Friday 16 October 2020

Giving explained

We rely on your generous support to keep our church open. The traditional cash collection isn’t possible at the moment, so we’ve recently introduced some new ways of giving. This is a guide to how they work.

If you are a UK taxpayer, the gift aid scheme allows us to claim back from the government the tax you already pay on your donation. If you give us £4, the government gives us an extra £1. To do this, we need to be able to link your gift with your name and your address. The way we do this depends on your donation method, but we can still claim gift aid however you choose to give. It also ok if you’re registered for gift aid with another charity — there is no limit to how many charities you can register with for gift aid.

Contactless Giving

Our new contactless donation box is really easy to use. All you have to do is tap the screen with a contactless credit or debit card, and the Oratory will receive £5. If you want to, you can adjust this amount by touching the number and following the on screen instructions.

To claim gift aid on these donations, go to donor.swiftaid.co.uk/register and fill in your details. Swiftaid stores your card number securely so that whenever you donate using our contactless terminal, they recognise who you are and process the gift aid for us. No card numbers are ever passed on to the Oratory, either by the contactless terminal or by Swiftaid. That’s why, even if you have already registered for gift aid with us, you will still need to register with Swiftaid online to gift aid your contactless donations.

Standing Order

If you want to give the same amount regularly, this is the easiest way to do it. We don’t have to pay any fees on money we receive in this way. Pick up a standing order form from church (or request one from us), fill in your details and return it to us. If you are a taxpayer, all you need to do is complete the gift aid section at the bottom of the form. You can choose exactly how much you want to give, and whether you want to give weekly, monthly or annually. We process the form and send it to your bank. You’re in complete control, and you can cancel or change your standing order at any time by contacting your bank in the usual way.

Online Donations (PayPal)

You can make card donations online at oxfordoratory.org.uk/donate. You don’t need to be registered with PayPal to do this, but having a PayPal account should speed up the process. To gift aid your donation, all you need to do is tick the gift aid box. You can make a one-off donation, or you can set up a regular recurring donation by following the on screen instructions.

Cash collections

There isn’t a collection at the usual place during Sunday Masses at the moment, but a collection is taken at the door as you leave. There are collection boxes at the back of church that can be used during the week too. If you are a UK taxpayer, please put your offering in a gift aid envelope available at the back of church. Use a white envelope if you are just visiting, or complete a gift aid form and use a brown gift aid envelope, which saves you filling out all your details every time you give.