Churches which do not have online giving often have several questions which hinder them from proceeding. Here are some of the concerns I’ve run into over the past few years:
- Portal Fees
- Digital donation providers themselves have a fee which usually depends on the size of the church (number of Sunday morning worshippers).
- This is the fee paid to the provider their services
- A portal that makes is easy and friendly to give
- Back office assistance to post contributions
- Help in creating categories for gifts
- Continuing training to existing and new staff at the church
- Ideas for successful marketing and implementation
- This fee is to the digital donations provider just as we’d pay the plumber for their labor (that is, the portal fee) and we also pay for parts (that is, the credit card fees) – two different expenses paid to two different companies.
- Debt by members
- Some churches are concerned that members will get deeper in debt by using their credit cards to pay their tithe. There are two ways to address this within the church:
- Encourage people to use a debit card or an ACH transfer (bank to bank). These are cheaper for the church and don’t create credit card debt.
- Have a class teaching members wise money management using materials from Financial Peace University and/or from Crown Ministries. These classes can really help people get their financial house in order AND tithe.
- But some people want to use their credit card to earn rewards points and they will pay off their credit card balance each month.
- Some churches are concerned that members will get deeper in debt by using their credit cards to pay their tithe. There are two ways to address this within the church:
Lead On!
Steve