Mission Giving

As a member of the Mission Giving Team (MGT), May is a particular favourite of mine. This is when the Cathedral distributes funds to its recipient charities. This Mission Allocation is 10% of the congregational giving for the year. Recipients typically have a strong community link, and objectives which further the aims of the Cathedral’s Mission Statement. During my time on the MGT, we have supported a wide and varied range of charities, funding specific aims or projects identified by the recipients. The MGT is responsible for recommending who should receive the funds as part of the Mission Allocation process, which typically takes around 6 months. Charities are invited to apply for funding in November. The following January, the MGT discusses applications, considering the proposed use, if the contribution will make an identifiable difference, and the financial effectiveness of the organisation. This enables the team to propose to Abbey Assembly and then Chapter a sum of money for each funded charity. After Chapter approval, we invite the successful charities to a special event at the Cathedral where the money is distributed. This year, after excellent support through the pandemic, the Cathedral donated around £40000 to 38 charities and operating locally within St Albans and the Diocese, nationally and internationally. The Cathedral supports a wide range of different causes but a particular focus has been placed this year on Social Justice and Environment. We aim to continue focusing on these issues whilst working closely with the Social Justice Group, Environmental Strategy Group and Eco Team. A full list of supported charities is on the Mission Giving section on the website and the notice board in the South Transept. The ability for the Cathedral to support so many wonderful charities is thanks to the generous support of you, the Cathedral’s congregation and regular givers; we offer you our sincere thanks and grati¬tude particularly after the last few very difficult years. We hope that you will be able to continue your support to both the Cathedral and the charities in the future. To find out more about this year’s mission allocation, or if you would like to suggest environmental or social justice related charities for next year’s allocation, then please contact giving@stalbanscathedral.org. David Kemp