“Digitally savvy organizations — those with a website, live streaming, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube — saw 533%
more donations during the pandemic than those that were lagging behind.” — Aaron Dolton
Dolton: We pride ourselves in making the process simple and easy.
We can go from sign-up to accepting first donation in less than five
minutes and typically the process takes less than an hour of a church
leader’s own time. The upkeep is also very minimal for our church
partners as we offer a completely free donation management system,
no matter the congregation size. They can integrate with their own
financial management software. Plus, the dashboard enables them to
track every single donation and provides intelligent analytics such as
giving trends and reporting.
Lee: In our experience, setting up digital giving is fairly quick and
easy — but churches must also be very careful to properly set up the
supporting processes.
Specifically, transparency is something we’re really passionate about
at Infinity Giving. If givers are being incorrectly charged, it can really
kill your church’s credibility and people's confidence in you. So, don’t
underestimate the need for back office processes that include properly
accounting for and reconciling gifts.
Another point I’d make is around the notion that digital giving
options are expensive because of the transaction fee. Maybe it’s a 3%
transaction fee on each gift. Some church leaders would say that if
someone sends a check instead, the church “doesn’t pay anything.” I
believe that's a flawed perspective; someone will need to touch that
check (often, multiple times), so you are paying something.
And even if this work is done by a volunteer, sending a check still isn’t
the easiest option for the giver. We live in a digital world.
So, again, we’d urge churches to be donor- or giver-centric rather than
accounting department-centric.
For churches that already offer digital giving, in what ways have you
seen them “up their game” or make better use of those tools during
the coronavirus pandemic?
Lee: Before the coronavirus outbreak, a lot of churches broadcast
videos of their Sunday services after the fact and were reluctant to
mention giving. We've seen a shift since then.
Now, churches are broadcasting live and on-demand, and they’re
including a “give” button. They’re also much more comfortable having
an offering. Again, just because you're not physically together, doesn't
mean that God isn't calling people to be generous with their lives.
Also, churches are ministering more to a whole segment of the church
population that’s never been physically with them and probably never
will be: the digital viewers. If your church isn’t recognizing them, then
you aren’t ministering to them.
I think these are positive changes, even if they’re borne out of
necessity. Every one of our churches is making an investment in the
digital world and reaching people they never thought they could reach.
Dolton: We’ve seen churches better promote their tools during
this time. The consistent and increased giving we saw can be partly
attributed to sharing giving links on multiple social media channels.
This is also likely why we saw donors give to multiple places of worship.
As people live-streamed more church services, their generosity was
one simple tap away. Also, as simple as it sounds, asking for donations
more frequently resulted in generous donors giving more. Digitally
savvy organizations — those with a website, live streaming, Twitter,
Instagram, and YouTube — saw 533% more donations during the
pandemic than those that were lagging behind.
Baker: More than ever, I think churches realize that having
online giving on their websites is a starting place, not the total
answer. With other tools available (kiosks, mobile applications, text
giving options and so on), they’ve realized that digital giving is not
one-size-fits-all. The churches that have taken the time to diversify
their digital giving offerings, are the ones we’re seeing have the
most success right now.
Moving forward, churches will be bolder to drive generosity and
stewardship within their congregations. They will also be more
comfortable trusting technology like ours. We’re so blessed to be
able to provide a solution for the unthinkable.
Using technology for giving can seem impersonal. How can a church go
beyond surface-level interactions with its church family, especially when
in-person fellowship is a limited option?
Lee: Giving will seem impersonal if you treat it impersonally.
If a young mother is giving and supporting the ministry, you
should be talking to her differently about it than you should a longtime
church member who plans to leave a legacy gift. It's a different
communication, a different medium and message.
Remember: don’t think first about what’s best or easiest for the
church. Instead ask yourself, What’s this person passionate about?
What's going on in his or her life? Chances are, sending every giver the
same form letter your church created three years ago isn’t what’s
best for anyone.
Also pay attention to personalization. If you’re using an e-delivery
platform like Mailchimp, make sure the recipient’s first name shows
up correctly in the email greeting, not as a bunch of random symbols,
incorrectly capitalized, or misspelled. That can make you lose
credibility. Consider the accuracy of your database, maybe names are
spelled wrong, or divorced members are still listed as married. An
accurate database is a vehicle through which you can show care and
demonstrate to your people that they matter to you.
Baker: In many ways, digital formats — Facebook, Roku, web
streaming — present new and exciting opportunities to weave digital
giving into reaching your people. One practical advantage is that
you now have the option to pre-record your services. Take the time
to expand on giving. Believe it or not, the coronavirus pandemic
can be a wonderful time to reenergize your people with generosity
encouragement. People want the church to thrive. Share with them,
in detail, how they can help you do that.
The corner is being turned. The Church will return to in-person
fellowship soon.
Dolton: We find that the interaction can still go beyond surfacelevel
if it’s authentic. It’s also important for church leaders to create
a dialogue with donors and not simply receive donations without
providing a response. We actually make this easy for leaders to
respond with a personal note on every donation. After all, our
platform is where places of worship come to instantly connect with
the fastest-growing community of people doing good.
Just like with social media, the greater the engagement, the greater
the response and authenticity.
— Reporting by RaeAnn Slaybaugh
24 CHURCH EXECUTIVE | JULY / AUG 2020