Share: Issue 16

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the stewardship magazine 16

giving edition transforming generosity

about us

We are Stewardship, a charity that effectively releases resources to support individuals, charities and organisations worldwide. Our mission is to enable you to live and give generously, advancing the Kingdom.

We believe that generosity is transformational, for the giver and for the receiver. Our work inspires and supports a generous resourcing community, with transformational results.

We are delighted to partner with you in your journey of generosity. contact us PO Box 99, Loughton, Essex, IG10 3QJ

leadership baton changes hands In early spring we announced that David Jones, Chief Executive, was handing the baton of leadership to Michael O’Neill, Stewardship’s Director of Philanthropy. The official handover took place on 1 July.

Mike O’Neill joined Stewardship in January 2009, having previously been Executive Director of Hope for New York, a charity serving New York City’s poor and marginalised communities. Mike also served on the senior staff of one of NYC’s largest and most influential churches. Prior to this, he was an Executive Director with New York’s Bowery Mission

– one of the USA’s oldest Christian programmes serving the homeless. He met his English wife, Donna, while she was working in New York for a ministry caring for homeless women and prostitutes. They subsequently left the USA for England at the end of 2008 along with their three children.

tel: 020 8502 5600 email: enquiries@stewardship.org.uk web: www.stewardship.org.uk You can contact the editor by emailing editor@stewardship.org.uk Editor: Craig Borlase Design: www.adeptdesign.co.uk Stewardship is the operating name of Stewardship Services (UKET) Limited, a registered charity in England and Wales no. 234714 and a company limited by guarantee no. 90305

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a final word from David: “It has been a privilege to serve this great organisation these past 19 years. I know I have grown and learnt so much in the process. And it has been wonderful to make a significant contribution,

investing in our people and our mission.

“I am also thrilled about two particular things. First, to be continuing the relationship with Stewardship as an ambassador for its work and mission. And second, to have handed over to such a capable, values-based leader as Mike O’Neill. I am confident Stewardship will go on to far greater things with his leadership.”

Mike writes:

Features...

David hands over the reins with the organisation in excellent health. We are financially strong with high levels of employee engagement and customer satisfaction. Most importantly, our foundation and Kingdom perspective is solidly rooted in our Christian faith.

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In this issue you will read more about our online system. Our recipients have been online since December and feedback has been excellent. We anticipate an equally positive response from our givers – and expect this new system will prompt many of our givers to turn to Stewardship to organise 100% of their charitable giving. Our new systems will enable us to double the numbers we serve without a corresponding increase in costs – so please, as you read Share this month, think about sharing us with your friends. Together, driven by generosity, we release almost £50m a year to make the invisible Kingdom visible.

BudgetBuilder – our new online tool

14-19 Online giving arrives at Stewardship

20-21 Living generously with Pete Worthington

AN APOLOGY We heard from a few readers of our last edition about a cartoon that depicted God sitting at a laptop. On reflection, we recognise this was an inappropriate image and shouldn’t have been included. The cartoon didn’t reflect the ethos of Stewardship. We apologise for this and appreciate your continued feedback.

The magazine is printed on paper from farmed forests: for each tree felled, another is planted. The paper is ­­­­chlorine-free and environmentally friendly.

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laid bare The naked truth behind the challenges – and solutions – for raising support for mission.

In the last year...

Number of Christian workers supported: 2640 Receiving grants from Stewardship totalling: £8,951,482 No of Bible college students supported: 239 Receiving grants from Stewardship totalling: £671,648 16,279 of our givers have requested support for individuals

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It is that common nightmare, the one that everyone speaks about but none have ever experienced for real. You’re stood in front of a room full of people, maybe your church, colleagues, family or friends. You’re about to speak... you look down... and there you are, naked.

Ask anyone who has had to ask others for financial support and they’ll tell you the same thing. It’s not easy. By opening yourself up to God’s calling on your life you become exposed, vulnerable and have little choice but to lay your life bare before family, friends and the church.

“Asking friends if they will support your missionary work is often the hardest part,” says Joe, the latest addition to the Stewardship team. “Knowing how to ask is something that isn’t taught in Sunday school.” Joe, with his wife Nancy, has just returned from an international mission and remembers all too well the

first time he raised support in all the wrong ways. “Fears abound, insecurity shines through and I fumble my way through false humility and exaggeration in order to pull on heart strings in the hope that they may support me.”

But in asking for support there should be no fear. As Myles Wilson writes, “in God’s family some send and give. Others go and receive. Each is equal in His family. For goers/receivers to be able to do what God asks of them, others need to do what God asks of them as senders/ givers. It’s how God funds His family business.”

Asking friends if they will support your missionary work is often the hardest part That is why we at Stewardship are here to support Christian workers and Bible college students. We don’t claim to have all the answers, but we do try to take the edge off the fear of raising support through a range of advice and guidance. And we do help them to make stronger connections with those who give.

So the next time a missionary at the front of church shows an out of focus presentation and seems a little shy, why not broach the subject of monetary needs before they faint. A little generosity can open a door of friendship and close the door on fear.

your story Having Stewardship on board has really helped to give our work credibility and gives supporters more confidence in giving

exp

“I head up a pioneering evangelistic ministry called Make Jesus Known which, as the name suggests, is all about introducing Jesus to people that don’t know him. When we launched this ambitious ministry, our partnership with Stewardship gave credence to what we were doing. As such, supporters were more at ease with giving for a new, and untested, venture. The financial support we receive from Stewardship has enabled us to live full-time by faith (thanks to regular and one-off

sed

Seven challenges of living by personal support

•

overcoming the fear of asking

• a rticulating the need/explaining the ministry •

following up interested parties

•

administering the flow of funds

gifts) and also purchase much needed equipment for our work.

“As Make Jesus Known continues to develop, growing existing and new supporters with Stewardship is vital to the viability of our work. The regular support that comes to us from Stewardship frees us up to plan ahead and spend more time praying about (and doing) evangelism and less time worrying about our finances.”

Tim Cooke Make Jesus Known www.makejesusknown.com

…And A Great Solution: Funding The Family Business A new, revised edition of this must-have resource is now available. This is a great book for anyone currently – or thinking about – living out the call of God in full-time ministry, without the safety net of a regular salary.

With discounts for registered recipients of Stewardship visit www.ftfb.org.uk to read previews and order your copy

• r emembering who has given what and when • d ealing with the practicalities (tax etc) •D oing all of the above while also studying at Bible college, or doing the ministry that God has called you to in the first place!

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now you can speed up your giving – online With the launch of Stewardship’s new online giving portal, it has never been easier for you to organise your gifts – whether you are at the giving end, or the receiving end.

top features

• G ive by debit/credit card • Top up your account easily • Amend your regular giving • Search & select new recipients • Send requests securely • Review your annual giving • View charts and reports 14

Look out! Existing account members will be sent login details between September and December. Tell a friend – new accounts can be opened online at www.stewardship.org.uk/ openaccount

imple - having everything in one place and accessible 24/7 makes your giving so much simpler and easier to organise, ensuring you have time to concentrate on the things important to you, expanding His Kingdom and your heart.

“Our team had been wanting to organise their own giving online, just as much as our account members. So they have been really committed to delivering an excellent online service – the kind we want to use ourselves – and now we can.”

Mike O’Neill, Chief Executive, Stewardship.

ecure - our online giving system has been built and designed with your security in mind. With the added feature of our recipient look-up function, you can be reassured that your giving does go to charities and causes that have been approved by Stewardship.

peedy - with a click of your mouse you can request a donation, top up your giving, add a recipient, and when it really counts, like in an emergency, your ability to act fast could save lives.

aves - time, money, effort and trees! Online giving simply cuts out the phone calls, the cheques, the stamps, the paper, the admin and the time, ensuring you (and we) use God’s precious resources wisely and efficiently.

olidarity - when you transfer your Stewardship giving online, you join a vibrant community of people who are all transforming their giving and sharing in the joy of extending God’s mighty Kingdom!

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Julie Khan, Giving Services Team Member ‘My colleagues and I were involved in the final testing of the online system and I am confident that this delivers exactly what our givers and recipients have told us they need and want. It is so convenient and is specifically designed to make it easy to organise all your giving. Many of the things people ask me to do for them over the phone can now be done quickly and efficiently online, saving precious time and money too.’

big savings: In a typical month, 2,000 letters are dispatched to confirm gifts, or notify recipients of donations. If these were generated online instead, the postage savings would amount to over £6,000 per year. There are also savings in staff time, print and paper. Transferring all your giving online enables us to all be good stewards!

recipients benefit too: The churches, charities, Christian workers and Bible college students supported by Stewardship also benefit from:

• R eal-time views of funds and forthcoming grants

• B etter control over when and how grants are drawn down

• L ess paperwork to track with new regular activity reports

•

C ustomised additional reports with export features And best of all, it is a free service to recipients!

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Client testimonial: “My wife and I are working in slum township communities in South Africa, planting simple churches, running back-to-work programmes and rescuing abandoned babies.

“We have been a recipient of funds from Stewardship for the last year and have found the new online system to be such an asset to us. Being able to budget and deal with our finances from overseas, it would have been so much more of an administrative burden had we not been in partnership with Stewardship.

“We are also looking forward to using the Stewardship online giving service to simplify the way we support other mission work and organisations who are doing incredible work for the Gospel.”

Liam Byrnes, www.liamandrachel.com working with All Nations Southern Africa as a voluntary worker in Masiphumelele, South Africa.

reports galore: Now you can stay on top of your giving with easy-to-access graphical and tabular views on your giving to Stewardship, including:

• • • • •

D onations by type D onations by recipient R egular giving G ifts by tax year . ..and much more

our new online service for

recipients At Stewardship we are always keen to offer our recipients the best possible ways to manage their money and resources. That’s why we rolled out our new online service at the end of last year. The result? When it comes to those on the receiving end, the impact of these changes will be big. Read on to find out more…

Under the new system, we combine your allocated gifts into single, regular grant payments to streamline and reduce your paperwork. Online recipients now benefit from the following services:

The new service is simple to operate, not cluttered, but well laid out with relevant facilities.

Thank you for staying relevant and dynamic!

• Easy account management • Real-time transaction views • I ncreased payment

Christian workers, such as Ron, are the main reason why over 2,000 recipients have logged in from 84 different countries.

flexibility

• C lear reporting of allocated gifts

Recipients no longer need to ring the office every time you need to ask a question – although we do love to hear from you!

Ron Penny, Bangalore, representing Echoes of Service.

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bang

we support recipients in 84 countries, including:

up to date

Rodney Wallace is the Treasurer of Myton Church in Warwick and the accountant for Frontiers, a charity which partners with churches and individuals to reach out to Muslims with the good news of Jesus.

“Stewardship’s online service is clear and concise. The layout of the screens is first class, while the reports are well formatted. It’s bang up to date.

I have had difficulty with other sites, which were not nearly so clear. It’s good to see the Lord’s work so well done.

“We receive about 86 grants a month from Stewardship and it’s so much easier to manage with your new system. We don’t have to ring the office every time we want to track something on our accounts, which saves so much time.

Well done!”

United States

Mexico Costa Rica

Egypt Bolivia

It’s good to see the Lord’s work so well done

Zambia

To assist with our clients’ journey of generosity, we are constantly improving our services. Online recipients can view the status of their accounts 24/7. They are able to view yearly cumulative comparisons of allocated gifts. The online service gives them the power to withdraw approved grant funding whenever they like, as well as adding other users to their account.

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easy

Netherlands

Turkey

France

India

Spain Italy

to use

Trina Winfield works with Iris Ministries which provides support for children’s centres in Mozambique, Malawi, Israel and many other countries.

“We feed about 10,000 people a day and care for 6,000 people on a daily basis. We have huge financial commitments and need to know immediately if money has to be transferred to our workers overseas.

Stewardship’s new system is easy to navigate, accurate and up to date. It’s so helpful to be able to see our financial position at the click of a button.

itching

We have huge financial commitments and need to know immediately if money has to be transferred to our workers overseas

to get online?

Recipients: You’re only 3 clicks away from managing your own account online.

1. First go to www.stewardship.org.uk/online 2. Then enter your login details (you should have received these by letter and email).

3. Finally, create your profile. You can re-request your login details from us if you need to.

Your supporters can read your profile when they search for you online. Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity now! You’ll never look back.

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legal & financial roundup All the very latest and most important news from the world of finance from Stewardship’s Kevin Russell.

new definition of charity!

All charities need to be aware of the new definition of ‘charity’ for tax purposes introduced by the Finance Act 2010. To continue to be able to claim tax reliefs, a charity must be established for charitable purposes under English law, meet the registration requirement, the management requirement and be based in the EU/EEA. For full details, please refer to our June Budget 2010 Briefing Paper on the Resources section of our website.

The management requirement demands that trustees and some staff and volunteers are to be ‘fit and proper persons’.

This is a most controversial and onerous piece of legislation for which we are working with HMRC and sector representatives to see it changed.

Churches that are not registered charities but should be, are warned to register as soon as possible. Particularly vulnerable are churches that are ‘registered places of worship’. This registration is insufficient. You are likely to need to be registered with the Charity Commission as well. If you need our help to understand the requirements for your church, please contact Kevin Russell or Stephen Mathews on 020 8502 5600 or via enquiries@stewardship.org.uk

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££

Scotland Under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, Scottish charities can now purchase trustees’ indemnity insurance (TII) on behalf of their trustees, provided their constitution does not prohibit this. This provision overrides any restriction on trustees receiving personal benefit.

Changes are to be made to the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006, for financial periods beginning 1 April 2011.

These include raising the accruals accounting threshold for non-company charities from £100,000 to £250,000 and the gross assets audit threshold from £2.8million to £3.26 million.

Northern Ireland The new Charity Commission for Northern Ireland began accepting applications for registration of new charities from the end of June 2010. Any organisation wishing to be recognised as a charity in Northern Ireland will have to register with the CCNI first before approaching HMRC for tax purposes. Existing recognised charities will be invited to register with CCNI between August 2010 and January 2012.

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limiting in-year Gift Aid claims HMRC are consulting on restricting the number of, and value of individual in-year gift aid claims. Stewardship are inputting to this process. If you have concerns, please let us know by emailing enquiries@stewardship.org.uk

the 2010 Budget What will the VAT increase mean for your charity? For this and a full analysis of the impact of the Government’s Emergency Budget on church charities, go to the Resources section of our website.

update … on articles in earlier issues of Share …

Protection of children and vulnerable adults (Issue 14) In June, the new Government announced the postponement of the registration of individuals with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) which was due to start on 26 July 2010, pending a full review of the Vetting & Barring Scheme and the role of the ISA. It is important to note that the rules that came into force on 12 October 2009 (see Issue 14) remain in place. Whilst there will now be no obligation to check employees’ and volunteers’ registration with the ISA, organisations should continue to carry out the usual suitability checks of those who work with children and vulnerable adults. (See www. ccpas.co.uk for more information.)

Self-employed church leaders (Issue 14) We are pleased to report that HMRC have narrowed their areas of concern.

Energy Performance Certificates (Issue 15)

national minimum wage NMW rates from 1 October 2010 are: £5.93 per hour (aged 21 and over, replacing the aged 22 and over category); £4.92 ph for 18-20 year olds (was 18-21 year olds) and £3.64 ph for 16-17 year olds.

The suspension of Home Information Packs from 21 May 2010 does not affect the requirement for Energy Performance Certificates for domestic and commercial property.

Substantial donor legislation The repeal of this legislation has been delayed until 2011, at the earliest for technical reasons. We continue to work with HMRC towards early resolution.

Kevin Russell Technical Director

For the very latest news, subscribe to our Legal Eagle bulletin from our website. www.stewardship.org.uk 23