11 Reasons to NOT Offer Online Giving
Posted by rustylewis in Money on Mar 2nd, 2011 | 14 comments
I am often asked to support my recommendations that ministries offer technological solutions to giving. Let’s look at the flipside of the question – what happens when we don’t make it easy for our constituents to contribute financial support?
As we begin the new year in 2011, here are 11 reasons to not offer online giving:
1. You want to frustrate those who no longer use checks or carry cash. Many today, especially those under age 30, do not carry or use checks. Nor do they carry much cash. Their financial lives revolve around the use of debit and credit cards. So when offering time comes, they are frustrated, even embarrassed that they are unprepared to participate.
2. You do not want to link stories of life change to generosity. After watching a video you’ve uploaded that tells the story of a new life in Christ that occurred as a result of your church’s ministry, why not provide a link to your online giving page? Help your donors connect the dots between their generosity and the impact it is having through your ministry.
3. You would prefer people give to other non-profits who DO offer online giving. Just a reminder – there are over 1.2 million charities in the United States alone. If one is led to give and doesn’t find an easy, convenient way to give to your mission, they will find another one that does and make their gift there.
4. You do not want to tempt your donors to use credit cards. That’s great! You don’t have to. Several online giving providers offer the option of accepting debit cards without taking credit cards.
5. You do not want to pay transaction fees – while there is a small percentage fee (less than 3%) for contributions made from debit and credit cards, those fees are more than covered by the new money you will receive from donors who begin to give to your ministry now that this option is made available to them. Many invite online donors to add 2-3% to their gift to cover the transaction fees.
Know too that electronic funds transfers (EFT) and similar options a donor can select have a small $.25 – $.50 fee, but no percentage fees that credit cards charge.
You will save money in at least a couple of ways, including administrative time saved not having to manually enter gift data or processing checks each week along with occasional insufficient funds charges.
6. You want people to view giving as if they are paying bills. People can use online bill pay through their bank so we don’t need to offer online giving. Yes, they can. I pay most of my bills that way each month. But do we really want our people to view giving to God as if they are paying a bill? That truly is not the heart position from which we want our people giving.
7. You do not want to receive impulse gifts – often a donor will be led to make a gift on the spur of the moment – perhaps due to a story they’ve read on your website, or a sermon they just heard online. Maybe they just finished their morning devotional and are moved to be generous. With a link on your site to make an online gift, they can do so quickly and easily. Without an online giving option, the urge passes and the gift is lost.
8. You do not want gifts from Unique visitors to your site – the webmaster at our church tells me that our website had 12,000 UNIQUE visitors to our site in the first six months of this year. That is an incredible number. Many are accessing our pastor’s sermons weekly. An online giving portal would provide a way for those visitors, people who may never cast a shadow on our physical campus to offer generous support for the ministries of our church.
9. You do not want to receive larger gift amounts – Dave Ramsey’s organization reports that users of debit/credit cards at McDonald’s spent 47% more than those using cash. Statistics exist that people typically spend between 18 – 30% more when using a debit/credit card over cash or check. Would not the same trend hold true when giving with a debit card? Consider the Salvation Army – when they began testing electronic payment machines at their kettles in 2008, average donations jumped from $2 to $15. Big surprise…they are rolling out those payment machines in more locations this year.
10. You are not interested in receiving year-end gifts – According to Network for Good, 22% of all online giving occurs during the last two days of December! This seems to indicate that tax implications may be a bigger motivation than some believe. In Australia, where the tax year ends on June 30, there is a similar bump in online giving the last few days of June. So if a donor desires to make that last-minute tax-implication gift online and doesn’t find an option on your webpage, she will find another place to make that gift.
11. You do not need offerings on weekends when you have to cancel services. We had snow last weekend – did you? The list of cancelled worship services scrolling on the TV screen was really long. With online giving, you can offer a reminder and a link to your people reminding them to remain faithful with their giving even when they physically are unable to get to your campus.
Rusty Lewis, CFRE
Senior Generosity Strategist, Generis
Twitter: rustylewis
Rusty Lewis joined the Generis team in 2001, following a fourteen-year career raising money for schools and non-profit youth groups. With experience in education and as vice-president of a $22 million corporation, Rusty’s breadth of experience fuels his calling to serve churches and faith-based non-profits.
14 Responses to “ “11 Reasons to NOT Offer Online Giving”
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Awesome post, Rusty!
Thanks Paul. I’m amazed at how many churches still do not offer an EASY online giving portal.
We don’t do online giving, but if you do automatic bill pay your bank will send us a check. It’s another way of doing it. You just enter in your church’s info, amount you want to give each month. Our finance people at church are real paranoid about all the online fraud so they are real skittish about setting up online giving.
Yep – I hear that often as an option. My church suggests the same alternative. However, I don’t want my fellow church members and regular attenders to view giving to the church the same as “paying a bill”. If we are intentional about developing a generosity culture, giving from a heart that has been transformed, online bill pay doesn’t align with the teaching.
I work with churches to change the mindset from “giving to” to a mindset of “giving from”. Online bill pay moves the mind back to “giving to”.
Additionally, you miss the online opportunity through your website to link church ministry effectiveness and stories of life change to your online giving experience.
Our webmaster tells me that we had 12,000 UNIQUE hits on our website during the first 6 months of 2010. Many people, from all around the world, accessed the site, many to listen to and download sermons. Without online giving, we miss unique, one time giving opportunities from people who are gracious to receive the free content and want to offer a small gift of support as a gift of thanks an gratitude.
Excellent feedback BishopDave – thanks for joining in the conversation!
Rusty, the first guy at church to bring the bill pay option to my attention was a blind man. To him, it was the safest option, safer than online giving. Since then, we’ve had several others use this option. And many charities will let you set up with them also. I can’t help the fact that banks call it bill pay, and I haven’t heard anyone say that it’s just a bill to them.
Please address the question of fraud prevention/protection relating to church online giving. My finance committee hears stories of all these card numbers being compromised (someone tried to use my debit card on itunes, but I caught is soon enough). What do we tell them?
Great question! I’m not the tech expert when it comes to that area. But I forwarded your question to a great friend who has been in the field for decades. Will post her suggestion here or she may comment directly. Important that we address the concern.
I just rely on the knowledge that my risk is limited by fraudulent use of my card if stolen. Details to follow…
The online sites I’ve tested and that we use for our sites are extremely secure. The thing is most people buy stuff online so they are fine with the security. Looking over the encryption it is more than satisfactory.
Here is the info I referenced earlier – from a trusted friend in the banking field.
“The Payment Card Security Standards Council (PCI http://www.pcisecuritystandards) establishes security standards to prevent card numbers from being compromised during online transactions. Visa and MasterCard work closely with this Council to ensure standards are met by software providers and ecommerce gateways. Not all software providers adhere to these standards as they are not currently required to do so.
To know if your software provider is PCI compliant ask them to show you their electronic certification from companies such as Trustwave or Geotrust or see if they are listed on the PCI site.”
I also agree with Matt’s post – many of us are so accustomed to shopping online that security is not an issue any longer.
Rusty
Great post. I’ve been thinking about this issue. Thanks for your thoughts.
I’ve noticed a lot of churches offer PayPal as a way of giving. Of course, PayPal pockets money in the process, but so do the banks on credit/debit card donations, just like any other business. But PayPal let’s the giver decide who pays the fee, the giver or the receiver. PayPal typically charges 30 cents plus 2.9% on purchases, don’t know what the cost is on donations to nonprofits. PayPal is owned by eBay.
One other thought on bill pay. Anyone can be set up to give to on bill pay. I can send my next door neighbor a check if I want to. Those who understand the principles of giving don’t view tithes and offerings as bills. If they do, then they are misinformed and don’t know their scripture very well.
You are right Peter – I have used online bill pay for years, but not for giving to the church, though I could.
The average church has 50% or more in attendance who do NOT give anything to the church, so we can’t make the assumption that everyone understands the principles of giving. I would be very comfortable using online bill pay to give to my church (it is actually the most economical way for the church to receive gifts electronically), but we must continually encourage new people to give.
If new givers are told the only electronic option is through their bank’s bill pay – then we’ve just mentally linked giving to “paying bills”. That only reinforces one negative thought that many carry about money and the church. Hence my note in the article to not make this the only way people can give online.
Love the dialogue!
It seems important to be courteous to givers who continue to use checks or who are new to the EFT process. After a lifetime of writing checks, I decided to try the EFT route. A receipt was provided that I used to put in the tithe envelope and then in the offering plate as had been suggested. A treasurer seemed contemptuous about the “waste of a tithe envelope” in this manner. After all, it costs money to print those! I was taught as a child that putting in an offering is an encouragement to others to do the same and that we should make it a habit to give when the plate goes by. It’s fine to offer that option, but please, be patient with those of us who aren’t quite there.
I agree totally Rhonda! Online giving is just another option on the ‘menu’ for givers. It is not intended as a replacement for other options currently offered by the church. I actually recommend the church provide “I gave” cards or envelopes to electronic givers so you have something to place in the plate each service as the offering is passed. Thanks for your insight!