church giving

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.”

It’s common knowledge that smartphone ownership and mobile internet usage are skyrocketing globally. It’s also common knowledge that, on average, people attend church less frequently and that people tend to write very few checks or carry much cash.

Often, churches tend to get wrapped up in the day-to-day grind and don't take a close look at the fact and figures about giving. It's important to take time out to consider giving statistics in order to look closely at your giving numbers and see how your organization can improve.

A little after the New Year celebrations ended, I attended the Consumer Electronic Show (CES). This was my third time attending this annual trade show and exhibition, this time as an exhibitor with the Dutch company IamProgrez. Even though I was acting in a different role, I still came away with refreshing insights into the future several areas of consumer electronics. While there were no churches represented in any of the products or services I saw at the show, I did come away with some takeaways for those in the church tech space who deal with church and community technologies.

Millennials are making up an increasing number of church attendees, and this generation doesn't carry cash or check. Even older folks are choosing debit cards and online payments over paper payments. Churches, however, struggle to find ways to process online donations, gifts, and offerings that do not eat into their bottom line.

Giving is a big deal, especially this time of year when churches often find themselves in the red, instead of the black. Once Thanksgiving and Giving Tuesday have passed, the race is on to encourage generosity and elicit donations from congregations. While trusting God to help close the year in the black is, of course, the goal, most pastors and church staff find themselves "sweating it" if even just a little. The annual State of the Plate survey is quite timely and offers insight into people's giving patterns.

Heading into the giving season, churches are looking for tools, techniques, and ways to achieve their donation goals and end the year in the black. Leadership Network sat down with the number crunchers at MortarStone, which has analyzed more than $1.5 billion in personal church giving, and asked them to calculate various benchmarks. What they found provided very interesting results.

Church leaders have the weighty responsibility of managing funds on behalf of the congregation. Whether church finances are handled by a board of directors, a staff accountant or a volunteer, the expense management process can be complicated and time-consuming.