The Beacon Parish

 

Why should we support this?

Giving is central to our Christian faith. 

 

As in so many other areas, the pandemic has brought into sharper focus the importance of building a sustainable financial future for the Beacon Parish.  We’re fortunate to have three wonderful churches in Ditchling, Streat and Westmeston and a supportive community, but we’re still finding it hugely difficult to find the funding we need even to maintain the status quo. 

 

We have made some cost savings during the pandemic, but with the loss of many weekly services and weddings our income has plummeted, while our fixed running costs have remained largely the same. Currently our deficit is running at over £2000 each month - though this would be almost £3500 each month, had we not made the difficult decision to cut our Parish share payments to the Diocese in 2024. We would, of course, like to restore this payment to the amount requested and increased giving from our community would enable us to do this.

 

We receive virtually no support from government so, unless something changes, the Parish will falter and the churches won’t be able indefinitely to act as the heart of their communities, whether for worship, for prayer, for a quiet moment of reflection or for the joyful celebration of a major family event. Nor will we have the resources to welcome and encourage newcomers into God’s kingdom through our churches.

 

In this spirit, we’re introducing easyfundraising to the Beacon Parish as a simple and effective way of increasing our income. We are also mounting an appeal to the wider community to start or increase their regular giving.

 

What is Easyfundraising?

​

Easyfundraising is a simple way of raising funds for the Beacon Parish through your online shopping but at no cost to you.

​

Over 4,000 retailers - including many well-known names – will donate to a charity of your choice when you sign up to easyfundraising. By nominating the Beacon Parish as your chosen charity, each time your buy something online from one of the retailers on the easyfundraising site, a donation is made to the Beacon Parish at no cost to you.
 

Depending on the retailer, this donation may be either a percentage of what you spend (normally around 1.5% but may be 5% or even higher) or a small fixed-sum payment. 

 

 

How does it work?

 

To sign up, simply:
 

• Nominate the Beacon Parish as your preferred beneficiary. You do this by going to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk

​

• Look for the heading “Start fundraising today” and enter “Beacon Parish” into the “search for a cause” box. This takes you onto the next page - where you’ll see a brief introduction to the Parish – then click “support this cause”.

 

• You’ll then be prompted to “register” using your email address and a secure password of your choice – or you can use a suggested one - to create an account.

 

• You will be asked if you want to “Add the donation reminder”.  We highly recommend that you do this. (It is a simple and very useful tool which will remind you of the easyfundrasing option whenever you’re shopping online with a retailer who donates via easyfundraising

​

• On the easyfundraising page, you will be prompted through a couple of pages in order to “Add extension” to your browser.

​

• Once you’ve completed these steps to add the donation reminder, which only need to be done once, it means that, in future, you won’t even need to go via the easyfundraising site in order to trigger a donation to the Beacon Parish. You can simply enter your chosen retailer into the search bar on your browser, as usual, and when you look at the search results, you should see that “Donation Available” is shown above the name of the retailer if they are part of the easyfundraising scheme.

 

• When you’re doing your shopping with your chosen retailer, a box will appear on the right of your screen marked Free Donation. Simply click Get Donation when it appears and you know that once your purchase has been made, a donation from the retailer to the Beacon Parish will be generated at no extra cost to you.

 

• Once you’ve installed the Donation Reminder via the easyfundraising site, then you’re all set up and can “Start shopping” knowing that while you’re doing your online shopping, you’re also helping the Beacon Parish.

 

 

Shopping with Amazon
The procedure for shopping with Amazon is slightly different but only has to be set up once. Here’s what to do:

​

• Go to the easyfundraising website at https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk
  Click “search” and enter “Amazon” into the search box.

 

• On the next page, click VisitAmazonSmile.
  (You be prompted to add your email and Amazon password – if you already have one - here.)

 

• Click “Get Started” then “Start by Picking your Charity”.

​

• In the search box, type “Ditchling” and look for “The Ecclesiastical Parish of Ditchling Streat and Westmeston” in the drop-down list. Click on that option.

 

• The next page gives some information about AmazonSmile and presents you with some tick boxes and then you’ll click through to the Amazon page you’re used to. You’ll notice, in the second line of the page heading, it says “Supporting the Parochial….”  (If you hover your cursor over it, you will see the full name of the Parish.)

 

• Then you’re all set up to raise donations for the Beacon Parish every time you shop with Amazon. Just remember to enter AmazonSmile rather than Amazon into your browser.

 

Some final thoughts before you get started

 

You will see that the range of retailers on easyfundraising includes suppliers of items such as office equipment and stationery. If you buy office supplies to support a home business, working from home, or hobbies, if you have the Donation Reminder installed, you may find that your usual supplier may be one of the 4000 retailers who will make a donation to the Beacon Parish as you shop.

 

You can also generate a donation to the Beacon Parish with certain travel companies when you book a holiday.

​

If you have any family who have lived in the Parish but moved away, why not mention easyfundraising on behalf of the Beacon Parish to them? It’s a simple way for them to maintain a connection with, and support the ongoing work of our three churches.
 

Happy Shopping! Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries and we’ll do our best help you. We’ll also keep you informed of the difference you are making.

 

 

 

Sherrian Guest  sherrian.guest@uwclub.net            

Paul Charman  pec.glebe@tiscali.co.uk

Rod Pryde  rspryde@icloud.com

 

 

May 2024