For Immediate Release 23/01/2012

Church pools its buying power to save parishes £10 million pa

13,000 Church of England parishes can now benefit from reduced prices for essential utilities and services. A new website (www.parishbuying.org.uk), developed by the Parish Buying Service, is offering churches savings on £200 million worth of services each year.

04th April 2011

Parishes across the Church of England stand to save £10 million a year.

Thanks to lessons learnt responding to floods and earthquakes. Robert Kissick and Russell Stables have been appointed as National Procurement Officers to establish deals that will aim to save parishes that much and more.  

Robert Kissick brings a wide range of procurement experience in a variety of challenging situations: responding quickly to floods, earthquakes, cyclones, wars and famine, while managing a range of purchasing contracts for the Department for International Development.  Russell Stables brings complementary experience, with additional expertise in the marketing, operations and customer support arenas - all essential parts of a successful church buying operation.

Rob and Russell founded 2buy2, a procurement service for churches, two years ago. They will work on contract for the Church of England to build a web-based service for parishes, as well as spend time helping churches save money and buy better. Russell Stables commented "We are delighted to be working on this project.  The potential for operational savings is huge and we look forward to working together with parishes enabling them to buy and save together! This is far more than a cost saving exercise - it is a means of demonstrating good stewardship and releasing money which can be directed towards mission and ministry."