Is your church asking the right questions about online giving?
Are you aware of the tools at your disposal to build an effective online giving system? Whether you are looking to implement online giving for your church or you are seeking an effective solution for an end-of-year donation campaign, there are a variety of strong options. You just need to know where to start. That’s why we’ve developed three questions that church leaders should ask themselves when considering their online giving options.
#1-Am I already using a church management system?
Does your church already use a church management system? If so, then there’s a high chance that you have a simple solution to online giving at your fingertips. Many church management systems include online giving features. Tithe.ly is a good example of a church management system that centers around its online giving features.
What if you’re not using a church management system currently? There are stand-alone WordPress plugins that enable churches to implement online giving independently. One option is the GiveWP plugin. Furthermore, if you want to simplify church administration, consider investigating a church management system. These options are great places to start!
#2-Do I want to accept recurring donations?
Depending on the kind of giving campaigns you will be running, you’ll want to determine if recurring donations are necessary. If you are seeking to manage your church’s tithing through online giving, for example, recurring giving would be quite helpful to your members. That said, it may not be so essential for a one-time donation campaign.
There are a variety of online giving options but not all of them incorporate recurring donations simply. PayPal, for example, is a great online giving option that integrates well with WordPress but it doesn’t offer recurring donation functionality with its free version.
One example of a great online giving plugin that supports recurring donations is GiveWP (mentioned above). Give also includes a variety of features to enhance the giving system in addition.
#3-What donor information do I need to collect and organize?
This is an important question about online giving to ask yourself. What kind of information do you need to collect about your donors and how will you organize it? If your church is accepting tithes, you probably need to track each individual’s giving throughout the year for tax purposes. What online giving options do you have to make this process simple? Once again, GiveWP provides an awesome donor management resource. Keeping track of donors and their information is important and this element should certainly factor into your research on online giving options.
Taking the next step with online giving
Once you have these questions answered, you’ll be well on your way to developing a clear strategy for implementing online giving on your church website. There is still so much that goes into online giving beyond these questions but they are a great starting place!
Furthermore, if you are ready to serve your members with an online giving system, get started with our Fundraising Add-on service! We’ll install the GiveWP plugin on your website so you can start accepting tithes and gifts online. In addition, our service provides varying levels of donation form-building capabilities and ongoing technical support.
