It’s that time of year when many churches encourage attendees to consider giving a year-end gift in order to catch up on their annual giving to their church. Yorba Linda Friends Church is a big proponent of TransactU’s online giving functionality, they first offered online giving to its congregation in 2006; Today, they take in over 20% of their offerings online.
Andy Collins, communications director for YLFC says, “Each year we write a letter to our members recapping all the positive things we’ve done as a church over the last year. This gages a better reaction and makes a big church seem smaller. We can’t always announce everything as it happens throughout the year, so this is one way we center in, for instance, on a very positive junior high school trip that wasn’t mentioned to the congregation at all.”
YLFC promotes year-end giving in their bulletin, in the letter that goes out to the congregation, and in email. All forms of communication offer links to the church website where people can opt to give online.
When asked if he had advice for other churches, Collins said, “Churches that don’t offer online giving and might be afraid of the whole security issue surrounding credit cards, but because ServiceU is Level 1 PCI Compliant, there’s not need to worry. It’s all taken care of.”
“Online giving is completely worth the money—you will gain a hundred fold plus. Our goal is to supply our congregation with the means to ‘do life.’ For instance, if we need to start texting students as a means of communications, we’ll do it.
He continues, “Everyone’s life revolves around the internet. It gets to a point where you have the meet your congregation where they’re at.”
Lastly Collins adds, “You’ll see the giving go up in the 18-35 age category if you offer online giving. I don’t see how you wouldn’t.”
By Lauren Hunter – from www.ChurchTechToday.com
