Like other organisations, we must ensure that Currie Kirk can meet its expenses, and the needs of those we support as they occur. When we prepare our annual budget and plan for future activities and projects we need to estimate our future income. If we can accurately predict this, we can plan with greater certainty. So, there is a good case for making a personal commitment to give regularly what you feel you can, according to your own conscience.
Standing Orders - Most members who give regularly arrange a Standing Order which instructs their bank to make a regular payment to Currie Kirk. This is an efficient and reliable way of ensuring that the Kirk receives your financial support continuously. Payments can be monthly, quarterly or yearly but most members make a monthly donation. Your instructions to your bank can be altered or cancelled at any time and the system works well even for modest amounts. The Banks do not at present charge for doing this. Only the Kirk Treasurer and the Offerings and Gift Aid Treasurer have access to the Kirk’s Bank Statements and details of payments are kept confidential.
If you want to start or change a Standing Order then please click here to download a form.
Weekly Offering Envelopes – You can use these to put away a regular amount of cash and place them in the Sunday collection periodically. Your envelopes will have a unique reference number known only to the Offerings and Gift Aid Treasurer.
Annual Cheques – Some prefer this method and, if you wish, the Offerings and Gift Aid Treasurer can send you a ‘reminder’.
Sunday Collection – You can place cash or a cheque in the offering bag, or ‘open plate’, as the collection is called traditionally, during the worship service.
Gift Aid Scheme – This Scheme was set up by the Government to allow Registered Charities, such as Currie Kirk, to reclaim standard rate tax on any donations received from taxpayers. All you need to do is fill in a simple form, the ‘Gift Aid Declaration’. The Kirk can then reclaim the standard rate tax on your donation, direct from Revenue & Customs. For example, if you pay tax at the standard rate of income tax, say 20%, and you donate £10 this requires £12.50 of your earned income (£12.50 earned income less 20% tax = £10). Under the Gift Aid Scheme, the Kirk can reclaim direct from the taxman the tax on your donation, in this example £2.50. So, for a donation of £10, the Kirk benefits by £12.50 in total, ie 25% more than the original donation. If you pay tax at a higher rate, say 40%, the tax reclaimed by the Kirk remains the same (£2.50 in the example), but you can reclaim tax for the difference between 40% and 20% for yourself through your tax assessment (£2.50 in the example).
Reclaimed tax is a significant and vital part of our income. If you pay tax, please ensure you have joined the scheme. You can get more information here or direct from the Offerings and Gift Aid Treasurer.
Click here to view frequently asked questions about Gift Aid.
To download a Gift Aid Declaration gift aid form, click here.
Small Cash Donation - Under what is known as the ‘Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme’, the Kirk can claim from HMRC a ‘top-up’ payment of 25% of each donation up to £20 made in cash without the donor being a taxpayer and signing a Gift Aid Declaration. But the ‘top-up’ can only be claimed by the Kirk on a total of up to £8,000 of small donations in any tax year. This is most useful for ‘Open Plate’ offerings at Sunday Services, but please remember not to use notes of denominations greater than £20 if you make a large donation in the ‘Open Plate’. This scheme is not meant to replace the Gift Aid Scheme for taxpayers, who should continue to give under that scheme.
Advice and Changes – Our Offerings and Gift Aid Treasurer, Eunice Stewart, will be happy to discuss in confidence any aspect of your offerings.