Gift Aid

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If you are a UK Tax payer Gift Aid means that for every £1 you give we will receive an extra 25p from the Government. If you donate £ 100 it is worth £ 125 to the church - and it doesn't cost you anything extra. If this applies to you please fill out a Three Bridges Free Church gift aid form (if you have not already done so) and use your unique reference that will be provided to you when making payments. This can be via the Sunday offering in an envelope or via standing order to enable us to claim back this money wherever possible. If you are a higher rate tax payer this may also have some tax advantages to you.
Unidentified cash donations under £30.00 also qualify via a separate government scheme. The church can automatically claim gift aid on any cash donations of £30.00 or less. An unidentified cash donation which exceeds £30.00 does not qualify for either scheme We realise Gift Aid giving can be complex for many reasons including an individuals personal tax situation. Feel free to speak to Peter Nash if you have any questions.

 

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Easy Fundraising

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Again, this has no cost to you and the church will receive a donation from participating online retailers. Go to easyfundraising.org.uk and register for an account and choose Three Bridges Free Church as the beneficiary. When you make an online purchase go through easyfundraising.org.uk and search for the retailer you wish to purchase from or add a widget to your browser which will prompt you or download an opp on your mobile and use the opp to make purchases. As an example, we have received in excess of £500 from a handful of registered users via this method over the past couple of years.

 

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Giving for a specific reason
 

The church has a general fund which we use to pay most costs, however when funds are donated with a specific reason specified then these funds are regarded as restricted and cannot be used for anything other than the stated use. Whilst we encourage giving for many reasons, sometimes specific giving can cause a few administrative issues for example: if the funds exceed the cost, the excess cannot be used for another reason the intended recipient is no longer available or appropriate for example if someone made a donation for door handles, we would need to purchase door handles which church may not need and the gift cannot be easily diverted to a more pressing use. In order to ensure that the funds are used appropriately we have the following funds which we hope cover all aspects of giving:

 

• General Fund: This fund is unrestricted in use and is where most of the funds are donated to. This fund is used to cover our day-to-day operations including, staffing, operating costs, utilities, and general costs associated with running the church. 10% of the general fund is used to support our missionaries.
   

• Hardship Fund: This fund is used to help an individual or a family who is struggling financially, we use this fund to purchase or contribute to specific items or attendance to an event. Alternatively, we may give gift cards for a supermarket for food etc. The church has a hardship fund policy which is available on request
   

• Mission: You can give to one of the missionary partners the church supports, however it is often easier to go directly to the mission organisation.
   

• Building Fund: This fund is used to help pay for work related to the church building .. As you may be aware we have some significant building plans which will require targeted fundraising and donation, any funds given for this should be designated as "Building" rather than a specific part of the building development this will enable us to direct the donation to the overall project and remove additional administrative burdens. If you want to give for a specific reason and none of these funds cover your specific desire, please talk to Rob Cranfield, Peter Nash, Roger or one of the elders so that we can help ensure that your donation can be dealt with appropriately.
   

•  What do we do with funds we can't use: There are some situations where restricted funds cannot be used for their intended purpose, for example: unable to pay to the intended recipient the purpose of the funds falls outside our beliefs there is an excess over the amount received and the amount to be paid In these instances, the Trustees reserve the right to use their discretion to use these funds for another purpose that they see fit. This would however only be done in extreme circumstances, and in accordance with our governing policies.