Still have a question? Contact the Treasurer.
From a spiritual perspective, we are called upon to be generous and joyful givers of our time, talents, and treasure to support God’s church. Jesus teaches us to love and serve others with the resources and talents we have been blessed with. Thus, generosity is at the root of our faith. Giving is also an expression of our gratitude for the many blessings in our lives.
When you give to Trinity, you help fund our ministries in the community, our worship, and the staff that supports our community as we strive to live out God’s love.
Making your pledge allows you to be intentional with your finances and to consciously use your money in ways that reflect your faith, values, and calling.
From a practical viewpoint, stewardship is our combined energy and financial support that make possible all that we are and do as a parish. Pledges and gifts provide approximately 70% of the funds for our annual parish budget.
A pledge to Trinity is your stated intention to fulfill a defined, annual monetary gift that supports the operational budget of the Church. One does not have to be a “pledger” to make a gift, but understanding your intentions to give in advance is critical for the vestry to set the budget for the following year.
Members of the Episcopal Church are expected to support their parish through generous pledges of their time and talent (volunteering) and treasure (financial pledges). You are invited to support your share of our parish expenses and operating costs, in proportion to your resources. You are not required to pledge to attend services and participate in parish life.
Every gift is received with gratitude and joy. You are invited to support your share of our parish expenses and operating costs, in proportion to your resources.
Trinity depends on a relatively small number of pledges (approximately 140) for most of its budget.
This is a personal decision, but there are guiding principles. The Biblical tithe of 10% of income is a worthy goal, and some members joyfully reach this pinnacle. At Trinity, we suggest an initial goal of 2% of discretionary income, and encourage you to step up in increments of 1% towards a fuller tithe.
Our average gift in 2026 was approximately $5,000 per household—this average is what we need to sustain Trinity’s mission.
We are facing significant inflation in our expenses (especially some expenses such as utilities and healthcare insurance for our clergy and staff). Yet many pledges have remained constant in dollar terms year-to-year. We invite you to consider increasing your 2027 pledge by over 5% to help offset inflation and sustain our mission.
We all receive many requests from worthwhile charities and organizations—but giving to the church community is different than other charitable giving. When we offer our gifts to the church, we are less interested in ‘return on investment’ or ‘results’. Giving to the church, through joyful, regular giving (whether online or in the offering plate each week), is a liturgical act of sacrifice. When the ushers bring forward our gifts (bread, wine, and money), they are offering them on our behalf to God to assume into Godself and transform into what we need for Christian Community (strength, solace, comfort, service).
Every gift or plate offering is gratefully received, but we ask members to indicate their level of support via a pledge to help with our planning. A pledge to Trinity is a financial commitment to support our parish and its missions in the coming year. It helps us plan and create a budget, and your pledge is an act of faith that connects you more deeply to our church. Many find spiritual joy in making a generous pledge to support God’s work through the church.
Yes, all members of our community are encouraged to pledge, including our newest members. Gifts should reflect household financial capacity, and reflect where you are in your journey with Trinity. Perhaps new members want to start with a smaller pledge/gift and then as your relationship with the church grows, so can your financial support. Every pledge, regardless of size, is important to each stewardship campaign and is used to fund our ministries in the community, our worship, and the staff that supports our community as we strive to live into God’s mission for our Church.
We certainly hope that Trinity becomes your spiritual home. Part of committing to a new church is committing to its financial well-being and helping to sustain its mission. Please give something to each church you visit in your search, including Trinity. We want all spiritual communities to thrive. When you are ready to make Trinity your spiritual home, we invite you to reach out to our Rector to learn more about the process of joining the church.
70% of our annual budget comes from pledges. We do have long-term funds, including a general funds endowment from which we use only a small draw (4.8% of rolling average on the principal) each year to offset a portion of our annual expenses.
No, we don’t—for Trinity, it’s actually the other way around. Your pledges or gifts go directly to our parish, and we then contribute an annual assessment to help fund the diocese, supporting it and the missions of the Episcopal Church throughout the world. Episcopal churches are usually financially independent, raising most of their operating funds from members.
There are three easy ways to make your pledge:
We accept a pledge at any time. However, timely pledges are important for budgeting for the coming year. To that end, please make your pledge before our Ingathering on Sunday, November 15, 2026.
Every gift is received with gratitude, and we accept many forms of financial gifts.
That said, the easiest way to give is via a recurring gift on our secure online giving platform on our website, since that is fully automated—easier for you and requires no processing. This can be via ACH transfer from your bank or via credit card (although credit cards carry higher processing fees for the church).
You can also set up a recurring check to be sent from your bank using your online banking autopay function. This is also easy for you and for us to process.
You can also mail or bring a check or cash to the church office or place it in the offering plate during our services. Checks should be made payable to “Trinity Episcopal Church”. If mailing/bringing to the office, please label the envelope, “Attention: Treasurer”.
You can select the amount, the fund (from the drop-down), and select the date for your gift all right from our giving tab on our website. If you wish to set up recurring payments, you can do so and select the frequency.
You can also donate to different funds—for example, to your stewardship pledge, the flowers fund, memorial fund, Discretionary Fund, or seasonal offerings for Easter or Christmas.
Yes. Our service provider, Vanco Payment Solutions, is designated as a PCI (Payment Card Industry) Level 1 Compliant Service Provider. That means that customer transaction data is managed under the highest security standards in the industry. ACS technologies (the creator of our Realm system) partners directly with Vanco Payment Solutions to ensure secure online giving.
There is no fee to you for using our online giving option. The church pays a small processing fee. When making your donation using a credit card, you will have the opportunity to help cover the cost, if you choose.
Pledges indicate your intended financial donation to the parish for the coming year. They convey a level of commitment that strengthens our bonds with the parish, and they are necessary for the vestry to plan appropriately for the year ahead. While pledges guide our budget for the year, they are not legally binding, and if your circumstances change, you can adjust your pledge up or down.
Since your pledge to Trinity is not legally binding, you can pay your pledge from a donor-advised fund or a charitable gift fund.
Please contact our Bookkeeper or the Treasurer for further information on the process to donate stock through Trinity’s brokerage account.
Trinity has an established program for estate gifts (the ‘Bishop Paddock Society’, named after the Bishop who consecrated our church in 1885). Please contact the Treasurer directly for further information on the process to include Trinity in your estate plans.
You do not need to use a pledge envelope. In fact, not putting your check into a pledge envelope helps make processing more efficient for us. We take your name directly from a check or from the online giving form in order to credit your gift towards your pledge, and we do not use the number on a pledge envelope. If you use cash and would like to use an envelope, we will record your written name (or pledge number if you have a pledge envelope) from that.
Yes, all contributions will be credited to your account and will appear on your quarterly statement along with any other donations.
Pledge statements will be sent quarterly. You can send an email to the Treasurer or Bookkeeper who can easily provide you with your pledge balance. You can also look up your pledge balance yourself by logging in to Realm, at https://onrealm.org/trinityconcord. If you do not yet have a Realm login, see below Q&A on “how do I login to Realm”.
If you need help making a change to your pledge, please contact our bookkeeper or treasurer.
Alternatively, you can do this yourself by logging in to Realm (our church management system). You can change your pledge amount and if you created a recurring payment when you set up your gift, you can change the amount, date, or cancel the payment at any time. Simply log in to our church system, Realm, at https://onrealm.org/trinityconcord and make your change. If you do not yet have a Realm login, see below Q&A on “how do I login to Realm”.
If you ALREADY have a Realm login: Go directly to onrealm.org/trinityconcord.
Log in with your email and password. Forgot your password? Click the “Forgot your password?” link on that page to reset it.
If you do NOT have a Realm account yet:
Please note: Updating your pledge amount tells the church your giving intentions, but it does not automatically change recurring online payments. If you set up automatic payments, you can adjust those under the Scheduled Gifts tab.
