At a conference we recently attended, we heard from many churches that online donations is a hot topic on their minds. Have you considered taking the plunge and offering your members a way to conveniently give online? If you’ve been sitting on the fence, or if you’ve never considered online donations, now’s the time to begin thinking about it.
With over 80% of American households donating to nonprofit organizations every year and 61% of households donating to churches each year (Barna Group, 2003), giving is a big topic, to put it mildly. In the past, the only ways to give at church was to show up on Sunday and add to the collection plate, or put your check in the mail. Though most churches still rely on Sunday morning in-person giving as their “meat and potatoes,” many churches are embracing technology solutions that allow people to donate online from the comfort of their own homes.
If you’re already using EventU for online calendar and resource management, but have put off setting up online donations, not to mention online registration and payments for events, now could be a great time to get TransactU up-and-running and kick off a “new phase” of your giving campaign in the fall.
How was giving at your church over the summer? Most churches experience a decline in overall giving during the summer months because people are away on vacation and are not present at church to give. Online giving can help you avoid having a drop in giving next summer. By encouraging people to set up recurring online payments, and giving them control over the amount, day, and method of payment, you can not only provide a great way for people to conveniently give, you can ensure that giving will be more consistent over the long term.
Below are five important reasons why you should consider online giving with TransactU:
- Increase Consistency: Offering automatic bill payment can smooth out cash receipts and reduce the number of overdue bills. As a church, isn’t it important for you to have regular and predictable cash receipts?
- Give Donors Control: Give donors the ability to manage their own recurrence schedule, amounts, and even the account used for the payment. TransactU sends the donor a reminder a few days before each transaction so that it’s not “out of sight.” It also sends an automatic e-mail receipt that the donor could optionally drop in the offering plate on Sunday, thus avoiding the feelings associated with not placing something in the plate.
- Emphasize Security: Security is not a topic to be overlooked. ServiceU has complied with security standards such as Visa and MasterCard’s jointly developed Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS) to ensure that cardholder data is kept safe and secure. This is a wonderful benefit that you can pass on to your members.
- Save Time: TransactU offers extensive reporting that makes it possible for church staff to reconcile the deposits to your bank account with the individual donations. Without such reporting, your staff will end up wasting many hours daily or weekly in trying to reconcile these transactions.
- Receive Funds Directly: ServiceU helps customers set up your own merchant account so that funds deposit directly into your bank account and you receive monies right away
We’ve been working here at ServiceU to spread the word about online giving and educate churches on the impact that online giving can have through to their bottom line. Below are a few articles to shed further light on the subject:
- NACBA Ledger -
Online Giving: What Does Your Church Need to Know?
- ChurchCentral.com -
How to Keep Your Virtual Offerings Safe
Church Executive - Five Hot Trends in E-Giving
To see how making giving convenient helped one of our customers get people involved, click here.