Does Your Church Offer These 5 Avenues of Giving?
Are your pastors and church managers aware of the many avenues available for folks to give?
Long gone are the days when you had to wait for the once-a-week Sunday service to pass the basket. Digital options now make online giving easy, and a prime choice for recurring givers.
Let’s go over some of the best avenues for giving, so you can implement them in your new year giving strategy.
1. Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is now a widely accepted way for people to give monetary compensation or donations. There are many platforms for crowdfunding, and if you want to go the straightforward route, most of these are user friendly. You can, of course, set up your own site and encourage people to click the link to your landing page for giving.
Crowdfunding simply means the practice of raising funds from an extensive amount of people. Each gives a little amount, but contribute to the sizeable amount of funds raised for your project or missions.
2. Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Peer-to-peer fundraising sounds similar to crowdfunding, but it’s different because it’s a multi-tiered approach. With Peer-to-peer, you reach out to individuals, who will create their own form of a fundraiser to funnel the profits back to you. With this method, you allow others to raise funds on your behalf.
It’s a way to put the power to fundraise for a good cause in the hands of others who are willing to back your church or project. This is good for pastors who do not have enough time to devote to fundraising and can enlist the support of others to do so.
3. Traditional
Traditional methods of giving could be anything that your church has done since they first had members. Anything from bake-sales to service offerings; anything your deacons deem traditional forms of asking for donations.
Traditional giving is usually the more commonly accepted avenue, is easy for folks to understand. Take tithing for example—a very traditional way that the church can support its missions regularly.
4. Giving Kiosks
Giving kiosks are stalls set up much like an electronic payment kiosk you might see in department stores or in banks. These kiosks have become more popular in churches recently because people don’t feel pressured to give during the service.
For donors who like more anonymity and privacy, they can simply go over to the kiosk after the service, or at a quieter time. Giving kiosks take the focus off the public eye when giving. This is a practical solution for many churches.
5. Text -to-Give solutions
This last solution is popular because nowadays, almost everyone owns a smartphone. Your members are accustomed to doing daily business with their phones. Apps are nothing new, so sending a text to give X amount to your church is a welcome method.
Often, the problem here is simply that churches have not used the text-to-giving option. But if your church has a contact number for folks to call 24/7, then it should also have a text-to-give number. Whenever you post your information—whether in digital newsletters, emails, or during podcasts, always include the text-to-give number for those who want to donate.
The only way your church will succeed in the new year is if you utilize all these avenues for giving.
Sometimes, taking the first step to transition to alternative solutions is the first challenge. But I don’t underestimate that it’s a big one. Many pastors I hear from face the task of convincing their congregation that there are better, more practical ways to support the church.
If you need a consultation on how to go about preparing your donors and future donors for a new era of giving, we are here for you. At DonorWerx, we made it our mission to help you learn about online tools for giving. We’ve been working on a special series of downloadable guides and instructions.
With our help, you too can meet your mission goals, have recurring donors, and lesser stress in the process.
To avail of this consultation call, or simply see the other outstanding features DonorWerx has available, simply click this link.
