Online Donations

Thank you for Giving to St. Paul's

Click the link or scroll down the page to find:

  • Secure Online Giving. Regular, one-time, or recurring giving to established church budget areas including our General Fund. Read more here.
  • Additional Contribution Options: Donate to special projects or seasonal causes outside the "regular menu" of offerings. You'll enter the designation in the form, just like you would write on the memo line of a check.
  • Holiday Giving: Special seasonal donations to support St. Paul's program providing Christmas gifts/gift cards to less fortunate neighbors.
  • The Pledge Form: Share how you can support St. Paul's with faithful giving in the coming year.
  • Designated UMC Special Sundays: More info about special offerings made in connection with UMC churches across the globe to support UMC programs like Student Sunday scholarship, Native American ministries, social justice programs, or other initiatives.
  • Offering Envelopes: How to receive offering envelopes in the mail, or to ask us to stop sending them.

For questions, please contact Erin Bone Steele, Director of Communications & Administration: stpaulsunited@stpaulsk.org.

St. Paul's UMC

giving options

Please click the button to go to our secure credit-card processing site for regular giving options.


Regular Giving Options


You will be able to make a one-time or recurring donation to one of these funds:

  • General Fund - The core of St. Paul's budget, covering a myriad of needs for the life and work of the church, providing for worship, study and education, faith formation, justice & compassion projects, and the day-to-day utility bills, salaries, and supplies. These things make it possible to engage in vital ministries throughout the life of our church and beyond.
  • Building Improvement Fund - The Improvement Fund keeps our building comfortable and safe, covering such things as emergency repairs for broken heating or air conditioning systems, fixing leaky pipes, replacing worn or damaged carpet, and unexpected but essential building-related expenses. 
  • Technology Advancement Fund - These dedicated funds will allow the church to make significant investments in technology, software, and equipment to continue offering online worship and educational activities, and to keep our network and church data secure. Long-term goals include creating comprehensive, reliable, and secure wifi coverage throughout our building.
  • Hunger Ministry- Support our ongoing efforts to feed families in the 20895 ZIP code with this signature community service project! Every month, we provide hungry neighbors with shelf-stable pantry staples, a takeout meal, and grocery store cards that enable recipients to select the fresh produce, meat, and dairy that we can't stock, and to choose personal hygiene items with dignity. Visit our Hunger Ministry page for more information. 


One-Time and Special Donations

To make a one-time special donation, support a special fund, or donate to a ministry area not included above, please click this button for our easy one-time donation form. You will be able to tell us how to direct your contribution, just as you would make a note in the "memo" section of a check.


Miscellaneous One-Time Donations




These "regular fund" donations are processed securely through Vanco, a preferred banking partner of the UMC. One-time and special fund donations and purchases are processed securely by MinistryWorks/CloverGive. If you have questions, please contact the church office at stpaulsunited@stpaulsk.org. 

Holiday GIving: Christmas

Donate financial support for the Holiday Giving project. For 2023, St. Paul's will be providing $25 Target gift cards to families in need so they can purchase gifts for their children. This year we will be providing for families on our Hunger Ministry list plus those referred to us by partners at Montgomery County through the Department of Health & Human Services. Use the button to make a one-time donation to the Christmas Holiday Giving effort.



Holiday Giving Donations



For more information, click here to visit the Holiday Giving page.


GIve Thanks by GIving to Our Community

As Thanksgiving is approaching, we invite you to join us in supporting local Kensington families. 


We have provided Hunger Ministry and county referral households with a $50 grocery card to enable them to create a Thanksgiving meal for their families. Please consider making a donation (cash/check or credit card online) in any amount to help offset the costs of this program. Your generous donation will ensure that all families in our community can enjoy a Thanksgiving meal and create cherished memories during the holiday.


To donate, please make a contribution in this week’s offering plate by cash or check made out to St. PAul's with "Thanksgiving" in the memo. For online donations, click here to go to the Miscellaneous Contributions option and put "Thanksgiving" in the line for designated fund or cause.


We are grateful for those who have already donated generously and who have volunteered their time to make this project possible. Thank you! Together, we can make this Thanksgiving a truly special and meaningful time for everyone in our community.


For questions, please contact Grace Graham or another members of our Holiday Giving Coordinators team.

Stewardship:

Pledging Support for 2024

Your faithful giving makes it possible for St. Paul's UMC to do everything we do, and your pledge makes it possible for the church to plan a financially sustainable year engaged in worship, ministry, and work in the community. Thank you for your commitment to the work and ministry of St. Paul's.


To make a pledge for 2024, click the button below to go to our secure online form. 

Pledge for 2024


If you prefer to use a paper form, these are available in the Narthex and church office.


For pledge questions or to make changes, please contact Erin Steele, Director of Communications & Administration, at stpaulsunited@stpaulsk.org.


We will celebrate pledges this year on Stewardship Sunday, November 19, but we gratefully receive pledges year-round!


If you are unable to pledge, we thank you for supporting St. Paul’s whenever and however you are able.

Additional Options: 

Miscelleaneous Contributions

There are many reasons you might want to make a contribution to St. Paul's beyond those offerings that appear above in the "regular menu" of giving or scheduled designated Special Sundays offerings. 


This is where you might make a contribution to Memorials, the Music Fund, Educational Award, flowers, or another cause. Click the button here to go to our secure form for Miscellaneous Contributions, and let us know the fund or cause to which we may direct your contribution.


Make Your Contribution Here



If you prefer, donations and offerings by check are always welcome and should be mailed to St. Paul's UMC, Attn: Treasurer, 10401 Armory Ave., Kensington MD 20895, or dropped off at the office. Please make all checks payable to St. Paul's UMC and be sure to note the cause or fund in the Memo line.


All "special funds" donations or online sales are processed through the secure credit-card processor CloverGive/MinistryOne. For questions, please contact Erin Steele, Director of Communications & Administration.

CHristmas SPecial Offering

It is our practice here at St. Paul’s to hold a special offering on Christmas Eve that will specifically go outside the walls of this congregation and into the needs of the community. This year, the Church Council has determined that 100% of the Christmas offering will be divided equally among two worthy causes: 

  • The Hunger Ministry of St. Paul’s, which serves anyone in our ZIP code who may be in need of food
  • The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), to directly assist relief efforts in disaster zones around the world.


To contribute to the Christmas Offering by credit card, please click the Christmas Offering button to go to our secure credit card processing site managed by CloverGive/MinistryWorks. 


Christmas Offering 2023


To donate by cash or check, please use the Christmas envelope available in the Christmas Eve worship bulletin, or note “Christmas Offering” in the memo line of your check and place it in the offering plate or mail it to St. Paul’s UMC. 


All other donations, including general offerings or pledges, should be made using a different contribution option online or in an envelope other than the Christmas Offering envelope. 

More about...

"Special Sundays" Offerings

"Special Sundays" are designated by the global United Methodist Church and enable congregations throughout our whole denomination to celebrate, commemorate, and contribute connectionally to support important causes. By combining our Special Sunday offerings with those of other UMC congregations, the UMC is able to do more work, together, to support growth and change for all God's people.


For most Special Sunday offerings, half the funds collected on a Special Sunday stay within a conference, administered by the conference's finance office to serve conference-level needs and initiatives, while the other half go the the UMC's general conference board of finance for supporting UMC projects worldwide.


The United Methodist Church calendar includes recommended dates for celebrating each Special Sunday, while allowing individual congregations to celebrate Special Sundays and welcome offerings on any Sunday that is convenient and appropriate.  


Special Sundays and the month they are usually celebrated:

Human Relations Day (January)

UMCOR Sunday (March)

Native American Ministries (April)

Peace with Justice (May)

World Communion (October)

United Methodist Student Day (November)


St. Paul's creates online giving options for each Special Sunday giving opportunity, and provides Special Sunday offering envelopes on designated dates during worship.

Special Sunday:

UM STUDENT SUNDAY

Student Sunday will be celebrated November 26, 2023


Click the button to make a donation online.


UM Student Sunday


Donations in the offering plate on Sundays or by mail are also welcome. Please make checks payable to St. Paul's UMC with "Special Sunday: Students" on the memo line, and mail to St. Paul's UMC, Attn: Treasurer, 10401 Armory Ave., Kensington MD 20895


As one of the designated “Special Sundays” in The United Methodist Church, Student Sunday is set aside as a time to recognize the challenges and triumphs of students in college, and the way the global United Methodist Church can help make attending college a financial reality. 


The funds received from this offering go into the United Methodist Student Loan Fund administered by the UMC General Board of Higher Education and Ministry; 100% of the dollars given on Student Sunday go to fund grants, scholarships, and loans for United Methodist students to attend the college of their choice. There are over 70 scholarships available annually, and the number of students served can increase with generous giving. 


Did you know, United Methodist Student Day was the original Special Sunday? The fund was first established in 1872! 

Offering Envelopes Available

Members and friends of St. Paul's who give their general offering to St. Paul's using check or cash may choose to receive customized paper offering envelopes. These come from a printing service and arrive at donors' homes, ready to use and pre-printed with the donors' name, address, envelope number, and Sunday dates (although you can use them any time).


PLEASE NOTE:

Our printing partner that produces the paper envelopes experienced a supply-chain interruption and they were unable to mail out the envelopes for the start of 2023. Envelope recipients should see their customized envelopes in the mail starting in March. In the meantime, you may mail checks to St. Paul's using any envelope, with a note in the memo line indicating you are making an offering, or give online using the giving portal options above. Thank you!



If you would normally place checks or cash in the offering plate and now wish to mail it to St. Paul's, these customized paper envelopes might be useful to you. Email Erin Steele (stpaulsunited@stpaulsk.org) and she will add you to the list.


Alternatively, if you receive envelopes but shifted to online giving and no longer need printed envelopes, please let us know. This can help keep clutter out of your mailbox and save the church a little money on printing and postage costs. Please email Erin (stpaulsunited@stpaulsk.org) with your request.


One last note:  Thank you for your patience! Due to the printers' timetable and the challenges of working remotely during the COVID-19 period, there may be a two-month (or more) delay between your request and a change in your paper envelope status.