6 Out-of-the-Box Tips to Improve Your Church’s Online Giving
As a pastor or other church leader, you probably know the drill. Talk about tithing and giving from the pulpit, but don’t talk too much about it. Ensure information about online giving is printed in bulletins and shows up on the presentation screen during announcements. Model digital giving for your congregation to show them that it’s safe and easy.
But what can you do to improve online giving when the excitement about the new channel dies down? Get some tips below.
Turn text messaging into a way people can give to your mission. Find out how text-to-give can work for your church.
1. Get the Kids and Youth Involved
In many congregations, people start paying more attention when children or youth are involved. Partly it’s that the message is cuter coming from preschoolers or that people are proud to see teenagers taking initiative. But people also often have an innate desire to help the future generation of believers succeed.
If your youth or kids have programs that need funding, have them ask for people to give online.
2. Go Public With Your Campaign
Churches may need to face some difficult facts about giving. Many people don’t tithe as traditionally as they used to, and there are usually organizations competing for donations. Even if this isn’t the case, every congregation is made up of people with limited resources. At some point, they tap out.
Crowdfunding raises hundreds of millions of dollars annually. It involves reaching out of the local community and to anyone willing to hear about your message and support it. Use social media, YouTube and your website to share information about your mission and how people can help fund it.
3. Contact Local News Organizations
One way to drum up interest in your mission is to get it featured on the local news. Reach out on social media or via email to local reporters, and tell them what you’re doing and why it might make a good story. You may also want to learn how to write a press release so you can send the story information to multiple outlets at once.
4. Do a Dollar Drive With Automated Online Giving
Sometimes it’s not about inspiring huge donations but instead making it easy for many people to give a little at a time. Get more people involved by hosting a dollar drive where people can set up automated donations of $1 or other small amounts once a week.
Make sure you’re tracking the results in a visual way so your congregation can see how a little from everyone adds up to a lot.
Don’t have an automated giving option for your church yet? Find out more about the benefits of automated online giving now.
5. Host an Event for Donors
Getting to know donors can increase what they give. According to one study, crowdfunding donors gave more to friends and family or charitable organizations they trusted than to strangers.
Invite donors to an ice cream social, spaghetti dinner or outdoor cookout. Consider making this an annual, quarterly or even monthly event depending on the turnout and success. The more people get to know you and your church, the more they may be called to fund it.
In fact, you might even consider launching new major fundraising campaigns with an event that lets people fellowship together as they learn more about the mission ahead.
6. Create Giveaway Items With Donation QR Codes
If you hand out devotional books, add the QR code for the church donation page on the back of them. Calendars, bookmarks and other printables should receive the same treatment.
Obviously, you don’t want to turn into a print marketing organization. But you can easily integrate a short note about what your church is doing and one way people can get involved (by giving an online donation) into a lot of items. And a QR code makes it super easy for people to follow through on giving if they feel led to do so after considering your materials.
Why DonorWerx?
We help pastors and other church leadership build strong donor development programs. Getting people excited about your mission so that they’re willing to partner with you to fund it takes great leadership, which is why we offer coaching and leadership development options. You can also find out more about our donor software services.
Ready to improve your church’s online giving? Get started with DonorWerx today.
Email teaser: Church members and regular donors can get donation fatigue, even if you’re using online giving. It’s important to change up how you communicate about your church’s needs and ask for donations. Here are some out-of-the-box ideas for driving up online giving.
