In partnership with the Church of England’s National Giving Team, the Generous Giving Team in the Diocese of Newcastle is able to offer a new free online learning tool called Cornerstone. Cornerstone individually guides churches to understand and improve their finances, their giving practice and their culture of generosity. This is done through insights, a bespoke parish data dashboard and clear actions for development.
Churches can choose from dozens of pathways to help focus resources on areas most relevant to them. Pathways are easy to access via an agile learning environment, with supportive templates and tools to make life as easy as possible. Additionally, the Cornerstone platform gives parishes access to a free live database of 600 grants, carefully selected by and for the Church of England.
Cornerstone Rollout Phase 2
In February 2025 we completed phase one of our diocesan rollout with 17 parishes onboarded. Our phase two workshop has now been confirmed to take place during this year's annual diocesan Generosity Week. Interested parishes are invited to register at their earliest convenience as the number of churches we're able to onboard will be limited.
- 📅Tuesday 23rd September
- ⌚10.30am-1pm
- 📍Church House, St John’s Terrace, North Shields, NE29 6HS
Find out more
Before registering to join the rollout, we recommend downloading the project pack, and sharing it with other members of your church who may be interested in joining a team. You can also get in touch with the Generous Giving Team who would be delighted to talk you through everything.
Download Cornerstone project pack
Please note, ahead of the workshop in September there will also be a one hour preparatory webinar for all parishes taking part. The purpose of the webinar is to guide you though the onboarding process and outline some key actions required before the day itself. You can choose between a daytime or evening session.
Book webinar - Tuesday 9th September at 10am
Book webinar - Tuesday 9 September at 7pm
What do churches in the Diocese of Newcastle think of Cornerstone?
‘Cornerstone is a fascinating platform which offers us new ways to grow generous giving, put in the context of our individual churches.’ Churchwarden, St Hilda’s, Lucker
‘An opportunity to think systematically about giving and to stimulate fresh thinking.' Treasurer, Holy Trinity, Jesmond
‘The Generosity Score material generated a lot of conversation, and will be helpful for ongoing use in the parish.’ Vicar, St Francis, High Heaton
‘I think it is an excellent initiative and look forward to using the platform and what I’ve learned from the workshop.’ Former PCC member, St Peter’s, Bywell
‘Love the pathways - thank you.’ Vicar, St George’s, Jesmond
‘I think the Cornerstone initiative is very good and has the potential to help improve our giving culture and fundraising.’ PCC Secretary, Walker Parish Church
‘It really made me think about what we can do to encourage generous giving in our church and it also provided the tools for us to do that. Being able to see our stats clearly in a graph will be so useful.’ Treasurer, St George’s, Mickley
‘The insights from surveys and prior research into giving and generosity was really illuminating and helpful.’ Churchwarden and Treasurer, St Cuthbert’s, Norham
‘The variety of pathways, giving aims and areas to focus on in our own context is so valuable.’ Vicar, Kenton and Fawdon