What it is:

This brilliant campaign from Christian Aid has encouraged thousands of people to help end poverty this Lent. Last year’s campaign raised over £300,000 for the charity, and this year they launched an android app to help people connect and give on-the-go.

Why we love it:

With daily suggestions such as ‘give 10p for every light in your home’ and ‘give 20p for every time you have accessed free healthcare this year’, the Count Your Blessings campaign uses simple stats to highlight exactly how blessed we are.  And we all need a reminder of that from time to time!

Tearfund: Carbon Fast

What it is:

Tearfund’s Carbon Fast campaign asks us to consider what effects our energy-intensive lifestyles have on God’s creation. Again taking a daily action approach, the Carbon Fast focuses on environmental tasks such as buying energy monitors, creating a compost-heap, and walking or cycling to work.  

Why we love it:

It offers a good amount of flexibility, and the daily actions are achievable. There’s also the option to simply do an ‘Action of the week’. A great campaign for the environmentally-conscious among us, and they’ve put together a nice promo video too.

BigBible: Big Read 2012

What it is:

This year’s Big Read focuses on the gospel of Mark, with material written by Profession Tom Wright. It is put together by BigBible – a project that promotes bible reading in a community setting, whether online or offline.

Why we love it:

It’s primarily an online-driven campaign, making use of Google+ Hangouts, online homegroups, blogging and twitter hashtags to keep up momentum, as well as downloadable resources. BigBible are traditionally great at making connections with other organisations and initiatives, and we love their ability to reach out and promote other campaigns as well as their own.  

Stewardship: 40acts

What it is:

40acts has returned for 2012, and this year we’re encouraging people to ‘do Lent generously’. With daily inspirational contributions from likes of Nicky Gumbel (Alpha course), Rob Parsons (Care for the Family), and Andy Frost (Share Jesus International), 40acts gives subscribers 40 nudges in a generous direction. So far 5000+ people have signed up to take part.

Why we love it:

Our 40acts challengers never fail to surprise us. Whether they set up daily blogs to chart their 40acts journey, or anonymously send Easter eggs into the office, or nearly get arrested for offering free hugs: all of them remind us of the transformational nature of generosity.

Consumer Detox: Lent 2012

What it is:

Mark Powley’s book, ‘Consumer Detox’ offers practical solutions to combating the consumerist culture we live in. The Lent campaign is designed for small groups and churches, and takes a week-by-week approach. There are also daily blogs and online talks.

Why we love it:

There’s a great emphasis on doing Lent alongside others with this campaign. That sense of accountability and honesty makes for an interesting journey, as the group travels together into the heart of the difficult questions: ‘How can we prevent our stuff from choking our faith?’, ‘Why do we find it so hard to set limits on our consumption?’, ‘If God is so generous, why does He ask us to surrender everything?’

So there we have it, a round-up of Lent 2012. What have your favourite Lent campaigns been this year? What would you like to see next year? Let us know in the comments.

faithful in the little things

If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones; Luke 16:10a (NLT).

This is really another article about Internal Controls written by a former auditor with experience as a Charity Commission investigator; I want to emphasise how important it is that those “little things” are done well.

Little things, like counter-signing cheques after they have been signed (rather than signing blanks in advance), using bank mandates that are up-to-date and properly implemented, ensuring where possible that the division of duties are appropriate or there is adequate supervision, completing Annual Returns properly, making sure that accounts are submitted on time, being seen to be accountable, declaring personal interests in transactions, keeping proper minutes of the trustee or board meetings and ensuring that conflicts of interest are properly managed by absenting those who are conflicted etc. etc. Oh, I know (yawn) that these little things are not very exciting!

However, If these little things are not done well (or at all) it can lead to a general slackness and a weakening of the organisation’s culture potentially resulting in irreparable damage to (particularly the reputation of) a charity. Imagine how difficult it is to seek to restore a damaged reputation or continue to govern a charity where there are serious allegations, perhaps with high profile media interest, resulting in the suspension by donors of much needed funds and the presence and involvement of outside investigators while you try to do the day job.

I know that such disasters are often caused by serious (even criminal) misconduct, rather than a mislaid cheque book here or there, but even in minor investigation situations where a charity is not found to have been “faithful in the little things” the trustees may experience tremendous difficulty in clearing their names, and restoring reputations, when things do apparently go wrong.

For example, getting the accounts and returns in on time is a small thing but it goes a long way to showing how well your church or charity is being run. Failure to submit accounts (at all or on time) or the submission of poor quality accounts is a strong indicator of (possibly major) risk to outsiders (including the Charity Commission) because it is a symptom of poor governance. If these little things are not attended to, what else might be going wrong?

Can I draw your attention to two publications? Stewardship’s Briefing Paper “Financial controls in churches and small charities” (June 2009) explains how to do all of those little things well. On the other hand, the fourth edition of the Charity Commission's annual summary of issues arising from its investigatory work, "Charities Back on Track" (September 2011) was recently published. It gives some examples that illustrate the breadth of serious issues that were investigated, at some considerable cost to the taxpayer, during the financial year 2010-11.

review of charity law

They can be accessed from here.

six generous ladies from modern history...

Today is International Women’s Day, an opportunity to remember the achievements of women throughout history and to commit to those women around the world whose rights are not yet protected.

To mark this occasion we take a look at six great ladies from the past who took generosity to the extreme in their devotion to sharing money, skills and time with others, in ways which left an indelible mark on the world.

1. Florence Nightingale 1820 - 1910

Florence Nightingale came to be known as “The Lady with the Lamp” and was instrumental in founding the modern nursing profession. Florence Nightingale is most famous for her contributions to counteract the horrors faced by injured soldiers in the Crimean War. With her dedicated team of nurses, she greatly improved the conditions and substantially reduced the mortality rate. Nightingale's theories, published in 'Notes on Nursing' (1860), were hugely influential with many practices still in existence today.

2. Emmeline Pankhurst 1858 - 1928

Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women’s Franchise League in 1889, followed by the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1905 and fought tirelessly for Women’s Suffrage in Britain. The tactics Pankhurst used for drawing attention to the moment led to imprisonment many times. In 1913, fellow WSPU member Emily Davison was killed when she threw herself under the king's horse at the Derby as a protest at the continued failure to grant women the right to vote. Breakthrough came when, in March 1918, women over the age of 30 were granted the right to vote. It wasn’t until 1928 that women were given the same voting rights as men in the United Kingdom.

3. Helena Rubinstein 1870 - 1965

Helena Rubinstein formed one of the world’s first cosmetic companies in the world. Born in Poland, Rubenstein emigrated to Australia and opened her first beauty salon in 1902 with just $1,500. Her business became extremely successful and in her later years she used her enormous wealth to support charities in the field of education, art and health.

4. Helen Keller 1880 - 1968

At the age of 19 months Helen became deaf and blind but, with the help of her teacher Anne Sullivan, broke through her isolation and went on to become a world-famous speaker and author. She is remembered as campaigning tirelessly for people with disabilities.

5. Mother Teresa 1910 - 1997

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Macedonia and, at the age of eighteen, left home and joined a community of nuns with missions in India. Mother Teresa personally cared for 1000's of sick and dying people in Calcutta. She was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1979 and famously said;“It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving."

6. Rosa Parks 1913 - 2005

On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks became famous for refusing a bus drivers order to give her seat up for a white passenger. Rosa went on to become a civil rights activist and named the “Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement” by the U.S. Congress. After her death on October 24, 2005, city officials in Montgomery and Detroit informed that the front seats of their city buses would be reserved with black ribbons to honour the life and death of Rosa Parks.

top ten tips for fundraising

Image by Howard Lake. Used under Creative Commons Licence.

You've decided to fundraise for a cause - well done! Now begins the hard work to encourage others to share your vision and support you. Read our top ten tips, and share your own in the comments below.

1. Tell your story

Successful fundraising is all about telling a good story. Invest time letting people know why you are raising money. What will the impact be if they support you? Give them plenty of information about your chosen charity or church as well, so they can really get on board with your chosen cause.

2. Set up a fundraising page

Setting up an online fundraising page is an effective and easy way to get sponsored for your favourite cause. Add photos to make it more interactive and make sure that you keep adding fresh information so people keep coming back for more. Set up your own fundraising page with Stewardship from July 2012. Stay tuned as we bring you the latest information about give.net.

3. Get social with your fundraising

Add a link from your social media pages to your give.net page to make it easy for all your friends and contacts to support your efforts. Don’t forget to upload pictures and regularly update your profile status detailing your latest fundraising activities so that people can follow your journey.

4. Think of creative ways to fundraise

Not everybody is cut out to run 26.2 miles for charity, or for that matter, ride their bike from Lands End to John O’Groats. For creative ideas of how to fundraise, think about setting yourself a challenge based on your hobbies or things that you enjoy. Why not set up a knitting marathon, organise a dinner party, take part in a swimathon or draw peoples portraits to raise money for charity?

5. Don’t forget the Gift Aid

Gift Aid allows charities to reclaim the basic tax rate on donations made. That means that every £1 that you raise could potentially increase by another 25p. If you choose to create a give.net fundraising page, your supporters gifts will have the tax reclaimed automatically, (so long as they are UK tax payers and confirm they are happy for us to do this!).

6. Carry on – even after your event has finished

Once people have seen for themselves the effort that you went to in order to raise money for your chosen charity, they may be even further inspired to donate to your fundraising.

7. Put a link in your email signature

Add a link to your online fundraising page into your email signatures so you can communicate your fundraising efforts every time you click ‘send’. Alternatively, why not add something about your fundraising in your answer phone or voicemail message.

8. Contact your local media

Send a short press release to your local media briefly detailing your fundraising efforts. There may be many people in your local community who will be inspired by your fundraising story and keen to provide some support.

9. Say thank you

Don’t forget to thank the people who have supported you along the way. In every fundraising story, there will be people who have provided different levels of support, so don’t forget those who have been generous with their time and talents; not just those gave money. This would be a good time to let people know if you have reached, exceeded or are still working towards your fundraising target.

10. And finally... don’t give up!

Everybody receives knock-backs when fundraising, but the key is to keep going. The more energy and passion that you bring to your fundraising, the more people will be inspired by your cause.

Have you used any of these tips? Do you have any of your own? Let us know in the comments below.

online giving reaches record high

Image source: Flickr: Easterbilby

Did you know that online giving among the good people of Great Britain experienced an increase of 75% between 2008 and 2011?* Pretty good hey?

A survey published this week by the Evangelical Alliance also revealed that within the UK evangelical Christian community, over half of those respondents surveyed said they had made online donations to a charity or ministry in the last 12 months.

The survey also reports that direct debits, standing orders, traditional cash or cheque donations still remain much more popular whilst another pioneer giving technique – texting – remains low in the popularity stakes with just 13% of survey respondents saying that they have given in this way in the last 12 months. Text-giving was, however, more popular among women and the 35-55 age group.

Here at Stewardship, we have been encouraged by the popularity of our own online giving service, successfully launched a year ago. During this time we have seen over 8591 people logging on to use their Stewardship giving accounts and in just 12 months, £7 million in online account donation requests have been fulfilled.

Over a third of all one-off gifts made into Stewardship accounts are now made online and last year £6,000 of online donations were made on Christmas day! Take a sneaky peek at how YOU could join the ever-growing generous bunch of online givers at www.stewardship.org.uk/give-funds.

So how do you like to give? Do you prefer the good old traditional giving techniques or have you dipped more than a toe into the ever expanding cyberspace giving community? Leave us your comments!

*Source: www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sites/default/files/clickable_UK_Giving_2011.pdf

VAT for churches - an updated guide

Our popular Guide to VAT especially written for churches has been completely re-written and expanded to provide a useful, readable reference guide for various interactions that churches have with the VAT system. There have been a number of major changes to the VAT system which affect churches and this Guide is up to date as at 31 October 2011. Whether the church is VAT registered or not, there are tips on how to avoid paying VAT unnecessarily which, in the case of building projects and property rents, has saved some readers many thousands of pounds.

Whilst this 38 page Guide is detailed, it seeks to distil the complexities of VAT whilst avoiding being overly technical. Rather than cover VAT as a topic, it covers only those areas that will typically be faced by churches (and Christian charities).

Separate sections cover: Introduction and General Principles, VAT Planning, VAT Registration, Property Acquisition, Use and Maintenance, VAT Reliefs for Charities, Churches Registered for VAT and Frequently Asked Questions, plus a useful contacts and addresses section. Six Appendices provide copies of the Pro Forma VAT Certificates that your church may be asked for, or may be required to provide (for example in order to gain VAT Zero rating).

We are grateful to the senior VAT Consultants at Crowe Clark Whitehill for their help in producing this Guide and ensuring that it remains an authoritative text for Churches and Christian charities.Click the link below to order the new guide.

VAT for Churches – a detailed guide

stewardship is shining for Cancer Research UK

We have set a fundraising target of £5000, with each of us aiming to raise varying amounts. All of us have a story to tell, and you can head to the following pages to read them, see who has already donated, and make a donation yourself:

Frances' Page

Daniel's Page

Alex's Page

Joanna's Page

Greg's Page

Christine's Page

Jules' Page

Lisa's Page

Kirstie's Page

Lots of our family and friends have already made donations - and we're so grateful that they believe in us! - but one particularly encouraging story of generosity emerged from a social network - Twitter. One of our supporters attracted the attention of a complete stranger - a Secret Millionaire in fact - on the social network, and asked him if he could advertise the fundraising effort via his Twitter account. Given that philanthropists and celebrities tend to get these kinds of requests on a daily basis, it came as a really lovely surprise to see that the Millionaire in question not only advertised the fundraising effort to nearly 700 followers on Twitter, but also made a donation himself. 

Thanks so much to those who have given so generously; we look forward to seeing some of you at the finish line, and will blog the full story (with photos!) after the event.