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The COVID-19 pandemic caused many worship facilities to shut their doors for a time right along with commercial businesses, holding virtual services and using videos to deliver their important messages.
Since churches rely on generous monetary offerings from their attendees to stay up and running strong, and without people coming in, collections were slow to non-existent for many.
“Using online giving tools is the perfect way to raise awareness, money, or spread a message to a massive audience and gain consistent support from those who really connect with your purpose.” Ralph Donnavan, eCcommerce Expert, New York, NY
Whereas not too long ago, virtual giving was used as a way to supplement the offering box or plate, now it’s a vital part of a church’s survival.
Studies have shown that those who give online are consistent and faithful to doing so, so churches who are not utilizing the online services out there are hurting themselves.
“Using online giving tools is the perfect way to raise awareness, money, or spread a message to a massive audience and gain consistent support from those who really connect with your purpose,” says Ralph Donnavan, an ecommerce expert in New York. “There’s really no reason for a church not to go this route. It can only help.”
Churches making the transition
Derek Sisterhen, executive director of finance & operations for Hope Community Church and four campuses across Raleigh, North Carolina, says its congregation of approximately 10,000 have been doing online giving since 2011.
Back then, it was a simple program, but as the donations grew, he was looking for a new service to help collect the giving coming in, so he tried a few different platforms. The provider PushPay allowed for giving through credit cards, debit cards, or recurring amounts given directly from bank accounts. Sisterhen noted that the PushPay option is extremely easy to use and contributions can be made in less than 10 seconds.
PushPay allows for giving through credit cards, debit cards, or recurring directly from bank accounts.
The migration of getting people onto PushPay was also very easy, according to Sisterhen.
“Today, we receive about 75% of contributions online, which is pretty significant compared to a lot of other churches,” he says. “In light of [recent] circumstances, having that much giving coming in online has been a huge help for us. We really haven’t missed a beat.”
Reverend Rick Owen, a district superintendent in North Alabama who oversees United Methodist churches, began encouraging his congregations to move to online once the pandemic started.
“Even our smallest churches are trying to do something online,” he says. “People want to give so it’s important that we give them the opportunity in a way that’s safe and helpful. Many of our churches are seeing a great blessing from those who are giving.”
Rock City Church in Birmingham Alabama, has been utilizing online giving and text-to-give giving for quite a while now, and has seen the numbers increase in the wake of the coronavirus.
“I let people know that we need their help and it’s God’s job to help the church,” says Pastor Mike McClure Jr. “As long as people know they’re giving where it’s going to help people, they’ll give.”
What’s available
For many churches, donations are just clicks away.
Venmo, PayPal, and Cash App are some of the more common platforms that churches can turn to for online giving, and these are generally known by most people and as easy as typing in a few things on the phone to send money.
But there are other apps that are designed specifically for a church audience.
One that many churches are using is Tithe.ly, which is designed to increase online giving through a free mobile giving app, online, and text giving. Churches pay 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for accepting credit cards and 1% plus 30 cents per transaction for ACH/bank account giving.
Tithe.ly ... is designed to increase online giving through a free mobile giving app, online, and text giving.
The Tithe.ly free mobile giving app tracks online and text giving.
“We joined with Tithe.ly about two years ago and couldn’t be happier,” says Cory Dellenbach, president of the church council at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran in Rhinelander, Wisc. “The giving tool is perfect for our small congregation, the app has also been a great addition. Would recommend to anyone.”
Kindrid is another giving platform that calls some of the largest churches in the world its customers. There are no start-up costs but it does cost $45 per month and has fees for credit card transactions.
Kindrid is another giving platform that calls some of the largest churches in the world its customers.
Promethean TV offers video donation overlays, which encourage contributions by serving the donation overlay while churches steam live or create video-on-demand content. It’s as easy as creating an account, linking an existing YouTube or other video channel, and then churches can start using the overlays and seeing donations come in. There is a fee based on the number of impressions, but it’s nominal compared to the funds that will come in, the company reports.
Many churches have also turned to Gentreo to help them with charitable giving across their memberships, although this is a bit different than simple online giving.
“Gentreo provides discounted online software for churches to provide church goers the ability to create wills and name their church as a beneficiary,” says Renee Fry, CEO of the company. “Many church goers want to do estate planning, but in the past it was not easy or affordable. Now estate planning is [as] easy as sending out a link to church members and helping them know how to put in the church as a beneficiary.”
Gentreo also works with churches to provide them with a percentage of the money paid by church-goers who use their church's specific code to create their estate plans. This is a great way for churches to raise quick funds, help them for the future, and help their congregations protect themselves and their families.
“There are people who are always going to like the feeling of placing their offering inside an offering box rather than doing it electronically,” Sisterhen says. “But since the pandemic, many have switched over to online giving and I believe many will continue to use it as things get better.”
