Covid-19: We're here to help...

Whilst most of what we do is currently unaffected, we have rapidly made changes to how we operate to ensure that we are being good stewards, that we aid the national effort to bring this pandemic under control, and that we prioritise getting financial and practical support to where it is most needed.

Our team is dedicated to being a safe harbour in this time.

For the churches and ministries that are already struggling, the Christian workers on the frontlines and for those individuals who have a desire to be generous with their resources but don’t know where to start.

For those already establishing new expressions of Christian love and outreach, those who urgently need to scale up or adjust their approach, and those wanting to help their communities in safe and practical ways.

Changes we’ve made:

• Stewardship is very much operating as usual; our office may be physically closed but our teams are all working safely from their homes and aiming to provide as close to normal service as we can, and continuing to do so with our usual standards of data security and protection at all times.
• You can reach us on our usual phone numbers or email addresses from 9 – 5pm every weekday - we are working to try and extend our availability to help with urgent enquiries outside of those times.
• At this time please do not send any items to us by post as we may not be able to access our office easily for the foreseeable future. Please contact us and we will guide you through alternative options.

What we’re working on:

• Prioritising financial support to our partners and recipients. We are ensuring that all payments out from Stewardship to recipients can be maintained and that recipients can make rapid withdrawals of financial support to aid their cash flow.
• We continue to underwrite the Gift Aid on any gift up to £25,000 through instant Gift Aid, to maximise the speed and impact of any donations made.
• We are helping many churches and Christian charities make full use of our fundraising platform in order to launch urgent funding appeals and to collect one-off and regular giving online in place of giving in person.
• Lightening the load on frontline ministries. We are rearranging our teams to be able to offer advice and guidance on governance and financial matters as quickly as possible, and are working through a number of urgent updates to our Treasurer Services to help reduce the financial pressures on ministries at this time of crisis.
• Identifying the best ways to give. We are actively liaising with friends, denominations, and other strategic ministry partners to identify those causes most in need of our financial and practical support at this time, and will provide further updates as soon as we can.
• Safeguarding and stewarding funds. We continue to actively manage the funds entrusted to us to protect them from market volatility and to ensure funds can be on call for direct ministry support as quickly as needed. 

With these steps in place and our team working safely from home we are now actively reshaping our plans for the year to make sure that we can respond rapidly to support all of those within our community during these difficult times of social and economic instability.

Further updates on this, plus any relevant advice and guidance will be posted on our website, on social media and via email in the coming days. Subscribe for our latest news emails.

We continue to hold all those affected by these challenging times in our thoughts and prayers and are blessed to serve you in any way we are able and will continue to do so, even in the middle of this storm.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

John 16:33 NIV

All will be well.

The Stewardship Team