We want to help your church have its busiest and best holiday giving season, so in this series we’ve promised to blueprint the steps you can take to put together a successful e-Giving program.
Last week, we discussed how to put your vision and financial goals into a plan and communicate it to your church’s leadership and members. The next step in putting your plan into action: Assembling your e-Giving toolkit.
The options for electronic giving continue to expand for churches, but which tools are right for each church? And how do you effectively communicate e-Giving options to members and keep up with how they’re using them?
With fewer people in the pews and more people spending more time online — increasingly on smartphones and other mobile devices — we strongly recommend that churches consider giving members multiple ways to conveniently make contributions and fulfill pledges.
Having more giving options for members helps remove barriers that may stop them from giving, encourages them to give more, and also makes it easier for churches to process their contributions.
Choosing the right tools
There are plenty of options churches can use in their e-Giving toolkit, and one or more of them may be right for you. The size of your church, the demographics of your membership and your budget will all play a role in your decision
An economical way to accept recurring donations or one-time payments is through an ACH service that securely and electronically transfers authorized funds from a member’s bank accounts into yours.
While fees for ACH are less than other forms of electronic payment, exchanging funds takes longer with some solutions. We offer and encourage the use of ACH giving, but our e-Giving solutions can also be configured to accept debit and/or credit cards.
Members can set up one-time or recurring contributions through a hosted web page on your website with a desktop computer or mobile device, donate by sending a text message with Give by Text, or use a walkup option like a kiosk.
Getting the support you need
Once you’ve made your decision, you’ll also want to consider the amount and type of support you can expect from your provider, how your new online giving service integrates with your church management software, and how contributions are processed, tracked and reported.
You’ll also have to get the word out to members that e-Giving is available, and we can help there, too — through messages we can provide for you to place on your website, in your church bulletin or on signs around your church.
Next time: Updating your technology and freshening up your website
Find out more about what we do to help faith-based organizations grow generosity among their members.
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