The Bishop of Oxford’s Outreach Fund 

You may wish to use some of this text in your Order of Service. If your church uses a contactless card machine, might donations at this service be given to the Bishop’s Outreach Fund?

Reg Charity No. 247954

The Outreach Fund is dedicated to supporting the mission of the Church nationally and internationally and is generated by offerings across the diocese, particularly at ordinations, confirmations, collations, institutions and licensing.

Through the fund, the Bishop of Oxford is able to respond to a wide range of requests for help, in areas such as humanitarian need, Christian education, training and mission.

In 2024, the fund received gifts totalling £34,500 and made grants totalling £48,000. Grants were made, amongst others, to support relief and mission agencies working in the Middle East, such as Friends of the Holy Land and Embrace the Middle East.

We continued our regular support to international mission agencies such as CMS, Congo Church Association, Latin Link, MANNA, Mission to Seafarers, USPG and Tearfund. Emergency relief was given through Christian Aid and to The Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands Relief Fund in response to Hurricane Beyrl.

Closer to home grants were made to Be Space, The Retreat Association, Asylum Welcome, The Porch Day Centre, and the Performance, Resilience and Support Programme for our Schools Head Teachers.

Donations to the Bishop’s Outreach Fund can be made,

• during the collection at this service,
• using the card donations machine at the back of the church,
• or alternatively, online via the button below,
• the QR code on this page can also be copied and pasted to an order of service.

Donate online now

Banking and Gift Aid

Please make cheques payable to ODBF Administered Fund and mark with a covering note that it is for the Bishop’s Outreach Fund.

Gifts to the Outreach Fund can benefit considerably from donors making Gift Aid declarations. Registered charities can reclaim income tax at the basic rate from gifts made by tax payers, provided that the donors have made a declaration accompanying their gift. For every £1 donated by tax payers who use the envelopes, the Outreach Fund can then recover 25p from HM Revenue and Customs.

You can significantly augment the value of gifts to the Outreach Fund by providing your congregation with Gift Aid envelopes specially printed for the Bishop of Oxford’s Outreach Fund. These can be ordered from:

The Diocesan Giving team: 01865 208 288 | generosity@oxford.anglican.org

Please follow these steps to enable the Fund to benefit from Gift Aid and to arrange the banking and transfer of the offertory:

1. Most churches and places of worship place the special Gift Aid envelopes in each order of service booklet, enabling donors to decide whether to make a Gift Aid declaration or not. Increasingly churches are distributing the envelopes a week or so prior to the service so that church members can think and pray about their offering.

2. Many churches have pens available in their pews so that such envelopes can be filled in. Donors who are UK taxpayers should place their gifts in the Gift Aid envelopes; each donor should clearly record their surname and initials, current address, postcode and the date. Members of the congregation who are not taxpayers can respond by either placing their offering in the envelope without filling in the front or by placing it in the offertory plate.

3. After the service, the offerings should be counted, and the amount given recorded by hand on each donor’s envelope. All the offertory money should then be banked as normal.

4. The banked offertory money can be sent by:

   1. Cheque, payable to ODBF Administered Fund, with covering note stating it is for the Bishop's Outreach Fund, or by;

   2. Direct bank transfer; please ensure that you list both the word OUTREACH and your PARISH NAME as the payment reference to ensure the correct allocation of funds (e.g OUTREACH/ [PARISH NAME]).

Bank Name: NatWest
Account Name: Oxford Diocesan Finance Fund
Sort Code: 60-03-57
Account Number: 7882 6411

5. Please post the donors’ empty envelopes (and cheques) to the address below so that tax can be recovered on these gifts. Tax cannot be reclaimed unless the donors’ emptied envelopes are returned.

The Finance Administrator
Church House Oxford
Langford Locks
Kidlington
OX5 1GF

6. Any spare envelopes can be saved for another service or passed onto other local churches for their use at similar services.

Last but certainly not least, a very big thank you for your help in the administration of this collection.

Outreach Fund Information Letter

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