1. Click Here: The Nuts and Bolts of Online Giving
The Growth Ministry Counsel welcomes you to today’s workshop…
Click Here: The Nuts and Bolts of Online Giving

2. Why online giving should be part of your thinking…
Americans have changed the way they do commerce.
Fewer people carry checks and often have little or no cash on them. So now, rather than the offering plate making it easier for members to give, it can actually be an obstacle for your church membership and visitors to be generous.

3. Why offer an online giving option?
Online giving and online bill pay are now widely accepted as a means of doing business.
Most churches that offer this option, find at least 10% of their families sign up for it within the first year.

4. Why offer an online giving option?
Most online giving programs offer a recurring giving feature that allows online donors to schedule their church donations weekly, biweekly or monthly.
Hence, all the options to give are available and donors are free to set their own dates or days to give, 40% of them choose monthly option while 30% prefer to give weekly or biweekly. Now the church has a steady flow of funds that it can count on throughout the year.

5. Why offer an online giving option?
Many churches have reported a significant increase in collections
, especially during summer when many families go out of town or are simply too busy with other activities.
An online giving option allows snowbirds to give to their home church regardless of where they are during the year.

6. Why offer an online giving option?
An online option to charge donations to the credit card greatly enhances attractiveness of the online giving program.
A church that offers both bank transfer and credit cards forgiving generally sees between 40% and 50% of the donations charged to credit cards. Additionally, an average credit card donation is generally 8% to 10% higher than that of a cash or check donation. The difference more than offsets the cost to the church of accepting credit card donations.

7. Why offer an online giving option?
Online transactions, whether they are church donations are payments for a function or fundraising event, are safe and secure.
Credit card companies have developed comprehensive guidelines for merchants who accept credit cards. They are required to comply with these guidelines in order to be approved for accepting payments with credit cards.

8. Why offer an online giving option?
Convenience is probably the biggest advantage for a family
. They can schedule a donation at any time during the week from the safety of their own homes. They don’t have to be concerned about missing out on their commitment to the church if they can’t attend the service for any reason. They also don’t have to worry about forgetting their checkbook are not having enough cash in their wallets when they go to church. They can manage their budgets better since they know exactly how much they are committing to during the year.

9. Why offer an online giving option?
The younger generation is more likely to participate in church activities and donate when it can do so using the means and technology they use in their daily lives.
The appeal for donation for earthquake victims in Haiti is a prime example of how modern technology helped in collecting $30 million in a matter of 10 days by allowing people who use their cell phones a means to make a donation.

10. The easier it is for people to give, the more they will give.
Think about it…
The easier it is for people to give, the more they will give.

11. How many checks do you write a month?
Most of us only write a few, if any..
Over the last 10 years, online bill payment has increased 800%.
Paper checks have declined from 61% of all payments in 2000 to a low 20% mark today.
Online charitable giving has doubled every year and continues to rise.
70% of Millennials prefer to give online
For a long time, the only check I wrote in a given month, was a monthly check to my church

12. Churches that refuse to offer online giving have seen and will continue to see their revenue declined significantly.
Statistics show that the percentage of income that Americans give to the church has fallen from 3.11% in 1968 to around 2% today.
If that rate of decline continues, by 2050 the percentage will be at 1%.

13. Making online giving work…
Know the process yourself
Make it easy and accessible
Have everything ready to go before you launch
Set a kickoff date
Build a plan of action for gaining online gifts
Work your plan
Don’t stop working your plan
– It’s not enough to simply have a tool. You must use it and use it correctly. One of the biggest mistakes churches make after they set up online giving, is not launching it correctlyyou can have a lawn mower, but if you don’t get it out of the shed your lawn doesn’t get mowed.
You can’t move your congregation to use the tool if you don’t use it yourself. If you use it so will your members.
– your “giving button” doesn’t have to be a flashing blue light, but it does have to be visible and easy to find.
– Set a kickoff date: You’d like to set a time to officially kick off the launch. This will give you time to announce the site and “market it” to your members.
-Build a plan of action: think of multiple ways to tell the story about the benefits of online giving. Use all your communication outlets from direct mail, , social media posts, bulletin inserts, QR codes in the bulletin, videos and platform communication. Talk about it so that people will know about it.
– Work your plan: as with any and all stewardship plans, get a plan and work it.
– Don’t stop working your plan: don’t stop after the launch. The more you talk about it the more people will use it.

14. 10 rules to remember… Maximum flexibility Flexibility to make a change
Donor preference
Payment process
Maximum-security
Cost
Fees
Promotion
Reports
Updates
Maximum flexibility – does the program offer as many choices for the donor as possible? Are they able to schedule recurring contributions on a weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, semiannually or annual basis? Can they also donate one time?
Flexibility to make changes – can the donor pledge a certain amount and schedule regular payments over a certain period of time to fulfill the pledge? Can he/she also make a down payment toward that pledge? Can he/she make the down payment from one account and change the rest of the payments to another church account?
Donor preference – can the owner remain anonymous if she/he chooses to do so?
Payment process – part of the funds go when they’re taken out of a donors account and before they are deposited in the church’s bank? How long does it take for the funds to be deposited in the church’s account? Are they mixed in with other funds during the process?
Maximum-security – does the program offer compliance with federal regulations? Sucking your browser connections? Encryption of information? Keeping donors credit card and bank information inaccessible to church staff?
Cost – this is perhaps the most important consideration. The best way to compare the cost of any two options is to project the cost based on 10% of the current active members giving online in the first year. Many vendors offer optimistic projections of an increase in number of participants or total online donations in the first 3 to 4 years. Such projections can be very misleading as they often are unrealistic and rarely materialize due to factors beyond the control of church staff. Fees based on the size of the church regardless of how many members are active, how much they currently give and how many of them are likely to switch to online giving can also settle the church with unusually high fees that will make the program cost prohibitive.
Fees – are the online donations deposited in full in the church’s bank account and fees charged at the end of the month? Are there any hidden fees such as fees for updating members personal or bank/credit card information, changing future donations or pledges, etc.?
Promotion – does the vendor offer help in launching and promoting the program? If so, what material is available during the launch and promotion phase? Church staff is generally not well versed in promoting any new initiatives such as online giving, nor do they have the resources to develop a multiyear strategy and execute it. Many of them see the new online giving options start off well but then new enrollment slows down to a trickle. The main purpose of the online giving option should be to promote it to members who do not currently attend the church regularly and to those who prefer this option to give. Attracting them has to be an ongoing effort, not just a one time event. With this in mind, the provider of the electronic option must be in a position to develop an ongoing program geared toward maximum effectiveness. Cost of such promotion must be considered as an integral part of the effort to increase overall revenues and support new initiatives.
Reports – what reports are available for online contributions? Can the online contributions be posted in the church management software electronically or do they have to be posted manually? Is the volume of online contributions grows, tracking them by fund or by donor in measuring effectiveness of the program becomes an important task for the bookkeeper or business manager. If it overwhelms them, they are likely to lose interest in it and not promote it. The vendor must be prepared to offer tools and training to help the church staff collect, organize and analyze online contribution data in the most efficient manner.
Updates – in view of the ever changing nature of technology, it is extremely important to ensure that the vendor has plans to keep the program current and make frequent updates and has plans to add features that add value and functionality. A good example of the new features that become popular is the payment over the smart phones for one-time payment. As the phones become more versatile and provide access to the Internet, more and more people are using them instead of conventional computers. Ability to use mobile devices to donate to the church, with added security for such transactions, needs to be developed for getting maximum participation by members.

15. www.easytithe.com Startup fee – $0 Monthly fee: Monthly fee:
$0 - $10 monthly minimum; +5 dollars monthly for text giving
Transaction fee – 3% plus $.30 flat fee; ACH/eCheck– .75% plus $.30 per transaction
Monthly fee:
$29 - $0 monthly minimum; +5 dollars monthly for text giving
Transaction fee – 2.6% plus $.30 flat fee; ACH/eCheck– .75% plus $.30 per transaction
Accept payments online, on mobile devices, and available kiosks
Accept debit cards, eChecks, and/or credit cards
Recurring giving available

16. http://www.e-zekiel.com/ Startup fee – $0 Monthly fee: Monthly fee:
$0 - $10 monthly** minimum; +5 dollars monthly for text giving
Transaction fee – 3% plus $.30 flat fee; ACH/eCheck– 1% plus $.30 per transaction
Monthly fee:
$29 - $0 monthly** minimum; +5 dollars monthly for text giving
Transaction fee – 2.5% plus $.30 flat fee; ACH/eCheck– .75% plus $.30 per transaction
Accept payments online, on mobile devices, and available kiosks
Accept debit cards, eChecks, and/or credit cards
Recurring giving available

17. https://kindrid.com/ Startup fee – $0 Monthly fee: Monthly fee:
$45 per month
Monthly fee:
$29 - $0 monthly** minimum; +5 dollars monthly for text giving
Transaction fee – 2.5% plus $.30 flat fee; ACH/eCheck– .75% plus $.30 per transaction
Accept payments online, on mobile devices
Accept debit cards, eChecks, and/or credit cards
Recurring giving available

18. https://www.mogiv.com/ Startup fee – $0 Monthly fee: Transaction fee:
$0 per month
Organizations processing less than $800 per month incur a $25 per month fees
Short code text messaging is available for $5 /month + $0.03 per message for processing
Transaction fee:
Credit/debit card – 2.9% plus $.70
ACH fee – 1% plus $.45
Accept payments online, on mobile devices
Accept debit cards, eChecks, and/or credit cards
Recurring giving available

19. http://egiving.lifeway.com/ Startup fee – $0 Monthly fee:
$0 per month
3% plus $.30
Monthly minimum – $10
$29 per month
2.5% plus $.30
No monthly minimum
ACH/eChecks – $6 monthly fee; 1% plus $.30
Text to giving additional $5 monthly; currently waving $79 setup fee
Accept payments online, on mobile devices
Accept debit cards, eChecks, and/or credit cards
Recurring giving available

20. http://vancopayments.com/ Startup fee – $100
Monthly fee – tiered pricing based on average weekly attendance:
$10 per month for an average weekly attendance under 100
$30 per month for an average weekly attendance 100 to 500
1.95% plus $.15 transaction fee
Accept payments online, on mobile devices
Accept debit cards, eChecks, and/or credit cards
Recurring giving available

21. www.simplegive.com Startup fee – $0 Monthly fee $0 / month Monthly fee
Card fee – 3.09% plus $.30
ACH fee – 1% plus $.30
Monthly minimum– $10 (applicable if you have less than $300 in donations a month)
Monthly fee
$29 / month
Card fee – 2.5% plus $.30
ACH fee – 1% plus $.30
ACH surcharge – $6/month
Text giving – +$5/month
Kiosks– plus $19/month
Recurring giving available

22. https://pushpay.com/ Startup fee – $0 Monthly fee – $99
Transaction Fees –
credit cards = 3%;
debit card = 2%;
ACH = 1%
15% discount for annual payment
Generosity project incentive– no payment during the summer
Push pay provides a support team to increase engagement, including:
All church mobile app
Stewardship resources
Push pay guarantees at least 5% increase in giving; if this is not met they will refund all fees for one year. They have never had to make this refund.

23. And remember
Online giving is the future of giving to the church and the future is now!

24. You can find this information online