Online Giving

Tim Goetz has always been good with numbers. Growing up in California’s Central Valley, he would end up getting an accounting degree from nearby Fresno State. Afterwards, he worked for a little over two years as a financial statement auditor at Deloitte and Touché, becoming the Fresno, CA office’s internal control specialist. In early 2007, Goetz felt pulled in another direction and he went to work at one of Fresno’s largest churches, The Well, as an Executive Pastor. He quickly realized something big was missing in all of the big accounting programs — something they all couldn’t do that churches needed them to do. That something was fund accounting.

Planting a church is hard work. In the early stages, a small group of people handles the brunt of the workload. Sunday set-up, child care, budgets, communications, you name it. Resources may be low, but solutions are still necessary. Thankfully, technology can help ease some of the burdens.

You’d think by now, it would’ve gotten easier. I’ve been going to church for my entire life. I’ve been giving to the church for most of my adult life. For goodness sakes, I’ve been working in church generosity for three years now. And I still don’t know how to talk about money. Because, let’s face it, people get weird when it comes to their wallets. Because of this, many pastors and churches simply don’t talk about it.

It’s Valentine’s Week, and that means a couple of things. First off, it means it’s cold--at least where I am. It means your social media feeds are likely cluttered with declarations of love, and/or diatribes about how V-Day is entirely arbitrary and unnecessary. And it means every blog post or “how to” article posted this week is required (by federal law) to include motifs of “love,” “affection,” and “romance.” Furthermore, since I’m the one doing the writing, you know we’ve got to talk about giving, generosity, and stewardship as well.

One of the most frequently cited and widely used reasons for the rapid growth of digital giving over the past decade is the proportionate decline in check writing during that time. And the trend continues. In fact, according to one report, we are on pace to write our final check sometime in the year 2021--a mere six years away. Nowhere is this “check-less” trend more prevalent than with millennials, 20% of whom have never written a check in their life.

In a recent post for ChurchTechToday, I discussed four of the primary financial benefits that effective recurring giving programs can provide for churches. Increased giving, stabilized revenue, and automated workflows were all discussed at length. Today, I want to focus on another demographic that will benefit greatly from a fast and flexible recurring giving option: your givers! It’s no surprise that a giving tool that will benefit your church’s staff will benefit your givers as well. (How’s that old proverb go? “What’s good for the goose is good for the giver as well?” Yes, I think that’s it. Intuitive though it may be, let’s dig a bit deeper and look at four specific things recurring giving can do for the givers in your congregation.

For years, churches and non-profits have been looking for ways to raise funds to pay for needed buildings, projects, and missions. While many organizations still use traditional forms of fund raising, tech-savvy young givers are looking for other options. They want the technology they use daily, to connect with the ways they can make a difference. Enter crowdfunding...

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