Emmanuel Church has been blessed with amazing financial support throughout our history. We do not yet have an endowment fund, so everything that we do is funded through gifts, pledges from current members, bequests, rentals, and sources such as Amazon Smile and our work with St. Pauly’s and their clothing donation shed.
Any gift, large or small, helps us to continue to do God’s work. Folks can target their gift towards a specific purpose, for example, to help maintain our prayer and meditation fund, or building maintenance, or outreach, or worship items – wherever your passion meets the needs of this parish. We are grateful for all who are willing to entrust us with their funds, and we do everything in our power to use those funds respectfully and responsively.
Please go to our giving page for specific ways to make donations.
Please click here to make a pledge!
What is the difference between donating and pledging?
Everyone understands what giving a gift to a parish is all about. But for those who have not grown up in a tradition that talks about pledging, that can be a bit confusing. Simply stated, a pledge is an estimate of your giving intent for the next calendar year.
Pledging allows you to make intentional decisions about your financial giving. When you plan ahead for your giving, you make conscious choices about spending your money in ways that reflect your faith and values.
How does pledging help a church?
Receiving your pledge allows our Vestry, the church’s governing board, to do for our parish community what you do for your household: plan wisely for the use our resources in support of the mission and ministry to which God has called us. The Vestry sets a budget based on the total amount pledged to the church. While regular giving that is not pledged is important to the parish, your pledge lets the Vestry plan more accurately.
Your pledge amount may be changed, increased or decreased during the year, at any time as your financial circumstances change, just speak to our Treasurer, to our Pledge Chair, or to one of our priests. While our annual pledge campaign is held in the fall, pledges may be made at any time.
How do I pay my pledge?
Paying your pledge is a matter of personal preference. You may pay weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly via cash or checks.
•In the offering plate at our services
•By mail
•On line banking
•On line giving
How much should I pledge?
Determining the amount of your annual pledge is between you and God. The church does offer some guidelines to assist you as you make this important decision.
What is proportionate giving?
Proportionate giving is basing your pledge amount on a percentage of your income. In particular, tithing has a long history as a giving goal for Christians.
What is a tithe?
To tithe is to give 10% of your income for charitable purposes. A tithe may sound like an unattainable goal to begin with, but if you start with a certain percentage and increase that percentage each year, you can meet the tithing goal you set. At Emmanuel, we ask our members to work towards giving the parish half of their tithe, or 5% of their net income. At certain life stages, this goal may be unrealistic as people raise children, get close to retirement, deal with illness or other issues. A pledge is an organic thing that will shift and change throughout your life.
We thank you for reading through this information and considering a donation or a pledge to our parish. To discuss this further, please contact The Rev. Joan Testin, or contact the office and ask to be put in contact with our current Pledge Chair.