Declare your independence! July 4th is just the start of a busy month for churches, with Vacation Bible School, youth camps and church picnics on the schedule—and it’s a great time to declare your independence from outdated, ineffective giving strategies that may be keeping people from fully supporting these and other important ministries.
So many options are available for you to offer your church families, to make it easier for people to give, even when they have to miss Sunday services because of summer vacations, traveling, or even illness. Here are three ways to “let freedom ring” for your church offertory:
- Free your supporters from complex donation pages …
Nothing thwarts a generous spirit like a confusing, complicated donation process. Donors react quickly when the donation tools are difficult to use—if your donation pages are poorly laid out, require too much unnecessary information, or seem outdated and possibly not secure, many people who want to give… won’t.
The key is donor screens that are simple, secure, familiar, and fast for your supporters— they’ll feel good about giving, knowing their giving and your ministries will gain added support. If your giving program doesn’t offer you updates, options, and innovations for simplifying the donation process, you need to think about whether it’s the best fit for your church.
- Offer people the liberty of multiple giving options …
“One size fits all” just doesn’t fit the way people give today. If your giving platform limits how people can contribute, then you are limiting how much financial support you’ll have for your most important church ministries.
Paperless, online giving is a given now—but what about text donations? A mobile giving app? These options offer everyone the freedom to give how they want, when they want … and your giving platform should give you the freedom to quickly adapt the donation options that make the most sense for your congregation.
- Let recurring giving create fireworks for your ministries …
Most of your church families are likely using recurring payments for utility bills, mortgages and rent payments, car notes … virtually every aspect of their lives—and they expect this option to simplify their stewardship as well.
Recurring giving makes life easier for your members, and also makes your offertory more consistent week after week, month after month, so you can better plan and budget for all of your ministries, all year long. For even greater impact you can highlight recurring giving in your bulletin and social media announcements, via mail and email communications with your congregation, and with a prominent page on your website; your giving partner should have plenty of options readily available to you, to help you get the word out and convert your supporters to recurring donors.
Ready to declare your independence from giving processes that are holding back your offertory?
The Shelby Systems team is eager to talk with you about how we are helping over 3,000 churches with their online giving and all aspects of church management—and how we can help you too! For over 45 years we have partnered with ministries of all shapes and sizes. Connect with us here to discover the variety of solutions you can access through Shelby Systems.