How The Most Holy Trinity Church is turning parishioners into fundraising champions

They needed to get the whole community involved. Here is how they used the Give A Little Champion App to do exactly that.

Breaking the bottleneck

The parish started with Give A Little in 2022 with four CollecTin More contactless donation boxes. They were an instant hit but Andrew quickly noticed a "good" problem: popularity.

"We have limited space in the church and after Mass, the machines get surrounded when they are used for offertory and second collections. To use them for additional fundraising activities would be like robbing Peter to pay Paul!"

“We are in a phase of significant fundraising where we need to engage with the parish and this is where the Give A Little Champion App has been amazing. There is a lot of enthusiasm in the parish for raising funds through various events and they can’t use the CollecTins as they are fixed in one location. So because everyone has a phone, we can now create champions for different activities whether it's taking donations for mugs, raffle tickets or event tickets, the donations can be taken wherever the people are.”

“The fact that the Give A Little Champion App is secure and I can give it to anyone in the parish to use is great and people have taken to it really quickly.”

Andrew adds: “So far, we have raised over £5,000 with the Give A Little Champion App and I can only see that growing as we expand it out to more volunteers and parishioners.”

Building a community of champions

One of Andrew’s favourite things about the Give A Little Champion App is how it decentralises the work. It’s no longer just one person at a time hovering over a donation point; it’s the parishioners themselves taking the lead.

"The Give A Little Champion App engages the parishioners - making them part of it. Whoever is organising and championing a fundraising event can take the donations for it. It empowers them to drive it forward and it creates a community spirit in the church."

The magic of "past and future" Gift Aid

For Andrew, successful cashless fundraising isn't just the tap of a card - it’s the 25% extra from Gift Aid. Unlike an anonymous fiver dropped in a basket, Give A Little allows donor data to be collected.

"The biggest buzz I get is when I see someone at the donation points or with the Give A Little Champion App and get them to tick the 'past and future' buttons with Gift Aid. I always say to those that haven’t Gift Aid’d yet, “all is not lost, you can backdate it!” With cash in a basket, there is no chance of getting Gift Aid but with Give A Little, it makes my day when we get someone new to sign up."

Utilise QR codes everywhere

As Andrew is using Give A Little Magic campaign templates, which create a blended app and web campaign, he has found it easy to add a QR code on every piece of literature and every pew. 

"I love Magic campaigns. The ability to set up a campaign and fire it onto the CollecTins, the Give A Little Champion App and QR codes, which we use extensively, makes life a lot easier. I also really like that the QR code takes you to a list of campaigns that I create and adapt through Give A Little. It’s always the same QR code, but the list of campaigns can change."

The verdict

Summing up his thoughts on the Give A Little Champion App, Andrew says: 

"I’m a big fan, if I'm honest! The Give A Little Champion App is certainly something we will continue to use and is a great way to help us raise funds for our new Parish Centre, which we know will be incredibly popular with our parishioners and the local community. When people ask how they can help, we say: One way is to pray, another way is to give, and the other is getting involved in fundraising. The Give A Little Champion App does the third bit perfectly."