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:
- We’ll Get That Money Anyway
- Some people feel that money given by members via credit cards would have come to the church via cash or check if the church didn’t have online giving. Personally, I’ve put things back on the shelf when I realized the shop didn’t take a credit card and I didn’t have cash to pay for it.
- I don’t believe all of that money would. Some would come in but not all. The convenience of credit cards eliminates hurdles to giving and allows for giving more.
- Back office administration
- The finance staff in the church has to get the donations posted to members giving records and to the church’s financial records. The worst way to do that is manually and the best way is to do it electronically with few or no human touches.
- Digital donation providers are continually working to ensure their systems can seamlessly “talk” with church financial records systems. Also, the online giving platforms have a way for members to access their giving history and even download a document suitable for their tax purposes (which means less contact with the church’s finance office).
Lead On!
Steve