Church Executive Best Practices Forum: Fundraising & Generosity | Page 5

FUNDRAISING &
GENEROSITY
BEST
PRACTICES
FORUM
Engage churchgoers by incorporating giving
technologies into your church community
By Richard Bauer
Dropping cash or checks into a collection plate at church is a
giving tradition, but digital giving options have fast become the
alternative for most churchgoers. Bringing new giving technologies
into your church can be exciting and can help improve how you
serve your members and the missions you are passionate about.
But, moving forward from comfortable norms to unknown giving
options can also be intimidating.
“Gifts from using the text-giving option now account for 20 percent of total
giving to St. James — money that the church wouldn’t be getting otherwise.”
— William E. Hall, Pastor, St. James Community
“Digital giving choices result in less work for you and more options for
your parishioners.”
— Lukas Iwanski, Director of Finance and Personnel,
St. Jude Catholic Church
“People are excited to have an e-giving option. We’re at 60 percent to 70 percent
of our new parishioners signing on for e-giving instead of envelopes. And e-giving
accounts for about 30 percent of total donations.”
— Stephanie Nolet, Pastoral Associate for Administration,
St. Mary’s, Crescent Catholic Church
“Giving has gone up amazingly. Some Sundays, ACH giving is higher than our
[cash and check] offering.”
— Sara Martin, Church Administrator,
Lexington Park United Methodist Church
“When Faithpoint first offered online giving, about one-quarter of church
members took immediate advantage. That number has grown to 70 percent
today, and monetary contributions have increased by 20 percent.”
— George Wasson, Senior Pastor and Founder,
Faithpoint United Methodist Church
We get it. Having worked with more than 20,000 churches over 20
years, we’ve designed eGiving solutions that are simple to understand and
easy for any church to adopt.
Our research shows that 62 percent of churchgoers of all ages prefer to
give electronically. And the State of the Plate Research verifies that only
14 percent of churches find envelopes in the pews useful anymore. By
blending digital options into your giving program, you enable church
supporters to make donations through the methods they are most
comfortable with, and prefer.
Making eGiving a successful part of your church community’s
donation habits is easy, fast and uncomplicated. Churchgoers are already
using digital options in their everyday lives to pay for gas at the pump
by swiping a card, or by clicking into a mobile app to pay for their coffee.
Digital giving is just as easy. In addition, your overall donations can
increase by more than 25 percent when you offer a combination of digital
options, such as online giving through a home computer, text giving
through a cell phone, and giving kiosks where donors can slide their debit
or credit cards. Not only will your church reap amazing benefits by using
digital giving solutions, you’ll also maximize your donation potential
while spending less time managing your giving processes.
Churches that are already using digital or eGiving solutions are some of
the biggest advocates of these products. They have seen that the benefits
of adding different types of giving technologies far outweigh any assumed
challenges. Consider these experiences from our church clients:
churchexecutive.com
As technologies outside church communities continue to advance,
our team continues to pursue next steps in digital giving for the church
communities we serve. We heard that churches needed a flexible solution
to collect set-dollar amounts at various events and locations. We answered
that need with our newest giving option, GivePlus Sidekick. This giving
technology is very similar to the credit / debit card machines vendors use
to slide your cards through when you go shopping or out to dinner at a
restaurant — but without any of the cords attached.
Sidekick runs on a built-in, secure cell phone connection that can be
powered by plugging it into a traditional electrical outlet or a battery
pack. With this flexibility, you can pre-program the donation amount and
take Sidekick with you to the morning coffee bible study for offerings.
Then, you can quickly change the programed dollar amount to reflect the
donations for an outside baseball game — and then switch it again to take
it to the evening dinner social.
Giving technologies are very effective donation and offering tools
that can work in ways you might not expect. We know that when
churches offer digital giving products and provide a variety of giving
options to their members and guests, it not only alleviates church
administrators’ workloads, it also encourages churchgoers to give
more, and give more often. Our consultants help church teams
determine the best giving options for their churches and will
answer any general questions you have about giving technologies.
Richard Bauer is an eGiving Ambassador for Vanco Payment Solutions
[ www.vancopayments.com ].
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 8 • CHURCH EXECUTIVE
5