Online Giving

The arrival of giving kiosks – particularly in places of worship – is making it easy for parishioners to practice the act of giving. Without question, electronic donations are a welcome trend in a world where nearly 50% of church giving transactions are made with a credit or debit card.

Does your church or ministry have online and mobile giving? If so, are you aware that it is likely you are being overcharged through a handful of hidden fees? Not awesome. Hopefully, this is not the case for you, but the unfortunate reality is that many churches are paying extremely high percentages on every giving transaction, and they don’t even know it.

Church fundraising is a necessary part of running the business of a church. While not always the favorite pastime of pastors and church leaders, raising money to fund ministry programs, care for church facilities, retain and train new staff, and leading congregations requires cold hard cash and lots of it. Pastors don’t like to talk about money--but let’s face it, raising money is an essential and necessary part of church business.

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.”

A myth is a widely held but false belief or idea. Of course, myths can be based on some semblance of truth or have roots based in truth, but at the end of the day, a myth is still a false belief or idea. With that in mind, we thought we’d turn the light on a few myths that we hear commonly when it comes to mobile giving. Sound good? Ok, on with it ...

The issue of tithing and giving can be a tricky subject for churches, and there's no shortage of opinions. Many churches will pass an offering plate every week while others hide a donation box in the back corner of the church. The issue quickly compounds when you include into the discussion the plethora of ways to give digitally.

Churches are becoming more aware of the importance of mobile tech. Everywhere you look, “mobile” has become a core part of the broader church technology discussion. Mobile engagement via church apps, mobile giving, mobile communication, and mobile scheduling points in the direction that everything is going mobile.

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.