Information for PCCs

Legacies are a lifeline for our parishes. Church of England parishes receive over 4,000 legacies each year - gifts to finance mission projects, maintain beautiful church buildings and grow faithful communities. These gifts make a real difference to the future work of the Church - as regular giving often concentrates on maintaining the existing mission and ministry.
Peterborough Higham Ferrers

Giving through legacies

For more information on how your church can encourage legacy giving in your parish, please order our Free PCC Legacy Toolkit today. This pack provides a range of resources and helpful guidance on giving through legacies.

Click on the link below to request a free PCC Legacy Toolkit. Please include your full name and postal address.

Please click here to request your free PCC Legacy Toolkit.

Guidance of Receiving a legacy

If a Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a named beneficiary in a will, the PCC are responsible for liaising with the Executor to administer the gift correctly, and ensure they use the funds for their charitable Christian Ecclesiastical purposes.

Please click here to access our online information and guidance notes.

PCC Meeting following a legacy notification

Once you have received notification of a legacy, it is a good idea to bring the PCC together to notify them of the gift. We have produced this resource to help set out what some of the PCC’s principles should be following a legacy notification and the process of prayerfully considering the different possibilities of a specific legacy.

Please click here to view our Legacy Notification Meeting guidance notes.

PCC Guide to Inheritance Tax

Legacy gifts are exempt from Inheritance Tax (IHT). We’ve produced a two page resource explaining what IHT is and how it applies to a legacy left to your PCC.

Please click here to view our guidance note.

Guide for churches: Code of Fundraising Practice

As with all the ways we encourage giving within our churches, it is important that all churches abide by the Code of Fundraising Practice.

You must take into account the needs of a giver who may be in vulnerable circumstances or need extra support to make an informed decision. If you suspect that a giver lacks the capacity to make a decision, they should not be asked for a gift. If you discover this lack of capacity at a later point, the gift must be returned. 

We have produced a simple guidance document for Churches, which highlights the values underpinned within the Code and some of the key standards that apply to all giving.

Click here to view our Guide for Churches: Code of Fundraising Practice