iDonate, the leading provider of donor engagement solutions, and LifeWay Christian Resources, the world’s leading provider of church resources, today announced an agreement to develop, market and sell a new solution for LifeWay’s thousands of church customers that enables pastors and administrative staff to “build a generous church.”
The agreement between the two companies is an exclusive five-year agreement to launch a new solution called Generosity by LifeWay that will package custom content and training resources from LifeWay with iDonate’s solutions for online, digital, and noncash giving to provide both the purpose and means for church members to give more generously. The integrated offering is released today and will become generally available through all of LifeWay’s online and retail outlets in February 2018.
Generosity by LifeWay will address an urgent, pervasive and high-impact problem for today’s churches. Trends in giving have consistently shown declines in tithing as membership demographics shift from boomers to millennials.
Having successfully addressed financial management issues of stewardship in the past decade, LifeWay is now engaging in providing its customers with the strategies, services, content, and means to create a culture of generosity.
iDonate’s donor engagement solutions provide giving systems that can extend giving beyond just the “webpage,” to more focused ministry initiatives and projects that evoke the passion of newer members seeking a cause to support or serve. With several digital giving channels, including a donor app, online, event, peer-to-peer, text to give, and noncash, LifeWay Generosity will now be powered by the exceptional giving experiences from iDonate, increasing the reach and growth of donation opportunities.
The church has historically been the single largest center of charitable giving, but due to changes in member demographics, and other factors impacting the church, giving has struggled to grow in many church communities,” said Ray Gary, CEO of iDonate. “Churches have expressed a strong desire to connect with new members through more modern giving channels that support projects, missions, ministries and causes, and most importantly allow their members to connect more fully to the impact of their giving. Our partnership with LifeWay will open those channels while at the same time providing the guidance and expertise that LifeWay delivers to pastors to nurture their membership.”
We are thrilled to have iDonate as a partner in our effort to ensure that every LifeWay customer has the tools and resources they need to build a thriving church,” said Todd McMichen, Director of Generosity by LifeWay and Digital Giving. “At LifeWay, our business is all about equipping the church to grow through trustworthy content. The content we will make available through our partnership with iDonate will come alongside the church as it encourages effective stewardship of resources and expands the practice of discipleship through generosity. iDonate shares our purpose and values in this mission and we look forward to working with them to establish a new standard of giving in this industry.”
The Generosity by LifeWay offering will be unique in the market, in that it combines the technology with the content and training to create a holistic generosity offering. There are many tools and comprehensive content in the market, yet no provider has fused the two together like the offering from LifeWay and iDonate. As a result, the church will not only have the best technology solution, they’ll have the toolkit to implement, teach, and inspire their members on how to be a generous church.
About iDonate
iDonate provides donor engagement solutions that connect today’s donors with the causes they care about, building relationships through great giving experiences that attract, retain and grow donor communities and donations. The iDonate Donor Engagement System combines cutting-edge SaaS technology, multi-channel fundraising systems, and services to expand donor databases to provide actionable insights that optimize growth. Launched in 2014 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, iDonate’s mission is to transform charitable giving and drive growth for our partners so they can make bigger impacts on the world. For more information, please visit www.idonate.com.
About LifeWay
LifeWay Christian Resources is one of the world's largest providers of Christian resources, including Bibles, books, Bible studies, digital services, church music, and supplies, as well as camps and events for all ages. The company owns and operates more than 170 LifeWay Christian Stores across the nation, as well as Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.lifeway.com.
[Editor's Note: The article was provided in the form of a press release.]
