Online Giving In The Church

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How to Follow-up with Digital Donations

Churches often forget a key group of people in church – digital givers.

People who give online may go unnoticed if the pastor does not set up systems to remind them to follow-up on first time digital givers, just like first time givers with cash or checks.  Sometimes, because churches use digital giving systems outside of their church database management system, the digital givers could be left out.

As you build your systems, make sure that your online givers receive the same communication that other givers in your church receive.

For what it’s worth, we think every digital donation should receive:

  1. An immediate thank you email with relevant links.
  2. A hand written thank you note about a week later.  You won’t find a better option than this.
  3. A quarterly contribution statement at the end of the next quarter.

 

Giving Rocket Member Story

Here’s a story from one of our international members, Proclaimers Church who has been going since the early 90s and has been lead by Pastor’s Tom & Denise Rawls since 2003. They currently average over 500 each Sunday and have a campus in Norwich and in Ipswich, UK. 

“When we did the first quarterly report for 2011 we had come in more than £5000 under budget on tithes and offerings. I first started to read some articles by Casey Graham and others around this time to see what we could do to try and turn this around. Despite seeing a slight upturn, we were over £8000 behind budget at the end of June. It was at the start of October that we decided to give the $1 trial of Giving Rocket a go – nothing to lose!

It turned out that we were doing most of the right things but weren’t doing them strategically or intentionally enough.  Giving Rocket helped us take what we already had and use it in the most effective and efficient way.

We had 2 online giving systems, both of which were a bit confusing so we simplified this down to one with the option of automating giving on there. We were a lot more intentional about how we spoke about money during our church service. We revamped our first time giving system and redesigned our quarterly giving statements. It was around this time we started running budgeting courses too to help people with their personal finances.Giving Rocket helped us take what we already had and use it in the most effective an efficient way.

Tithes and offerings have consistently increased since we were members. We ended last year above budget on tithes and offerings and the first quarter of this year was up more than 25% on the previous year and April was our highest month on record as a church for tithes and offerings.”

Special thanks goes out to Olly Kiff, Proclaimers Business Manager, for sharing this fantastic story with us! We are truly honored to serve your church.

If you’d like to see what Giving Rocket can do for your church, sign up for the $1 trial membership today!

How to Build Consistent Givers

Digital giving has one key component that many leaders overlook – recurring gifts.

When attendees of your church engage digital giving, they have the opportunity to establish a gift that repeats on a recurring schedule – weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. If your church teaches financial stewardship classes, consider a component of that class that includes how to set up recurring payments for the resource dollars that are allocated towards “giving.” Also, take time regularly (during a weekend service) to teach your church how to set-up recurring payments.

Consistent givers will carry your church on weekends when attendance may be low, but specifically during the “J” months (January, June & July) when giving can be consistently low.

Take time to focus on building consistent givers!

Click here to find out more about how we can help your church “Automate the Important” .

Remember the Good Old Days?

I’ve never heard anyone reminisce about the good old days that lacked air conditioning, indoor plumbing, and faster cars. However, in church we are often so resistant to changes that could make our ministry have a greater reach.

Digital giving will be an area that soon becomes common in most of our churches, and it is unlikely that people will reminisce about the good old days when they wrote checks for their giving or brought cash from their paychecks.

Don’t get stuck reminiscing about things that do not matter. Turn your attention to the future and consider the best ways to reach the people that God has called you to impact for His name.

Automate the Important is a full-blown initiative to help people in your church automate their giving.  It’s a focus on digital giving, and it’s one of the monthly member benefits for Giving Rocket members.

Simple Solutions to Exceed Your Church Budget

We surveyed 1,078 churches and found that only 14% of churches are exceeding budget.

THIS IS A PROBLEM! And we are going on a campaign to fix it.

That’s why we’re inviting you to one of eight identical Town Hall Meetings where we are going to address the issue head-on and tell you how you can fix it. We’re tired of churches being broke and behind budget, struggling to make ministry ends meet.

During the Town Hall meeting, you will learn:

  • The 5 Key Influencers to exceeding your church budget
  • The three things you can do right now to change the giving economy in your church
  • How a real church applied these principles and saw a significant increase in giving

Here are the eight options you have to attend: (All times are U.S. Eastern Time)

  1. Wed, 5/9 at 2pm (For line leaders)
  2. Thurs, 5/10 at 10am (I’ll take brunch with my webinar)
  3. Sat, 5/12 at 9am (For people with day jobs)
  4. Sun, 5/13 at 9pm (But it’s 5 o’clock somewhere)
  5. Mon, 5/14 at 12pm (Lunch & learn)
  6. Tues, 5/15 at 7pm (It’s not Fat Tuesday, it’s Finance Team Tuesday)
  7. Wed, 5/16 at 11pm (Workaholics or people on the other side of Earth)
  8. Thurs, 5/17 at 6am (For England & old people)

Pick the one that’s most convenient for you and sign up now by completing this form:

Are You a Strategic Giver?

Many people like to think of giving as an act of spontaneous worship.  God speaks, we’re moved, and we drop something in the offering plate.  We see a need, our heart is tugged, and we offer to help.  That’s how it works for a lot of people.

And while it’s true that we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and respond to needs as we’re led, there’s another side of the coin that’s equally important.

We need to be strategic givers.

Read Genesis 24 and you’ll find that Abraham planned ahead and sent gifts for Isaac’s future wife.

Read the Christmas story and you’ll find that that the Magi planned ahead and brought expensive gifts with incredible meaning for Jesus.

Isaiah 32:8 says generous people PLAN to do what is generous.

In other words, while we can respond to needs as they arrive, we should PLAN to give.

That’s why I love the phrase Automate the Important.  If generosity is important to you, why not set it up and make it automatic?  Why not do what the Bible teaches and plan ahead?

Church Spotlight: Faith Promise in Knoxville, TN

Faith Promise Church began offering digital giving seven years ago to capture new givers and provide a more convenient way for people to give.

Executive Pastor Josh Whitehead said, “It started off slow with a few one-time payments. But after integration with our church management system and internal marketing, we now see over 50% of our giving come from our online giving portal and kiosks.”

Digital giving provides a new, relevant way to allow your congregation to give 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Faith Promise says online giving has kept their financial staffing costs down while increasing giving. The church’s annual giving has increased by an average of 15% per year over the last three years.

We want to help your church in this area.  If you would like more information on how to launch digital giving in your ministry, join Giving Rocket today.

Your Offerings are Becoming Irrelevant

Can you imagine going to Wal-Mart, only to find that you were required to pay with cash or a check?

Now, think about your weekly offering time in your worship service. With attendees carrying less cash and leaving their checkbooks at home, how are they supposed to be involved in giving during the offertory song?

One way to overcome this problem is to offer digital giving solutions. Whether you launch an online giving portal or put giving kiosks in your lobby, you will begin engaging givers at a new level.

Make giving an opportunity for worship at any time via digital giving solutions.

This month at Giving Rocket, we’re focusing on helping our members create a digital giving strategy that will help beat the summer slump.  Jump in now for $1.

Look What Members Get in April

A Giving Rocket membership isn’t a silver bullet; it’s a system that will help you have more money for ministry. It’s like a gym membership. Over time, your church will get financially healthy.

Every month, we provide coaching, resources, cut and paste communication, giving talks and more to each of our Giving Rocket members. Here’s a short sample of what members are getting this month:

• A brand new coaching video from Casey on Digital Giving
• A brand new eBook on Digital Giving – perfect to share with your team and board
• A quarterly contribution statement letter that’s ready for you to customize and send  to donors
• A new and improved Automate the Important campaign

Automate the Important is a full blown digital giving initiative. It has graphics, logos, commitment cards, communication pieces, handouts, and more – all to help you intentionally communicate to your congregation about setting up recurring contributions.

This $299 resource is INCLUDED for members this month. So sign up now, and you can grab all of these resources and help your church automate their giving.

Funded & Free Church Leader Conference

 

What do the following people have in common?

  • Perry Noble
  • Bishop Walter S. Thomas, Sr.
  • Casey Graham
  • Clayton King
  • Joseph Sangl
  • Mike Madding

ALL five are tremendous church leaders who have seen their vision become FULLY FUNDED!

AND the great news is that ALL of these great men will be speaking LIVE at the Funded And Free Church Leader Conference in Charlotte, NC on Thursday, April 19, 2012!

  • Bishop Thomas will be able to share how New Psalmist Baptist Church completed a major building project in the middle of The Great Recession – and continued to see tremendous ministry growth!
  • Perry Noble will share how NewSpring Church built a youth facility, children’s facility, and launched multiple campuses during 2008 – and continued to pour tremendous amounts of money and resources into missions and outreach!
  • Mike Madding will be talking about how The Cove Church has been able to equip their people to win financially even in the face of a tremendous economic downturn in their area – and their church has grown by leaps and bounds.
  • Casey Graham will be sharing how to increase your operational giving through the implementation of proven biblical systems.

You don’t want to miss this one-time only event!

Want even better news?  Injoy Stewardship Solutions has partnered with some other great organizations to provide this conference absolutely FREE for church leaders.

Here are the details:

  • DATE: April 19, 2012
  • LOCATION:  The Cove Church – Mooresville, NC (North Charlotte Area)
  • TIME:  ONE DAY (9AM – 4PM)
  • COST:  $0 (thanks to the kindness of our sponsors!!!!)
  • FOOD:  Provided (and it is free too!)

Space is limited – so register immediately to secure your spot for this amazing day!

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