Church of England

Funding the Church of England

The Church has a mission to the people of England and beyond through its 5,000 schools, its Church Urban Fund projects (currently standing at nearly 3,000), its chaplaincies in hospitals and prisons and, above all, through the work done in each of 13,000 parishes and 44 dioceses. It is a big task and the sums of money involved are big as well.

Where the funds come from

Over half of the cost of ministry, maintaining church buildings and funding the pay and pensions of stipendiary clergy is funded by individual givers and parish-based fund-raising.

The rest is funded by income from historic investments administered by the Church Commissioners (about one-fifth) and income to dioceses and cathedrals.

The total annual income of the Church of England from all these sources was £705 million in 1997 (the latest year for which the figures are published).

Total giving to churches in 1997 included £216 million from regular, planned giving. Gifts under deeds of covenant, from 401,400 givers, amounted to £124 million of this, attracting a further £38 million in tax refunds. Fundraising events, letting of halls, fees paid to PCCs, grants and interest brought in a further £121 million.

Total giving to churches in 1996 included £205m from regular, planned giving. Gifts under deeds of covenant, from 404,000 givers, amounted to £118m of this, attracting a further £38m in tax refunds. Fundraising events, letting of halls, fees paid to PCCs, grants and interest brought in a further £102m.

How the money is spent

In 1997, major areas of expenditure included:

local mission and day-to-day running costs met by PCCs (£446 million)

stipendiary clergy pay (£165 million)

pensions for retired stipendiary clergy and their spouses (£82 million).

charitable giving outside the parishes (£34 million)

One strong historic attribute of Anglicanism is that its churches are inter-dependent - each helps the other. Thus the Church of England and its dioceses allocate funds to help those dioceses and projects with greatest need. Your diocese will be able to show how this works in practice between parishes and projects. For the national picture of interdependence send for the Church Commissioners' latest annual report (see below).

The Church Commissioners for England

The Church Commissioners manage the Church's national historic assets and provide a wide range of central services on behalf of the Church:

fund part of clergy costs

fund clergy pensions earned up to 1998

support bishops' ministry and some cathedral staff salaries

support clergy housing and design

assist retired clergy with housing jointly with the Church of England Pensions Board

manage proposed parish boundary reorganisations

adjudicate over parsonage or land issues, and

help with new churches and in future, decide on those we no longer need.

With the parishes (some 13,000 in England alone) taking on the responsibility for the future pension contributions of their stipendiary ministers as well as some 62% of their stipend costs, the Commissioners are now freer from the need to produce high levels of cash each year.

This means that the Commissioners' assets should provide for future captial and income growth in order to support ministry in areas of need.

Click here for a summary of the Commissioners' annual report and accounts for 1999.

Setting it into context

Commitment by individual givers is critical to the Church's ability to resource its ministry and mission. Givers are facing up to the challenge. In 1996 the average covenant was £5.62 per giver per week. This giving has been increasing. The next step is to increase the efficiency of that giving.

For those paying tax, giving to the Church by covenant increases the value of their gift by almost a third. If, for example, a covenanting giver decided that, as a proportion of what they could afford worked out at £6.50 per week, it means that with the tax rebate, their original gift becomes worth well over £35 a month to the Church.

Dioceses and parochial church councils produce annual reports on their past year's income and expenditure. And many are taking this opportunity to encourage additional support by presenting their plans for the future as well so people can bring forward their time and skills as well as the funds necessary to grow the Church and support its mission.

How to become more involved will set out ways, both financially and otherwise if you would like to help the Church.

Visit the Church Urban Fund Web Site.