Tax Relief For Employees Working From Home Due To Covid
Many charities are suffering significant falls in income as a result of coronavirus and are therefore not in a position to compensate employees for any additional costs incurred by them from having to work at home .
Charities in this position can point their staff in this position to a new microsite set up by HMRC to enable them to claim tax relief on those costs. For most staff, this amounts to £62 for each of the tax years 2020/21 and 2021/22. More detail is given in Help for Individuals and Workers, below.
Grants For Church Building And Churches
This year millions of dollars will be set aside yearly for nonprofit grants such as grants for churches. All U.S citizens are encouraged to apply. If you are a member of church or faith-based institution and are looking to find funding to support your institution, outlined below are the steps that you can take to locate and submit a church grant or faith-based grant.
Churches and faith-based institutions have not remained unscathed by the current economic downturn. Many churches are reporting grave reductions in their collection plates that are used for general operating, special missions or outreach programs yet, these same institutions are experiencing an increased demand to provide assistance to individuals in need. A number of churches or faith-based institutions are turning to grants as a source of revenue to continue operating and providing services.
Scams: Scammers Taking Advantage Of The Coronavirus Pandemic
HMRC is reporting that, so far, they have detected more than 70 COVID-19-related financial scams, and have asked Internet Service Providers to take down over 400 web pages associated with these scams.
Mimicking government communications, one of the new scams says that it has identified you as a candidate for the Key Worker Rebate.
They are urging people to check GOV.UK for information on how to recognise genuine HMRC contact, Identify HMRC related scam phone calls, emails and text messages and how to avoid and report scams. Suspicious emails claiming to be from HMRC should reported to: Texts should be sent to 60599.
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Risk Of Fraud And Cybercrime Against Charities During Covid
The Government has once again warned that fraudsters are exploiting the spread of coronavirus in order to carry out fraud and cybercrime. Police have reported an increase in COVID-19-related scams. They state that all charities, but especially those providing services and supporting local communities during the COVID-19 crisis, could be targeted by fraudsters.
The Alert gives examples of the types of fraud circulating, protection measures that can be taken and how to report fraud and cybercrime to the relevant authorities.
Exclusive: These Pastors And Churches Took Millions In Ppp Loans
Joel Osteen landed in hot water when the Houston Chronicle broke the story that Lakewood Church had indeed accepted Payroll Payment Protection loans under the Small Business Administrations allocation for non-profit organizations to benefit from this lockdown relief program, which he previously denied. But Joel Osteen was far from the only pastor and Lakewood Church was far from the only church to have received these forgivable loans. In fact, Lakewood Churchs $4.4 million haul was not even the largest.
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Support For Churches And Cathedrals Across The Uk Announced By Chancellor
Churches and Cathedrals across the UK receive government funding to ensure they are maintained for generations to come.
- From:
- 26 March 2015
This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government
The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne made the announcement on a visit to Wells Cathedral today .
Wells Cathedral will receive an £160,000 share from the third and final round of the First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund, on top of £160,000 it received in previous rounds.
Overall, 55 Anglican and Catholic Cathedrals across England have benefitted from the £20 million fund, which will ensure that these valuable national monuments remain in a good and safe state of repair in order welcome the public as the centre of events commemorating the First World War.
These repairs also prevent further deterioration of the fabric of these listed buildings, ensuring that they remain in good repair for generations to come.
Going further, the Chancellor also today unveiled the 502 churches across the UK which will receive a share of the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund to repair to their roofs, gutters and stonework.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said:
The Rt Revd Dr John Inge, Bishop of Worcester and lead bishop for the Church of Englands cathedrals and church buildings said:
This is in addition to the £42 million Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, which has supported over 13,000 places of worship.
Footloose Church Needs Surgery
The American Fork Community Presbyterian Church has been a spiritual home for members of the Utah County community for over 140 years. Due to age, the roof of the sanctuary had begun to leak, requiring total replacementan expense that the small place of worship could not afford on its own. Through their fundraiser, AFPRES was able to raise nearly $10,000 to pay for renovations.
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The Seven Deadly Sins Of Government Funding
Director, Simon Center for American Studies
Welfare reform is once again forcing upon Americans an age-olddebate: How should we, as a society, care for the neediest amongus? Until about the 1960s, privately funded charities were the mostvital and visible answer to that question — putting the jobless towork, lifting single mothers out of poverty, keeping delinquentkids out of jail. But gradually, after waves of Great Societyprograms, government has come to dominate the care-giving industry.Today, federal and state agencies fund and regulate everyconceivable social service. And, increasingly, they do soindirectly: Countless charities and other nonprofits are nowheavily subsidized to deliver care many of these “private” groupsdepend on public funds for well over half of their income. Evennumerous religious agencies, typically the most wary ofentanglement with the secular state, could hardly survive withoutgovernment aid.
With the lure of lucrative grants and contracts, government isquietly orchestrating one of the most profound — and overlooked –shifts in public policy in a generation. Massive, direct publicfunding for private nonprofits is quickly becoming the mostimportant strategy for attacking social problems in America.
What follows, then, are not the criticisms of disenfranchisedoutsiders, but the insights and concerns of the system’sbenefactors — or, put more precisely, its dependents.
First appeared in “Policy Review”
Grants To Local Parishes
The Church Commissioners give some of this money as grants to local parishes to fund mission projects, but the majority of the financial burden of church upkeep and the work of local parishes still rests with individual parishes and dioceses, which meet their requirements from donations. Direct donations to the church come to around £460 million per year, while parish and diocesan reserve funds generate another £100 million. Funds raised in individual parishes account for almost all of this money and the majority of it remains in the parish which raises it, meaning that the resources available to parishes still vary enormously according to the level of donations they can raise.
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Government Funding Of Religion
Our federal, state, and local governments do not always respect these core religious freedom principles. Through so-called faith-based initiatives, government officials have granted religious social services providers the right to discriminate, proselytize, and play by different rules than other organizations doall while spending tax dollars.
Faith-based organizations have long provided admirable and important services to Americas neediest communities. It has been well understood and accepted, however, that when this work is funded by tax dollars, religious social services providers may not discriminate in hiring or providing services and that the publicly funded social services will be administered in a non-religious manner.
The ACLU works to ensure that taxpayers are not forced to support religious activity and that our government and public funds are not used to favor, endorse, or promote religion generally or any specific faith over others.
The Guild’s Initiative Fund
Does your Guild or Church have a great idea for a community initiative or project? Grants of up to £1000 are available to Guilds looking to do innovative projects in their church or community.
The fund was set up to encourage people to think of new ways of being the Guild and of serving the church and the wider community in ways that innovatively allow the Guild to meet its three principles of worship, prayer and action.
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Is It Ethical For A Church To Accept Govt Money During The Covid
Governments in the U.S. and Canada are offering grants and financial support for businesses and charities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. For individuals and businesses, this is doubtlessly welcomed. However, this is perhaps not as clear for charities such as churches.
At the heart of this doubt are three sub-questions that need answering: Shouldnt churches always and only rely on non-government sources to function? Does accepting money from the government present a blurring of the lines between church and state, which could subsequently lead to the church compromising some of its vision and mission? Isnt the need of a church always or usually less than that of other charities, such as food banks?
A recent post on the NETWORKby Peter Elgersma and Darren Roordaattempts to answer our larger question, and to some extent, the three smaller ones, with both authors strongly, it seems to me, arguing in favor of accepting government support. For my part, I find the issue a bit more nuanced.
While not arguing that accepting money from the government is always ethically bad, one might still ask, as stated in the third sub-question, isnt the need of a church always or usually less than that of other charities, such as food banks?
The National Lottery Heritage Fund
The Heritage Fund has a variety of programmes which might suit your project if it has a heritage and community angle. Their new Strategic Funding Framework 2019-24 includes a new programme structure. Places of Worship can apply to any of their 3 programmes which work on a sliding scale according to project size. We recommend you visit their website to view the range of outcomes they require, and to read their guidance notes. Contact your local fund office for a chat: www.heritagefund.org.uk/in-your-area
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Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme
HMRC have issued the following statement about GASDS:
Inrespect of GASDS, guidance on the eligibility for donations for inclusion inthis scheme is clear in stating that claims can only be made on cash donationsof £30 or less and contactless card donations of £30 or less collected on orafter 6 April 2019. The decision over what constitutes an eligible donation isone for the church/charity to make for themselves, rather than for HMRC, butthe conditions for something to be considered a small donation are clearlyset out in legislation. Where it is the case, for example, of separatedonations being given in a single envelope, then if the church/charity officialis happy these are clearly separate small donations then they will be eligible for GASDS, as is the case where separateenvelopes are used.
Churches could also help to make it easier to distinguish such gifts by providing separate collecting plates/donation receptacles reserved for saved-up donations when the lockdown restrictions are eased.
Church And State: A Match Made In Hell
Throughout history, the marriage of church and state brought with it corruption, suffering, and subjugation. Once formed, it proved a powerful partnership and one not easily broken up.
But eventually it was.
Any decision that pushes us back in that direction, critics argue, is potentially dangerous. It took centuries of efforts to separate the church and the state. Could that progress be at risk of reversal?
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Older Churches Tend To Spend Less On Property
50% of churches planted between 1975 and 1999 own their buildings, and the other half have mortgages. Only 11% of churches planted after 2000 own their buildings, and 89% have mortgages. This is, of course, due to the fact that churches planted later are still in the early stages of growth, making meaningful capital campaigns more difficult to execute successfully, and mortgages more necessary to build equity in its adolescent years.
What Do We Support
The places of worship we support help local and wider communities to engage with heritage. We fund:
- activities that connect people with heritage
- activities that connect people with heritage and include some capital works to historic fabric
The historic fabric of a building is the original or historically significant building materials or construction.
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Most Congregants Do Not Give Digitally To Their Churches
24% of adult congregants made at least one digital contribution to their congregation in the past year. However, this is likely due to the relative novelty of digital giving platforms. Just like other manually administered eCommerce solutions such as the Starbucks app, Venmo, and PayPal, digital church giving solutions like Tithe.ly are growing rapidly in popularity as a primary means of facilitating financial transfers.
Contact Your Local Media
When you capture the interest of local media, you substantially increase awareness for your fundraiserwhich usually means more donations. And if youre a pastor with strong member community ties, this may help you build even more media connections. Try to first connect with an individual journalist either through email or social media, since they can then pitch the idea to their outlet.
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The Separation Of Church And State Is Breaking Down Under Trump
Religious groups are getting special treatment from the governments pandemic-relief efforts.
About the authors: Micah Schwartzman is the Hardy Cross Dillard Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law.Richard Schragger is the Perre Bowen Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law.Nelson Tebbe is a professor at Cornell Law School.
The separation of Church and state is supposed to prevent government favoritism of religion in the United States. For most of the past century, the Supreme Court interpreted the establishment clause of the First Amendment to mean that government cannot pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Under this principle of disestablishment, at the very least, the government cannot give special privileges to religious organizations beyond what is available to similarly situated nonreligious groups.
But the past few months have seen a near-complete collapse of this principle at the national level, at least with respect to government funding of religion. Under the Payment Protection Program, which has allocated $669 billion in subsidies to support small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, the government has extended funding to churches and other houses of worship. This program is unprecedented in terms of the sheer amount of money involved and the religious nature of the activities, including payment of clergy salaries, that the government is subsidizing.
How To Raise Money For Church
Donations to religious organizations are down by almost 50% since 1990, and charitable giving statistics show that nearly 40% of people who regularly attend church never make a donation. This is concerning for churches who rely on giving to keep their doors open and operate their various programs and services. Whether you are a member of a church or part of the church staff, there are many ways you can support your place of worship. Below, weve listed several easy ways to find a church fundraiser, so your church can focus on what matters mostserving the community.
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How To Get Grants For Churches
