Common Fund 

The Common Fund is the way we share resources throughout the Diocese of Sheffield, enabling mission and ministry in every community we serve, primarily enabling us to pay the stipends of our Oversight Ministers. Through PCCs, our parishes generously contribute to the Common Fund and so we support one another as we seek the Kingdom of God in our neighbourhoods, towns and villages.   

The resources which PCCs give into the Common Fund are the “financial life blood” of the Diocese because every year the Common Fund is by far the largest source of regular funding into the Diocese. (Please see the answers to Questions 2)  

While every year we get a variety of general and specific grants mainly from the Church of England nationally, it is the resources of the Common Fund which pay for so many of the ongoing costs of ministry across our Diocese.  We are providing more information on the recent successful award of Transformation Funding under questions 5 and 6. 

It is a crucial part of the 2025 Strategy to continue to see the Diocese of Sheffield grow a sustainable network of Christ-like, lively and diverse Christian communities in every place which are effective in making disciples and in seeking to transform our society and God’s world.  

Resources that come in via the Common Fund largely go towards ministry costs. If you have a vicar, curate or oversight minister (unless they are Self Supporting or they are specific local appointments), their employment, housing, and various support cost are paid for by the Diocese mainly from Common Fund. 

Generosity is key to the life of every church. We have been fortunate to receive grant funding which has enabled us to recruit our Generosity Team, made up of Libby Culmer, Luke Bunting, Paul Sheridan, Claire Stinson and Janet Daye.  They have already begun to work directly with parishes and have been developing resources to help you to encourage generosity. One of those resources was Generous June which includes materials that can be used at any time and look at all aspect of generosity, not just financial Generosity.    

To access the resources and find out more about how this team can support you, and to get in touch with them, please visit www.sheffield.anglican.org/generosity or email them at generosity@sheffield.anglican.org.

The most helpful way to pay is by regular bank transfer, preferably monthly. 

1. Bank transfers can be sent to: 
   Virgin Money PLC (Yorkshire Bank) 
   Account Name: Sheffield Diocesan Board of Finance 
   Sort code 050438 
   Account Number 54947905 

Please ensure that you indicate the name of your PCC/parish and that it relates to Common Fund eg use a reference such as StMaryBramallCF 

If you are not able to set up a bank transfer, there are two other ways for the PCC to make Common Fund payments; via a PayPal Link on the diocesan website or by Cheque. 

2. You can pay online using PayPal Button link  https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=SHWNT8VPW2HNS 

3. Cheques payable to “Sheffield Diocesan Board of Finance” can be mailed to: 
   Church House, 
   95-99 Effingham Street, 
   Rotherham, 
   S65 1BL 

Please include a note that clearly states that it is a Common Fund payment and which Parish it is from (include the place as well as the church name). If you are using one cheque to pay for several things please also list them clearly with amounts. 

It is very important that you include a clear reference with every payment type, so we can properly assign the payment against your pledge. Here is an example of how to reference your payment: 

StMaryBramallCF 

Please do include location as well as a church name as there are several churches in the diocese with similar or identical names. 

Timing of your payments to the Diocese 

Cash flow is very important to the day-to-day operations of the Diocese. Making your church or parish Common Fund payment either early in the financial year or on a regular monthly basis is really helpful.   

In any year that a deficit budget is approved for the Diocese, it means we are likely to have to sell some of our investments during the year in order to pay our regular bills such as clergy stipend.  This reduces the investment income into the Diocese and may result in some activities or spending having to be paused or stopped.  We have to plan ahead and so knowing when we will receive your payment to us is very important.  Please do keep in touch with us and give us advance warning if you need to change how you normally pay us.

You may have heard a lot about new staff at Church House and the new ministry model that is being rolled out across the diocese. All the posts listed below while centrally employed by SDBF are locally deployed to work with parishes and deaneries. 

• Book keepers 

• Buildings Officers 
• Giving and Generosity officers 
• Lights for Christ enabler 
• Posts to support Focal Ministry 
• Associate Archdeacons 

They are paid for by the National Grant funding we have received and they are all on fixed term contracts. This means they have been brought in to support the work you do on the ground. Full details on our transformation and national funding can be read here. 

Focal Ministry recognises and celebrates the calling of Christians to play their part in the Mission and Ministry of their church, under God. Focal Ministers are local leaders of their churches, usually ministering as part of a small team. As local representatives, they provide a focus for both the local congregation and the wider community. Working with the Oversight Minister in their Mission Area, they support the church in all its fullness. They will seek to mobilise the whole people of God for the whole mission of God, enabling all the baptised to enter into the fulness of their baptismal calling to shine as a light for Christ in the world to the glory of God the Father. We would encourage you to watch this helpful animation that highlights the vision behind this important work. 

You can read more about Focal Ministry

As you have seen the numbers of staff increase I’m sure you have had questions regarding whether this has increased office and day to day running costs. To help keep these costs as low as possible, a Hybrid working system has been developed where team members can utilize the facilities at Church House, which means we have not needed to increase office space and all the associated costs that would go along with that.  

In addition, many of our central support team are paid-for through ring-fenced transformation funding.