Churchgoers feel a need to give to their churches. When we surveyed more than 1,000 of them, they told us they donated for reasons that encompass duty, helping the church and belief that the church does important work spiritually and in the community.
But here’s the problem: Churches’ overall share of charitable giving has dropped a little bit every year for the past 30 years, and those small drops have added up. In 1987, churches received 53 percent of all charitable donations, but get only a little more than 30 percent today. It’s not that churchgoers are giving less – churches received a record $114.9 billion in contributions in 2014 – but a larger percentage of overall charitable giving is being directed to other charities.
One reason is that fewer people are attending church, especially younger Americans. Millennials (ages 18-34) are less likely than their parents’ generation to attend weekly services, according to a 2014 survey by the Pew Research Center, which put the number of millennials who do at just 27 percent.
Another reason is that charities have been faster than churches to adopt mobile giving. Smartphone ownership among U.S. adults has nearly doubled in the past five years, from 35 percent in 2011 to 68 percent today. And when charities give donors mobile giving tools to help make it easier to be generous, donors tend to give more, and give more often.
Smartphone ownership is even higher for younger and more affluent groups — 86 percent of those ages 18-29, 83 percent for ages 30-49, and 87 percent in households with annual incomes of $75,000 or more.
Smartphone owners also use their devices a lot — they average almost 3 hours a day using them. More than 90 percent of millennials use them at least once a month to buy something, so the option to give through a mobile giving app is both normal and comfortable for them.
More churches are using mobile apps to reach younger members — and technologically savvy older members, too — as a way to expand their ministries beyond the Sunday morning service. Similarly, mobile giving apps offer their congregations the ability to give in a way that fits into their lives, whenever and however they want.
The Give+ Mobile app offers your congregation the opportunity to give whenever they’re moved to do so, during a small-group discussion on refugee assistance, at a children’s choir performance or after a weekly fellowship meeting.
Incorporating a mobile giving app into your stewardship plan allows you to offer your congregation a tool that expands their ability to give in the moment. Apps are convenient for your members and for you. Learn how the Give+ Mobile app can help you reach them through their smartphones.
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