Your financial donations make a real difference in our parish life, in our local community and around the world! Stewardship guidelines suggest moving, as one is able, toward the Biblical 'tithe' target of 10% of income returned to God in thanksgiving for His blessings, with 5% committed to the parish and 5% to religious and other charities, including the Archbishop's Annual Appeal. St. Michael's itself "gives back" with a monthly financial donation to Cranford Family Care.

St. Michael's offers many options for accepting donations, including online giving, weekly offertory envelopes, memorials, endowments, gifts of stocks/securities and planned giving options. You may make a single gift, schedule ongoing donations or change your level of giving at anytime. See below for more specific information, or contact us at the Parish Center at 908-276-0360.

Electronic Funds Transfer

Building the Kingdom of God on earth requires faith, commitment and resources. We rely on your consistent support. St. Michael’s is a large parish with annual expenses in excess of $1.3 million. St. Michael Church has an electronic giving option that may be more convenient for our parishioners.

How it Works

Click the Parish Giving image and follow the easy registration instructions to set up contributions to St. Michael Church. It is a simple and secure process.

You can make automated donations using a credit card or checking account. Our parish family is sustained through your regular support., Online giving is a great way to make it fast, simple, secure – and reliable. Easily track your donations, accrue points on your credit card, and know your support is felt each week.

Need help signing up?

Call Parish Giving at (866)-307-7140
Email Parish Giving at Info@ParishGiving.org
Call the St. Michael Parish Center at (908) 276-0360. We can walk you through the process over the phone.

Weekly Envelopes

Envelopes are mailed monthly to every registered household in the parish not enrolled in electronic fund transfer. In addition to the weekly offertory envelope, the packet includes envelopes for special collections requested by the Holy See and by the U.S. Catholic Bishops, which may be placed on the appropriate date in the basket during the single collection at Sunday Mass each week. Collections are also taken on Holy Days of Obligation and for special circumstances or to help with such things as seasonal maintenance, unexpected repairs and upgrade expenditures.

Gifts of Stock or Securities

St. Michael's accepts donations of appreciated stock or securities. This method of giving may have tax benefits for you in the deferral of capital gains. (Always consult your tax professional for advice.) Please contact the Parish Center for more information.

Charitable Gifts from an IRA

This method of giving may be particularly beneficial to parishioners who do not itemize their tax deductions. We recommend consulting a financial advisor or tax professional about the possible benefits of such gifts. Contact the Parish Center for further details.

Remember St. Michael's in Your Will

Making a bequest in your Last Will and Testament is a wonderfully generous and conscientious way of continuing your stewardship of God's gifts to benefit St. Michael's into the future. There are many options for providing such a gift: through naming the parish as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy, e.g., or by way of a Charitable Remainder Trust, etc.

It is highly recommended that you or your attorney or financial advisor speak with the Pastor before making specific arrangements for a bequest so that we can be sure of honoring your intent. In particular, we caution donors not simply to direct funds for the celebration of Masses. Changes in Church law severely restrict our ability to accept long-term commitments for celebrating Masses for an individual's intention; it is possible the bequest may have to be declined if St. Michael's cannot satisfy a donor's directive within a relatively short time, thus depriving the Parish of the assistance intended by the donor and failing to honor his or her basic purpose. Please note also that a portion of any unrestriced funds bequeathed to St. Michael's must be shared with the Archdiocese of Newark: if one wishes to have funds retained in the parish for its ministries and programs, the gift must be restricted for that purpose in the language of the bequest.

Have the following statement included in your will: “I leave to the Roman Catholic Parish of St. Michael, Cranford, NJ the sum of $_____ or_____percent of the residue of my estate, whichever is greater, for (in the case of an unrestricted gift) its religious, educational and charitable works (or, in the case of a restricted gift, "solely for (identifying the particular ministry or program, e.g., St. Michael Building Fund, St. Michael School, St. Michael Religious Education, St. Michael Youth Ministry, Music Endowment of St. Michael Church, St. Michael Parish Charity Fund, etc)

If you would like more information about any of these methods of giving, please contact the Parish Center. As always, consult your tax professional to discuss specific tax implications.

Archbishop’s Annual Appeal

St. Michael’s is a parish of the Archdiocese of Newark, and has a responsibility to help support the many pastoral, educational and charitable services of the Archdiocese. In addition to an assessment on the total ordinary parish revenue (i.e., regular weekly offerings, Christmas and Easter collections, general gifts and bequests — but not the Monthly Assessment collection, which is itself exempt from the assessment formula), the Archdiocese depends on contributions from individual parishioners by way of the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal.  Our parishioners have always been generous in response to the Annual Appeal. Materials describing the Appeal may be found in church, and volunteers contact our members by phone to encourage donations to the Appeal.

Click here to give to the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal online: please be sure to list St. Michael’s, Cranford, as your home parish so that your gift can help our parish reach or exceed our assigned goal.

Thank you for your generosity!