Developing a Parish Plan for Automated Giving L. Whitfield/R. Cammarata 2007

What is Automated Giving? An electronic, paperless transfer of funds from the parishioner to the parish. Different Types (for tonight) –ACH (Automated Clearing House) –Credit Cards Family BankParish Bank

What is ACH? The Automated Clearing House (ACH) electronically transfers money from one bank account to another (withdrawals/deposits). This can either be parish initiated/ parishioner authorized or parishioner initiated.  ACH payments include: direct deposit of payroll, Social Security, tax refunds, pension, annuity payments, interest, payment of consumer bills, internet payments, charitable donations, etc.

ACH Statistics NACHA-The Electronic Payments Assoc. Nearly 16 billion ACH payments were made in 2006 (more than a 2 billion transaction increase from 2005) Financial Institutions initiated approx. 15 billion ACH payments totaling $30 trillion Federal Government exceeded 1 billion transactions totaling $3.5 trillion Paraphrased from NACHA.org

What about Credit Cards? For years people have been using credit cards to purchase goods and services Many organizations and institutions are offering credit cards as an option for donations (online, phone, , snail-mail)  Credit Card transactions include: telethons, store purchases, bill payments, pledges, recurring commitments

Credit Card Statistics Number of signature-based, general purpose type credit/debit/smart cards in circulation: U.S.: million Dollar value of goods & services purchased with a signature-based, general purpose type credit/debit card last year:U.S.: $2.14 billion Paraphrased from Hypercom.com (2005)

Are we an Automated Society? You Betcha! Should WE be doing this? You Betcha, again!!

Offertory Evolution The Fruits of our Labor  Livestock, grain, wheat, fish, fruit, etc.  Money/Coins/Cash  Checks  Automated Giving? The church has adapted to how people manage their finances.

The Stewardship Connection Parishioner makes conscious, planned decision Gift made from “First Fruits” Church is a priority Financial gift plan is ensured Practical alternative to Sunday morning chaos! The average family is present at Mass weeks of the year!

Another Stewardship Connection! Save 18.5 million trees each year. Save more than 15.8 billion gallons of wastewater produced a year. Save more than 29 trillion BTUs of energy. Reduce toxic air pollutants by 2.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalents, akin to having 390,326 fewer cars. Reduce by 1.7 billion pounds the solid waste generated in a year, equal to the raw tonnage generated by Detroit in a year's time. Save landfill space and curb the amount of toxic chemicals - including methane gas - released into the atmosphere as paper decomposes. Paraphrased from ElectronicPayments.org According to Javelin Strategy & Research, if all U.S. households paid their bills electronically, it would:

Benefits to the Parish Reliable, regular revenue stream Saves counting time Less data entry (potentially) More secure than cash Automated Giving is a win-win!

How could you say No? Even if it’s just for these three reasons… An easy, effective and timely tool to help people carry out their Financial Stewardship Plan. On average, additional weeks of offertory. Rain, snow, sunshine, sickness, football, vacation, bad hair day, work, family obligations, a late Saturday night, soccer, etc. will not interrupt parishioner’s generous intentions.

But How? Let’s Take a Look!