Tap to Give: NFC in Action at Church. Tap to Engage: How Carolina Forest Community Church Is Using NFC to Connect and Give A Real-World Case Study with OnlineGiving.org NFC “Tap Technology” is one of the hottest trends in church communications and giving today. NFC, o...

Don’t let the 4th of July weekend shrink your offerings. This guide walks church leaders through micro-campaign with tools, messaging tips, and recurring giving strategies included.. TL;DR The 4th of July often brings a dip in church giving due to travel and low attendance—but it doesn’t have to. This article shows how to launch a quick, impactful micro-campaign that ties freedom to generosity. With tools like text m...

OnlineGiving.org’s “cover the fee” feature empowers donors to support your ministry more fully by offsetting transaction costs. Learn how this simple option can increase available funds, boost donor trust, and enhance giving impact.. TL:DR OnlineGiving.org’s “cover the fee” feature allows donors to optionally add a small amount to their gift to help offset transaction costs—ensuring their full intended donation supports your church’s ministry. It em...

Mobile tools like tap-to-give, QR codes, and text donations are transforming generosity and helping churches engage today’s digital donors.. The Future of Giving Is Mobile During your next church service, take a moment to look around. You’ll likely see people checking their phones—texting, scrolling, or even snapping a photo of the worship team. What might once have felt like...

Explores how churches are navigating the digital giving landscape in 2025. Review key trends, generational preferences, and emerging technologies—along with practical steps churches can take to grow generosity, engage donors, and strengthen financial stab. TL;DR Digital giving has overtaken cash and checks in most churches, with tools like recurring giving, mobile apps, and digital wallets shaping modern generosity. Younger generations prefer flexible, tech-driven ways to give, and churches that adapt...

Summer often brings lower attendance and inconsistent giving—but it doesn’t have to stall your ministry. Learn how your church can create a simple, strategic plan to keep generosity strong and momentum moving all season long.. TL;DR Summer often brings lower attendance and giving, but it doesn’t have to stall your ministry. With intentional planning, recurring giving, and clear messaging about impact, your church can stay fully funded and mission-focused. OnlineGivi...

Now live: OnlineGiving.org’s 100% fee-free Stock Giving feature makes it easy for churches to receive larger, tax-smart gifts—without losing a dime to fees.. Churches have long depended on faithful tithes through both online and in-person donations. But a powerful giving opportunity—one that can unlock major gifts and tax advantages—has quietly gone underused: stock donations. Often too c...

OnlineGiving.org says no to contracts—and yes to church freedom. Our platform empowers ministries to thrive without fine print, saving churches thousands and keeping the focus on Kingdom impact.. TL;DR: OnlineGiving.org doesn’t lock churches into contracts—because we believe in trust over terms. While many providers prioritize investors and profits, we focus on empowering churches with flexible, ministry-first tools. Our platform...

Generosity begins with engagement. Before people give, they need to feel connected, valued, and part of something meaningful. Explores how micro-engagements—small, intentional interactions—lead to long-term generosity.. TL;DR Generosity doesn't begin with a donation—it begins with engagement. Before people give, they need to feel connected, valued, and part of something meaningful. This article explores how micro-engagements—small, intentional interacti...

Don’t let holiday weekends disrupt your church’s momentum. Learn how to plan ahead so your giving doesn’t take a vacation—even when your congregation does.. TL;DR 3-day weekends don’t have to mean a dip in church giving. By promoting recurring giving, planning ahead, casting vision, and using mobile tools, you can keep generosity strong—even when attendance is low. With the right strategy, h...

Your church can turn first-time guests into faithful givers using OnlineGiving.org’s 4-step engagement pathway—Connect, Cultivate, Inspire, Invite.. TL;DR Turning visitors into faithful givers starts with connection. OnlineGiving.org’s 4-step pathway—Connect, Cultivate, Inspire, Invite—helps churches build relationships that lead to lasting generosity. Engage well, tell impactf...

Explore how to pair storytelling with smart systems to break through the digital noise and inspire generosity—even during giving slumps.. TL;DR In a season where attention is scattered and giving often dips, your church needs more than a giving button—you need a strategy. This article shares how to pair compelling stories of life change with systems that amplify them, helping yo...

Equip your church for summer success! Discover the essential tools you need to overcome the summer giving slump and fully fund your VBS, camps, and mission trips.. TL;DR: Summer giving often dips, but with the right tools and a clear communication plan, your church can thrive. This guide gives you the essential toolkit to keep generosity growing strong all summer long—ensuring your ministries like VBS, c...

A practical guide to help churches proactively plan for summer giving, avoid seasonal slumps, and keep ministry fully funded with the help of vision, storytelling, and recurring giving.. TL;DR: Don’t let summer giving slow your ministry down. As attendance drops during vacation months, many churches face a financial slump—but it doesn’t have to be that way. By planning ahead, casting a compelling vision, telling st...

A practical guide to turning Easter generosity into lasting impact through timely, heartfelt gratitude.. TL;DR: Thanking first-time donors within 48 hours increases the chance they'll give again by 400%. Easter brings many new givers—don't miss the opportunity to follow up with gratitude. A simple, timely thank-you can turn a one-time gift into l...

A practical guide to helping churches plan and present their Easter offering as a meaningful act of worship that inspires generosity and fuels ministry impact.. TL;DR Stop treating the Easter offering like an afterthought. It’s a powerful act of worship and a chance to inspire generosity. Instead of apologizing for it, plan it with purpose: cast a clear vision, tell a compelling story, make giving eas...

Avoid the post-Easter giving slump with a proactive summer strategy. Discover seven reasons to plan now and practical tips—like recurring giving—to keep your ministry fully funded all season long.. Ready to avoid a summer financial dip? While you’re still riding the energy of Easter Sunday, it’s the perfect time to lock in your summer giving strategy—because what happens next could significantly affect your ministry’s mo...

Online giving is no longer a nice-to-have—it’s essential for church growth and financial stability. Churches that offer digital giving see more consistent and generous support.. TL;DR Online giving is no longer a nice-to-have—it’s essential for church growth and financial stability. Churches that offer digital giving see more consistent and generous support. To thrive, churches should: 1. Choose a mobile-frie...

Churches can sustain Easter momentum using OnlineGiving.org’s Custom Forms to drive engagement, streamline follow-up, and stay connected with attendees—all from one integrated platform.. TL;DR Easter brings record attendance and engagement—but momentum often fades quickly. OnlineGiving.org helps churches keep that momentum going with its Custom Forms Feature, enabling guest follow-ups, prayer requests, event sign-ups, and more...

Social media is the new front porch of the church. When paired with a mobile-friendly, seamless giving platform like OnlineGiving.org, your church can reach more people, raise more funds, and make a bigger impact.. TL;DR Social media is the new front porch of the church. In 2025, if your church isn’t using platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to tell stories of impact, you’re missing a huge opportunity to inspire generosity. People give...

Recurring Giving can build lasting financial resilience for your church. Learn how predictable donations boost stability, improve budgeting, and empower ministry growth—even in uncertain times.. TL;DR: Recurring Giving is the key to building lasting financial resilience for your church. It provides a consistent, predictable revenue stream that boosts budgeting, fuels ministry growth, and protects against seasonal giving slumps. Recurring gi...

For decades, churches have unintentionally downplayed the importance of the offering time, causing giving to steadily decline. But the good news is, it's never too late to bring it back and transform giving at your church.. TL;DR Since the 1960s, giving has declined as churches have downplayed or eliminated the offering time. Churches often apologize for asking guests to give, unintentionally discouraging even their members from giving. What's the solution: 1. Elevate...

Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle may be great for splitting dinner, but they’re not designed for church giving and cause extra admin work. OnlineGiving.org provides the same speed and convenience but with the features churches need.. TL;DR Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle may be great for splitting dinner, but they’re not designed for church giving. These P2P apps lack donor tracking, recurring giving, fund designation, and proper security—causing extra admin work and inco...

Email remains a powerful tool for church engagement and giving. Learn data-driven insights, best practices, and strategies to craft emails that inspire generosity and increase donor engagement.. TL;DR Despite the rise of social media and messaging apps, email remains a powerful tool for engaging church members and driving donations. Studies show that 33% of online donors prefer email for giving appeals, and 57% prefer to be thanked via emai...

New research shows that Millennials and Gen Z are stabilizing Christian identity, but they engage with faith in new ways. Explore how to adapt by embracing digital giving and seamless connection tools to reach the next generation..   TL;DR Young people are not abandoning faith as quickly as once thought—new research shows Christian identity is stabilizing among Millennials and Gen Z. While they’re not attending church in traditional ways, they remain spiritua...

For churches, Easter is the Super Bowl of Sundays—so don’t fumble the offering! Plan ahead, share a vision, make giving worshipful, & watch radical generosity fuel life-changing ministry.. TL;DR: Easter is one of the biggest giving opportunities of the year, yet many churches underplan their offering due to fear of discussing money. However, generosity fuels life-changing ministry, and a well-executed Easter offering strategy can maxi...

Giving trends are shifting fast, but your church can adapt! OnlineGiving.org provides real-time insights, engagement tools, and proven strategies to secure your church’s financial future.. TL;DR To engage younger generations, churches must meet them where they are. Our platform makes giving: Fast – One-tap giving with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Text-to-Give. Easy – Mobile-friendly experiences donors actually use. Secu...

Discover how a seasonal giving strategy can help your church achieve year-round financial stability. Learn how to plan special offerings, engage new donors, and inspire generosity beyond the holidays.. TL;DR: A well-planned seasonal giving strategy can help your church achieve year-round financial stability. By focusing on key events, casting a compelling vision, and executing with intention, churches can inspire generosity, engage new donors, and...

Discover how one-click repeat giving removes barriers to generosity, making church donations fast, secure, and effortless. Learn how biometrics and password-less authentication increase giving participation and retention.. TL;DR When giving is complicated, donors are less likely to follow through. One-click repeat giving removes friction by allowing donors to give instantly without re-entering payment details. 70% of logins on OnlineGiving.org use biometrics or passwo...

Learn how to transform your church’s giving page with seven simple strategies that inspire generosity, improve engagement, and make giving effortless.. TL;DR Your church’s giving page should do more than just process transactions—it should encourage generosity and make giving effortless. The most effective giving pages tell a compelling story, showing how donations make a real impact. S...

Secure online giving allows churches to protect donor trust, prevent fraud, and ensure financial sustainability. Churches must implement secure online giving solutions to foster generosity and long-term stewardship.. TL;DR In today's digital era, secure online giving is essential for church financial health and donor trust. With 65% of donors preferring to give online, ensuring a safe and seamless giving experience is crucial. 42% of donors cite security as thei...

Learn how a multichannel approach can help your church engage more people, inspire generosity, and increase giving. Discover the strategies that make a difference! . How Churches Can Break Through the Noise and Inspire Generosity Every church has a mission—to spread hope, faith, and the love of Christ. But in today's digital world, where people are bombarded with thousands of messages daily, how do you ens...

Discover how churches can address declining attendance and engage irregular attendees with tools like mobile apps, chatbots, and automated engagement solutions from OnlineGiving.org.. TL;DR Church attendance is declining, with many members now attending just once a month. This shift challenges churches to maintain connection and engagement. OnlineGiving.org offers tools like mobile apps, chatbots, custom forms, text marketing, an...

Discover how text marketing helps churches connect, engage, and inspire generosity with quick, effective communication.. TL;DR Text marketing helps churches connect with their congregation effectively, with 90% of texts read in 3 minutes. Use it for event invites, reminders, and donation appeals (average gift: $107). OnlineGiving.org’s platform is easy to use, i...

Discover how modern check-scanning solutions streamline traditional giving methods, saving time and improving accuracy while fostering generosity and inclusivity in your church.. TL;DR While digital giving is on the rise, cash and checks remain essential for churches, with 30% of churchgoers still giving by check. Processing paper checks manually can be time-consuming and error-prone, but modern check-scanning solutions, lik...

Discover how churches can reduce transaction fees and maximize every dollar for ministry impact. Explore practical strategies like encouraging ACH giving, empowering donors to "cover the fee," and educating your congregation.. TL;DR Digital payment processing fees reduce the amount churches can put toward ministry. However, churches can reduce these fees by encouraging cost-efficient methods like recurring ACH giving and offering a “cover the fee” option. Thes...

Discover the essential questions to ask when selecting a giving platform for your church, including ease of use, ChMS integration, security, support, and flexibility..   TL;DR When choosing an online giving partner, consider ease of use, seamless ChMS integration, robust support, and top-tier security. Your platform should be customizable, continuously improving, and free from restrictive contracts. If your ...

Discover how your church can combat biblical illiteracy and foster deeper engagement with Scripture through a powerful and easy-to-use mobile app. Learn how key features like sermon notes, instant communication, and Bible study tools can strengthen your c. TL;DR Biblical illiteracy is on the rise, but your church can reverse the trend by meeting members where they spend most of their time—on their phones. A mobile app with sermon notes, study resources, and instant communication tools can deepen...

Discover how OnlineGiving.org collaborates with churches to create tailored solutions that enhance ministry impact, save time for church leaders, and boost recurring giving.. TL;DR At OnlineGiving.org, we collaborate with churches to create solutions tailored to their unique needs. Seacoast Community Church used our chatbot integration to follow up with 529 new believers during Easter, saving hours of staff time. Ward Ch...

Transform your year-end giving statements into powerful tools for donor engagement. By including a heartfelt thank-you and connecting donations to your church’s Kingdom impact, you can inspire greater generosity.. TL;DR Transform your year-end giving statements into powerful tools for donor engagement. By including a heartfelt thank-you and connecting donations to your church’s Kingdom impact, you can inspire greater generosity. Most donors open these s...

Discover how your church can share the peace of Jesus this Christmas with tools to navigate challenges, enhance giving, and focus on ministry.. TL;DR Merry Christmas from OnlineGiving.org! This season, as we reflect on the peace brought by Jesus' birth, we recognize how churches can extend that peace in a chaotic world. OnlineGiving.org equips churches with tools to navigate challenges like...

Discover how OnlineGiving.org's seamless onboarding process helps churches like Ward Church maximize ministry impact by simplifying transitions and encouraging cost-saving donation methods.. TL;DR: OnlineGiving.org helped Ward Church simplify their onboarding process, encouraging donors to shift recurring gifts while prioritizing cost-saving ACH donations. Their “Shift Your Gift” campaign increased recurring giving by 3%, fr...

Discover how ensuring secure online giving can boost donor confidence and increase generosity this Christmas season. Learn why donor trust hinges on robust platform security and explore authentication features.. TL;DR: Donor trust is essential for increasing online giving. By prioritizing platform security, offering innovative features like biometric authentication and passwordless access, and ensuring seamless user experiences, churches can build confidenc...

Discover how lessons from Cyber Week can help churches enhance giving, embrace technology, and engage members anytime, anywhere.. TL;DR Cyber Week shows the importance of convenience, mobile access, and constant online availability for modern engagement. Churches must adapt by embracing online and mobile giving, offering diverse donation options, and consistently communicating...

Discover how expressing gratitude can inspire generosity, strengthen donor relationships, and create a culture of giving in your church. Learn practical ways to harness the transformative power of thankfulness today.. TL;DR Gratitude has the power to inspire generosity and retain donors in your church. A heartfelt thank-you—whether personal, through a phone call, or via automated messages—can boost repeat giving, strengthen relationships, and set your...

Discover what it means to be a future-focused church and how embracing innovation, technology, and engagement with the next generation can shape your ministry’s success. Learn practical steps and tools to lead your congregation into a thriving future.. Imagine a church where the next generation isn't just sitting in the pews but actively shaping the future of the ministry. That’s the vision of a future-focused church. According to a recent Barna study, 3 out of 5 pastors say their church is f...

Learn how churches can engage Gen Z in giving with automated tools, digital solutions, and impactful storytelling to nurture the next generation of generous supporters.. TL;DR Engaging Gen Z in church giving is a challenge, as traditional stewardship models don’t resonate with this digital-native generation. While only 51% of Gen Z adults currently give, studies show they are open to automated giving when it&r...

Discover how switching to ACH donations can help your church save on fees and increase funds for ministry—without asking members to give more.. TL;DR: Encourage your church members to switch from credit card donations to ACH (eCheck) payments to save on transaction fees and increase funds for ministry—without asking them to give more. ACH donations lower processing costs, have higher ...

This article shows how expressing gratitude in donation receipts boosts generosity, with tips from OnlineGiving.org to help churches strengthen donor connections and encourage future support.. TL;DR: Expressing gratitude to donors significantly boosts giving. Churches can increase engagement by thanking donors through personalized messages that highlight the impact of their gifts. OnlineGiving.org’s tools and support make it easy to...

Innovative and subtle strategies for church leaders to encourage generosity and integrate giving as an act of worship without traditional stage appeals.. TL;DR Church leaders can foster a culture of generosity without traditional pulpit appeals by integrating giving into worship in innovative and meaningful ways. From using social media stories and faith journey bulletin inserts to digital signage an...

Discover how churches can apply Black Friday marketing strategies to invite year-end giving. From seasonal planning to multi-platform engagement, these insights help church leaders inspire generosity and make the most of year-end opportunities.. The day after Halloween, I saw my first advertisement for Black Friday sales. Go into any store the day after Halloween, and almost miraculously overnight, the aisles are filled with Christmas décor. At the same time, my neighbors are pulling ...

Learn how to inspire generosity this season by crafting a clear, concise, and compelling vision that resonates with your community. Discover tips for engaging donors through impactful storytelling and see how OnlineGiving.org can help amplify your message. TL;DR To increase giving this holiday season, leverage a compelling vision that is Clear, Concise, and Compelling. Big visions attract big support—define yours in a way that resonates with your community by focusing on stories that show the im...

What if your church could experience a deeper sense of purpose and generosity? Proverbs holds the key. This guide empowers church leaders with actionable insights to inspire faithful stewardship, fostering a culture where every gift—time, resources, and r. TL;DR This guide uses the wisdom of Proverbs to help church leaders inspire faithful stewardship in their congregations. It covers practical steps for teaching generosity, integrity, wise planning, and managing time, thoughts, and resources in ways ...

Reviewing your church's contracts, especially with giving providers, can unlock significant cost savings. OnlineGiving.org offers a flexible, no-contract solution designed to help churches save and invest more in ministry.. Church leaders are urged to review contracts as inflation impacts church finances. OnlineGiving.org offers a no-contract, cost-saving alternative, potentially saving churches up to $12,000 annually by lowering fees and promoting ACH donations. Unlike...

Make church giving easy and accessible with QR codes and Tap to Give using NFC technology. Learn how these tools simplify donations, engage congregants, and enhance the giving experience through OnlineGiving.org.. In an era where convenience and accessibility are valued more than ever, churches are finding new ways to make giving as seamless as possible. QR codes and Tap to Give via NFC (Near Field Communication) taps—technologies already transforming th...

Transform Thanksgiving into a season of impact and purpose! This essential guide empowers church leaders with inspiring sermons, family activities, and community gatherings designed to cultivate gratitude and biblical stewardship within your congregation.. TL;DR: Make Thanksgiving a season of deeper purpose with this guide designed to equip church leaders in inspiring biblical stewardship. Through sermon outlines, family-friendly activities, and a structured community prayer night, pastors and staff c...

Nonprofits using Salesforce are turning to OnlineGiving.org for its seamless integration, automated donation management, and advanced donor engagement tools that enhance data accuracy, reduce administrative tasks, and strengthen supporter relationships.. TL;DR: Nonprofits using Salesforce choose OnlineGiving.org for its seamless, automated integration with the Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP), transforming donation management into an effortless, accurate, and reliable process. With features ...

Upgrade your church’s Breeze ChMS Giving experience with OnlineGiving.org, offering 14+ giving methods, real-time donation tracking, and seamless data integration to enhance donor engagement and simplify administration.. TL;DR For Breeze ChMS churches seeking a more advanced, flexible giving solution than Breeze ChMS Giving, OnlineGiving.org provides a fully integrated platform that enhances donation management, donor engagement, and reporting capabilities. While Br...

Enhance your church’s Aplos Giving experience with OnlineGiving.org’s integrated platform, offering 14+ giving methods, seamless donation tracking, and real-time data syncing to support comprehensive, data-driven ministry growth.. TL;DR For Aplos churches seeking a more flexible and advanced giving solution than Aplos Giving, OnlineGiving.org provides a fully integrated platform that enhances donation management, donor engagement, and reporting capabilities. While Aplos Givin...

Explore how TouchPoint churches leverage OnlineGiving.org for a flexible, integrated giving solution that boosts donor engagement, automates tracking, and includes payment options like Google Pay, Apple Pay, and cryptocurrency.. TL;DR For TouchPoint churches seeking a more flexible and advanced giving solution than TouchPoint Giving, OnlineGiving.org provides a fully integrated platform that enhances donation management, donor engagement, and reporting capabilities. While T...

Learn why FellowshipOne Premier churches choose OnlineGiving.org for an integrated, flexible giving solution that boosts donor engagement, automates tracking, and supports Google Pay, Apple Pay, and cryptocurrency.. TL;DR For FellowshipOne Premier churches seeking a more robust and flexible giving solution than FellowshipOne Giving, OnlineGiving.org provides a comprehensive integration that enhances donation management, donor engagement, and reporting capabilit...

Discover how OnlineGiving.org’s Rock RMS integration empowers churches with 14+ giving methods, real-time monitoring, and advanced fraud protection. Learn how this robust platform enhances donation management, engagement, and security for your ministry.. TL;DR OnlineGiving.org offers a powerful alternative to Rock RMS Giving, providing an advanced integration that enhances donation tracking and member engagement for churches. Key features include automatic donation syncing, real-time updates, and ac...

Learn why churches using Planning Center Giving are turning to OnlineGiving.org for superior donation tracking, engagement tools, and seamless integration to streamline giving and deepen connections.. TL;DR OnlineGiving.org offers an advanced, feature-rich alternative to Planning Center Giving, with seamless integration to enhance church donation tracking and member engagement. Key benefits include automatic syncing of donations, real-time update...

Looking for an alternative to MP eGiving? Discover why MinistryPlatform churches choose OnlineGiving.org for flexible payment options, advanced reporting, and seamless integration with MinistryPlatform.. TL;DR For MinistryPlatform churches seeking a more robust and flexible giving solution than MP eGiving, OnlineGiving.org provides a comprehensive integration that enhances donation management, donor engagement, and reporting capabilities. While MP e...

Maximize Your Church’s Impact This #GivingTuesday. “My goal in preaching is for you to come back next week and bring a friend.” I once heard a preacher make that comment at a preaching conference. When it comes to #GivingTuesday, my goal is for people to give to your church and then come ...

A Powerful Dashboard to Drive Giving. My wife and I just returned from a nearly two-week driving vacation out west to St. George, Utah, and back to the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area where we live. It was an easy drive, with almost every section of our trip being smooth, paved four-lane highways....

Turn First-Time Givers Into Lifelong Givers. How do you turn first-time givers into lifelong givers? As we begin end-of-year plans, one key focus is starting people on the path of biblical stewardship. Americans have historically shown great generosity at the end of the year. With Christmas bei...

Weather-Proof Your Ministry. Bad weather is in the news as hurricanes have wreaked destruction, havoc, and death across the Southeastern part of America in the last couple of weeks. One thing often unreported or overlooked is how this affects a church’s ability to continue...

Engagement Solutions Drive Generosity. “I know you want to talk about processing gifts to your church, but first, let’s talk about engagement.” That comment was recently shared with a church by the co-founder and co-owner of Onlinegiving.org, Stephen Ballard. He then sai...

Biometrics Make Giving Effortless. Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Christmas is just around the corner, and retail stores are already ramping up to sell Americans the latest toys and trinkets. To better serve their customers, retail stores have learned the importance of ...

Turn Your Giving Challenges into Opportunities. There is an old joke about a shoe company that sent a salesman to Africa to sell shoes. A few weeks after he was there, he telegraphed the company and said, “Get me out of here! No one wears shoes here!” The company did that, but they sen...

Begin With the Right Building Blocks. 25% to 30% of non-profits giving annually come in the last six weeks of the year. In my experience, churches can also see a significant bump in year-end giving if they have and work a plan. A good end-of-year plan must have the right building blocks ...

Time to Plan for the End…of the Year. It’s September, which means it is time to start thinking, planning, and praying about your end-of-year giving strategy. Every September, I know it is time to focus on end-of-year giving as I am already getting end-of-year appeals from non-profi...

How to Engage Younger Donors. Recent reports on the state of giving in America have revealed that engaging younger generations to become motivated to give generously is one of the Church's greatest challenges. One such study, The Giving Gap: Changes in Evangelical Generosity, sta...

A Wake-up Call to Engage Donors. Americans gave $557 billion to charity in 2023. That’s the good news. The bad news is even though the total dollars given to charity is up, the number of donors giving is down. Even more troubling, Americans now give only 1.7% of their disposab...

Reactivating Lapsed Donors. Only 32% of your lapsed donors realize they have not given to your ministry in the past 12 months! This is a significant issue that needs immediate attention. A new study, Lapsed Ministry Donor Research Report by Greymatter Research & Consulting,...

Strategies for Holiday Weekends. Labor Day, the traditional end of summer, is just days away. Three-day holiday weekends like Labor Day have always been a challenge for churches. Our congregations often spend these weekends at the lake, beach, or ball game, significantly dropping at...

Your Tailored Transition to OnlineGiving.org. “I was very intimidated by the challenge of changing online (giving) partners, but it was wonderful! The OnlineGiving.org team made it a very soft transition. They made it work for me by doing it for me. The clean-up afterward was handled so we...

Custom Forms that Foster Community. On Sunday, my church focused on the importance of community for Christians. From the sermon to the Sunday School lesson, we emphasized getting involved in a small group or Sunday School class at our church. Every year at the start of the school year,...

Communication Is Key. “Our church leaders don’t communicate with us!” This was a cry of frustration I encountered repeatedly from parishioners during feasibility studies for capital campaigns. The frequency of this complaint was so pronounced that I made...

We Are More Than Just…. This morning, I received an email from my insurance company with the subject line, “We’re More Than Just Insurance.” The email explained all the services my insurance company offers me that are not insurance. I love their subject li...

Customer Support That Understands. “They know what I am saying.” A staff member of one of our church partners made that remark when they were asked about OnlineGiving.org’s Customer Support. When you talk to your digital giving provider's Customer Support department,...

Why Vision Matters. According to a recent study, donors are less likely to give to charities when using their smartphones. Researchers at the University of Connecticut and the University of Notre Dame found that donors are less likely to give to charity and also give le...

Attracting The Next Generation of Donors. The future of church giving is at a crossroads, demanding a strategic shift. Currently, most churches in America are heavily dependent on financial support from Baby Boomers, a generation that is now entering retirement. But what happens when this ge...

Crypto & End-Of-Year Giving. It’s the end of July but my inbox is filling up with non-profit fundraising organizations sending out end-of-year advice to their clients. I was initially surprised at one recommendation that continually appears in emails—utilizing crypto...

A Trustworthy Giving Platform. Fundraisers have long known that before anyone gives you a dime, they must have confidence in the fiscal responsibility of the organization. Today, Americans have less confidence in organizations than ever before. Consider that only 32% of Americans ...

7 Reasons Churches Choose OnlineGiving.org. As I write this, it is Monday morning, and across America, churches are trying to sort out the weekend offerings that came in online. Today, churches will spend hours on the phone attempting to get help from their digital giving provider to fix the m...

Your Donors' Digital Wallets. What’s in your digital wallet? If you are wondering what a digital wallet is, Wikipedia defines it as “an electronic device, online service or software program that allows one party to make electronic transactions with another party barte...

How to Reverse a Summer Slump in Giving. Don't look now, but summer is almost over. For those in the South, school is only a few weeks away. When we lived in Georgia, the public schools opened up around August 1st. Right now, your members are winding down vacations and beginning to think ab...

The Value of Giving Options. To increase giving at your church, you must understand the value of giving your members multiple options. At OnlineGiving.org, we provide our church partners with over a dozen ways through which their members and attendees can give. A recent study sh...

Handling the Summer Stall in Giving. We are halfway through the year and halfway through summer. How is your giving doing? By July, most churches are running low on funds and typically behind on their budget needs. This happens at a time when mission and ministry are at their highest le...

The State of Giving. “Giving Continues Its Decline, Down 2.1% in 2023. Can Fundraisers Turn the Tide in 2024? 1. That was the headline of a recent post I read by The Chronicle of Philanthropy on Giving USA’s annual survey on giving. When you delve deeper, you...

Solutions for Summer and Holiday Giving. Don’t look now, but the 4th of July is days away, and unless you take action, it will impact your offerings. This year, the 4th falls on a Thursday. How will that impact that week's offering? It's not as bad as if the 4th created a three-day ho...

The Value of Recurring Giving. If you want your church to achieve financial stability, you must understand the value of recurring giving. Non-profit organizations (NPOs) have learned the value of recurring giving. One of the leading NPO agencies did a study on the state of philant...

Half-time Inspiration for Giving. We're now halfway through the year, and half-time is a great time to assess the state of giving in your church. Are you meeting your budgeted needs, or are you falling behind? Based on my experience, most churches are struggling to meet their budget ...

Working Smarter with Your Giving Provider. Giving is a central component of being part of the church. Not only is giving an essential act of worship, it is an investment in the ministry the God performs through the church. Online or digital giving is important in the health of all churches. T...

Is Your Church Website Giver-Friendly?. As of January 2024, there are approximately 331 million internet users in the U.S. Over 90% of U.S. internet users access the net by mobile phone.1. The average length someone will stay on a website before leaving is less than 10 seconds. All this be...

Connecting the Dots for Donors. Your mission and ministry objectives this summer are about meeting people's needs. Without financial support, those initiatives might not happen. How can you ensure that those summer initiatives are fully funded? One positive way is to use your weekl...

Tech to Propel Your Capital Campaign. I’m writing a book on how to hold a Do It Yourself capital campaign. As a result, I have been researching all my past writing on the subject. I came across an out-of-print post I wrote ten years ago, entitled, How to Use Technology for a Capita...

Three Little Letters for Fundraising Success. If you want to raise funds this summer you need to know the Three Little Letters for Fundraising Success: URL. What’s a URL? According to TechTarget.com, “A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a unique identifier used to locate a resource o...

The Church’s Aging Donor Base. Let's delve into this: how many of your regular donors are over 60 years of age? A few years ago, I started keeping tabs on the largest donor group for the church by dollar amount given: Baby Boomers. It's a fact that every day, 10,000 Boomers cross ...

Revamping Capital Campaigns. Many churches today are facing aging facilities. While their communities are still full of people who need reaching, their finances don’t allow for the renovations to keep their facilities in working order. It’s important for these church...

Churches Need Mobile-First Strategies. A safe driver drives defensively. That was my father's advice as he started teaching me how to drive. I recently returned from Europe, and I learned quickly that if you wanted to survive, you needed to walk defensively. That experience taught me why ...

Is Your Giving Solution Managed and Monitored?. In today's interconnected world, the risks of card testing (a method used by cybercriminals to verify the validity of stolen credit card data) and credential stuffing (a technique where hackers use stolen usernames and passwords to gain unauthorize...

Quick, Easy, and Engaging. I'm in Europe visiting family and working on researching churches. Most of our travels have been in Germany and France. My wife and I had this crazy idea to backpack our way through various cities, riding the railways. The crazy part wasn't riding tr...

The Stained Glass Windows of Today. How do you communicate the Gospel with people who cannot read? Today, especially in America, we have a hard time wrapping our minds around the fact that, historically, most people could not read or write. You could have handed them a Bible, which wou...

Safe and Secure Giving. A recent study by Dunham+Company has revealed a significant trend - online giving is on the rise. 65 percent of donors now prefer this method, a notable increase from 59 percent just a year ago. Interestingly, when asked about their concerns, the top...

The Rise of Online Giving. In today’s 21st-century church, you can’t put all your eggs in one basket if you want to be fully funded. When I started in the ministry, there was essentially only one way and one time you could give. You had to attend a worship service ...

How to Make Appeals Appealing. One of my major focuses is to get people started on the generosity journey, eventually moving up to being not only consistent but generous donors. For most people, this doesn’t come naturally. Telling people they ought to give won’t motiv...

Living in Cellphone America. Americans check their phones 144 times a day! 1. That headline captured my attention as I scrolled through the morning headlines. The gist of the article at CNBC.com was on helping people break the habit of continually checking their phones. Good luc...

A May Strategy for Summer Giving. For every church in America, summer presents both opportunities and challenges. The opportunities run from summer mission trips to children’s events like VBS, camps, and student activities. It is one of the busiest times of the year but also on...

100 Updates Since the New Year. “Every time I visit the site and look over the dashboard, I see new things. I see improvements, new features, better reporting, etc.” This comment, shared by one of our church partners last year, resonated with me. It's a sentiment that r...

Common Mistakes to Avoid. We are weeks away from summer, which is traditionally one of the most challenging times of the year. As I work with churches to avoid this potential financial hardship, I heavily use digital giving. One pastor summed up digital giving’s impact ...

It’s Time to Plan for Summer. Easter is over, and it’s time for you, as church leaders, to take charge and plan for summer. As a stewardship coach for some of the largest churches in America, I find that one of my greatest values lies in helping churches be aware of trends ...

The Week After Easter. It’s the week after Easter. As a former Senior Pastor for over twenty years, I understand that the last thing a pastor or staff member wants after Easter is another task. Most of my clients take the week after Easter off. They can be found on t...

Why Say Yes to Easter Giving. Have you planned out your Easter offering? We are days away from Easter, but there is still time to have your best Easter offering. Let me start with the pushback I typically get when discussing the Easter offering. Many are thinking, wouldn’t...

Check Scanning Gives Your Time Back. Don’t dismiss the power of paper checks. Why? Consider that in 2023, 30% of people surveyed in a Lifeway Research study said they give at their church by check. Check writing has declined by almost half since a prior Lifeway study in 2017 found...

We Save You Time. How many calls do you make, or take a week to get your online donation processing system to work for you and your members? How much time does that drain out of your week? I talk regularly with church business administrators and staff who tell horror ...

Can You Predict the Future?. A denominational staff member recently asked me: “I have a consultation with a church next Monday, and they want me to address ways to estimate church giving for the next year.” Can you predict the future? That is essentially what the ch...

The 21st Century Highway. “And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” Luke 14:23 The above verse is from Jesus's teachings in The Parable of the Great Banquet. The master invi...

Plan Ahead for Easter. One Saturday afternoon as a Senior Pastor, I heard a song on the radio that I knew needed to be sung before I preached the next day. I called my Minister of Music, asking if he could find the song and then be prepared to sing it less than 24 hours la...

Honoring the Small Donor. Jesus taught us the value of small gifts. Remember the story of the widow’s mite, a small coinage of Jesus’ day? Think pennies in our society. You can’t buy much with a penny. And yet that was essentially what a widow put in the Tem...

The Rise of Cryptocurrency. Crypto Giving Wave? That was the subject line of a recent email I received pointing out the rise in ownership of cryptocurrencies and their increased value. Fundraising experts are predicting a rise in charitably given cryptocurrencies as a result. W...

Making the Case for the Easter Offering. Easter is weeks away, and it’s time to start considering the offering. Most pastors think I am nuts for even mentioning an offering on Easter, as the offering is the furthest thing from their minds. I get a lot of pushback from staff members wh...

The Power of Relationships. Don’t make donors feel like ATMs. That was the subject line of an email I received this week from Philanthropy Today. Their post was on how to stop treating your donors like ATMs. Just last week, I commented to a pastor, “If the only time...

Make the Link for Giving. “All the church ever talks about is money.” Have you heard that line before? Multiple studies have shown that churches rarely talk about money. So, where did that idea come from? I believe it came from the fact that, once upon a time, nea...

The Story of a Great Landing Page. If you have never visited the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals website, you know immediately what they are about: taking care of animals. Right on their home page, they show you pictures of sad-looking cats and dogs and then ...

Show and Tell to Increase Generosity. Remember show and tell? You would find some interesting tidbit of your life that you felt was interesting to show your class, telling them the item’s history and value. Whether we realize it or not, our lives are filled with show-and-tell momen...

A Vision Worth Giving To. How do you motivate people to want to give to your church? A recent paper by the Chronicle of Philanthropy gave a clue when they said, “Savvy fundraisers know that no matter what the medium of a solicitation, the only way to succeed is to get t...

A Simple Plan to Increase Generosity. Tax season is looming ahead of Americans, and right now, churches across America are sending out giving statements to their donors. I’m getting statements from my local church and other charities we support. I opened everyone to check if the am...

What Donors Want. “Every time we remove a barrier, giving goes up.” Yes! Or, as I like to say, “The easier you make it for someone to give, the more apt they are to give.” Recently, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, one of the leading think tanks...

The Case for Checks and Cash. Check usage in America has plummeted except for one place, the local church. Lifeway Research published a study in 2023 about how people give. Here are their findings, 53% say they give at their church in cash. Amazingly, 75% of those aged 18-34 p...

Five Tips for the 21st-Century Offering. Giving online through a website is as common as giving cash in person. If you need any convincing that the offering of the 21st century is different from what your grandparents experienced, this statement made in a recent study by the Barna Grou...

Take Your Offerings to Another Level. Did any of you make New Year's resolutions? An article in Inc. magazine revealed that about 60% of us make resolutions, but only about 8% of us successfully keep them.1 Based upon that, how are you doing keeping your resolutions?  This New Year...

Developing a Digital Giving Strategy. How churches receive the offering has changed drastically from the days of dropping in coins. As we stated in our last post, the future of giving is digital. This is why you must develop a digital giving strategy. In our last post, we shared the imp...

Paperless Giving Shouldn't Stop the Offering. "The Future of Giving? It Ain't Paper!" That was the title of a talk I gave in 2013 at the National Association of Christian Business Administrators convention. Then, online giving was offered only by around 20% of churches in America. There were som...

The Crypto Question. Should your church offer members and attendees the option to give through cryptocurrencies? If you had asked me that question just a few years ago, my first response would have been, “Crypto, what?” If that is your reaction, don’t f...

One Last Tip for the Year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the OnlineGiving.org family! We want to end our year by giving away one last tip for the year. This tip could result in an email open rate between 75% and 80%! And if used effectively, it could also increase y...

Customer Service is Our Value. “I always thought that Charles Fox was an alias for the help desk.” (Fox serves as OG’s Church Experience Specialist). “I thought this because every time I sent in an email request, I would get a reply from Charles Fox. I thou...

A Come Back Strategy for Christmas. My goal in preaching is to get people to come back next week and bring a friend. I once heard a pastor at a preaching conference state that as his goal in preaching each week. Churches spend much time and effort getting new people in the door. Yet fe...

Digital Giving for a Jolly Holiday. Digital Payments Have a Jolly Holiday. That was a recent Wall Street Journal headline of an article that tracked Black Friday Cyber Monday sales for 2023. This year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales were flat, rising only 1.1% over last yea...

A Two-Pronged Strategy. It’s December, and I advise churches concerned about their finances to adopt a two-pronged strategy. If you have landed on our website, you are concerned about your finances. I will show you two strategic ways to help increase your total amount...

Plan These Final Giving Weeks. This past Thanksgiving weekend, I watched nonstop football. Nearly every game I watched came down to the last few seconds. If you are an Auburn fan, you probably don’t want to think about how your game ended. In case you missed their game with ...

Lessons from Black Friday & Cyber Monday. What do Black Friday and Cyber Monday mean for your church? Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when shoppers typically crowd stores and begin their Christmas purchases looking for deals. Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving when merc...

Creating a Culture of Gratefulness. In Christian fundraising circles, everyone discusses the importance of creating a culture of generosity. From denominational to local church leaders, the concern is having the funds available to accomplish all God has laid upon their hearts. They are...

Be Ahead After Quarter One. “You never have to recover from a good start.” My mentor in the stewardship field, Dave Sutherland, taught me that years ago. Ask any football team if the statement is true or not. Consider this:  3/4 of NFL teams leading after the ...

Collecting a Lost Offering. Last week, we had our first frost. The leaves on our trees have fallen, the grass has turned brown, and my short-sleeved shirts are now in the back of the closet. Fall has arrived, and winter and snow will soon follow. Do you know what typically happ...

Cut Expenses and Raise More Money. Are you cutting your expenses in preparation for the New Year? At my house, the Chief Financial Officer, my wife, is going through all our monthly expenses, asking, “Can we eliminate this monthly fee?” We have discovered recurring charges...

Equipping Leaders to Foster Generosity. I recently received an email from the Barna Group with the subject line, Equipping Leaders to Foster Generosity. What caught my immediate attention was this quote, “While most pastors agree that they have a responsibility to guide congregants o...

Not Your Father’s Dashboard. “Not your Father’s Oldsmobile.” That is a famous line from a Buick commercial in the late 1980s. The push was to gain new, younger customers by showing them that Buick wasn’t just for older people. Occasionally, they resurrect...

The Future of Giving is Hybrid. The Hybrid Church is here to stay, and we now know that the future of giving is hybrid. In the future, we can “expect that post-pandemic giving and fundraising will likely remain hybrid, as the adaptation of digital and hybrid giving models wil...

A Winning Plan for the 4th Quarter. You can be ahead 29-0 at halftime and lose. That happened recently to Coach Dion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes. His team lost in double overtime despite leading Stanford by 29 points at halftime. I think it is safe to say he understands the value...

Engaging the Unengaged. 19% of evangelicals give zero to church or charities. That was the shocking revelation in a new Infinity Concepts|Grey Matter Research study entitled, The Generosity Factor: Evangelicals and Giving. The study discovered that the average evangelical d...

Seniors to the Rescue. Seniors With Money to Spend Buoy Consumer Activity. That was a recent Wall Street Journal headline to an article that shared the positive power of spending for people over 65. The WSJ article stated, “In August, 17.7% of the population was 65 o...

Service You Can Depend On. We are approaching the end of 2023, so it’s time to start preparing for the New Year. One thing I am helping my clients prepare for is the reality of inflation and a possible recession. It’s time to get our houses in order. As more church...

End-of-Year Giving Plan. “I followed your advice and sent out a final email appeal on December 31st, and we received over $15K in online gifts in less than 24 hours!” That was a message a pastor sent me after following my end-of-year advice about sending one last...

Engaging the Next Generation of Donors. In Moses' last recorded speech to the Israelites, he re-emphasizes that they should love God with all of their heart, soul, and strength. He then tells God's chosen people to pass this on to the next generation - to "impress" this lesson on their chi...

Design Your Giving Page for Growth. We are heading into the season for end-of-year giving when as much as 30% of the year’s gifts come to non-profits. Most of that giving will come through digital means. A great majority of gifts will come through organizations' websites. You cer...

The $300 Case for Online Giving. “Just having online giving, no matter how it was emphasized, increased per capita giving of regular participants by $300 per person annually.” According to a Faith Communities Today (FACT) study.1. I love surveys and studies. From politi...

From Casual to Committed Donors. If your church is going to be fully funded this year, you MUST move casual donors to committed and consistent donors! Why? Because every year, you lose donors either by death, or they move, or they go to another church. Typically, those that you add ...

#GivingTuesday for Churches. I always know when we are approaching the end of the year by the tone and tenure of the emails I start getting at the end of summer. As the Stewardship Coach, I follow a lot of non-profit organizations (NPOs), and they start their fundraising plannin...

The Changing World of Giving. One of the greatest changes to church life in the last five years is how people give to their local church. A recent Lifeway Research study found that patterns of giving to local churches have changed dramatically in the last five years. For churches...

When to Plan End-of-Year Giving. Have you started thinking about end-of-year giving? It’s September, and I am starting to get emails about end-of-year planning. Those emails are coming from non-profits. Non-profit organizations (NPOs) understand that: 30% of annual giving o...

Biometrics Benefits for Churches. If I had read the above title to this post twenty-five years ago, I would have thought you were mixing Science Fiction with Religion. My first question might have been, “What are biometrics?” The next would have inquired what benefits my ...

Positive Tips to Increase Giving. “How is giving going?” I’m the Stewardship Coach, which means I always ask that question of Christian leaders. The answer depends on many things, like what time of the year I am asking that question. As I write this, near the end of...

End-of-Summer Review. When is summer over? Americans are wondering that as we battle one of the hottest summers in a long time. Technically, summer as a season is over this year on September 23rd. Traditionally, Labor Day has been the last “functional” day of ...

Improve Giving the Easy Way. In over twenty-five years of helping churches increase giving, I have found that there is one easy way to improve giving. Doing this one thing will put you ahead of most churches worldwide. This one thing is as easy as turning on the lights. It's an ...

Two Common Donation Downfalls. In my twenty-five years as a stewardship coach, I have found that there are two common downfalls that churches run into when it comes to donations: taking their donors for granted and failing to thank them. I am often amazed at how poor the average c...

Overcome the Summer Slump in Giving. I don’t know where you live, but here in Oklahoma, it is HOT! I’m ready for summer to be over and for cooler weather. Do you know who else may be ready for summer to be over? Your church treasurer. Why is that? Because summer is the busie...

No Church is Too Small. “I don’t think there is any viable reason in 2023 for a church to not offer digital giving. I say that as a millennial financial professional who hasn’t given a physical cash/check tithe in who knows how long. It’s not expensi...

Using the Power of Vision. How do you recover lost offerings? Every year I produce a playbook focused on helping churches make up lost ground over lost offerings. Lost offerings? Yes, whether by weather cancellations or giving simply being behind, churches often end the summer...

A New Era of Giving. “If you want to attract younger members, you must have the technology they use.” That comment was made recently by a layman in a local church that was switching to OnlineGiving.org. The church had recognized its need to attract younger m...

Bring Back the Offering. If we want the Church to thrive, we must bring back the offering. That was my message last spring when I spoke at a retreat hosted by the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination. The ret...

Good News Broadcasting. “It’s a slow news month, and there is no news.” That was a statement given by a TV host I was watching in the middle of July. He explained why their lead story was about something no one cared about or had ever heard of. Typically, ...

Should Your Church Use Social Media?. I’m getting emails with headlines like “The Inside Scoop on Meta’s Threads.” I’m also seeing blogs and posts popping up with headlines like “Meta Threads, is it Just Hype, and Should Your Church Join?” With T...

Improve Retention With Sermon Notes. A few Sundays after I resigned as a Senior Pastor and began working full-time in the stewardship ministry, I found myself daydreaming during my pastor’s sermon. I was shocked to realize that all those years, I thought people were listening to m...

Avoid the Low-Attendance Lag. Which Weekends Have the Lowest Attendance? That was a recent headline of an article posted by Thom Rainer. Rainer is one of the leading thinkers in the Church today. Rainer’s organization posed that question to several church leaders. Here are...

How to Catch Up. It’s the middle of summer, your members are on vacation, and I have a question: how is giving going? Summer is the most challenging time for giving, with July being the lowest offering month for the typical church. The irony is that summer is t...

Seriously Secure Giving. In our increasingly digital economy, your digital donation solution must be secure, thus giving donors confidence in how you handle money. At Onlinegiving.org, we take security seriously. One reason is found on this list of the three main reasons don...

How to Make Your Budget. Have you started planning for next year’s budget? I work with church leaders who are beginning their budget process for the coming year. I serve many churches that start their fiscal year on October 1st. They are well into budget planning. For ...

5 Simple Steps to Improve Giving. The number one mistake churches make in their digital giving is setting it up and forgetting about it. Years ago, when we lived in Atlanta, I wanted to make an end-of-year gift to our church on December 31st. I thought I’d go online and contrib...

Weatherproof Your Offerings. As we were preparing for church last Sunday, we were alerted that our church was without power and that services would be canceled. My wife’s first thought was whether the VBS meeting would still be held later that day. My first thought was, I ...

The Mobile Wave. The answer to how your summer giving will go rests largely on how mobile you are. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, The Pandemic Habits That Won’t Die, the article listed several things that Covid-19 brought in that still exist, post pan...

Remarkably Custom Forms. “But wait, that’s not all!” I remember that phrase from my childhood watching TV with my family. A commercial would come on touting some great gadget or tool to make your life easier. Whatever the device, towards the end of the comm...

Reverse the Decline in Giving. Since 1968, Americans have given less of their disposable incomes to their church while their incomes have risen. Those are the findings from a recent report from empty tomb, inc., a group that tracks giving. Their most recent report tracks giving th...

Key Metrics on Giving Health. “33 Questions to Evaluate Your Church’s Health” - that was the subject line of a recent email I received recently. It was an interesting read and provided a helpful analysis of a church's spiritual condition by evaluating key growth...

Tech for Telling Stories of Life Change. The Apostle Paul used the technology of his day to help spread the Gospel. He used Roman roads to tell how the Gospel changed his life. Historians credit the Roman road system as a key component used by the early Church to spread the Gospel throughou...

Re-evaluate Your Contracts. If you read any business news lately, you will find that U.S. businesses are laying off employees and trimming their budgets in anticipation of a recession. The anticipated slowdown of the economy is on their minds, and they are taking precautionary ...

Church Giving Patterns in the U.S.. Back in the day, churches didn’t worry much about how people gave. In every service, we passed either a plate, bucket, or basket giving attendees an easy way to drop cash and checks in. We even provided envelopes conveniently located in the pew...

Prepare for Three-Day-Weekend Offerings. For fifteen years, I pastored a church within minutes of one of the best lakes in Northwest Arkansas. Every Memorial Day weekend, more members were at Beaver Lake than in our services. OK, so that might be a ministerial exaggeration, but it sure felt...

The 15 Offerings of Summer. When it comes to a giving strategy, it pays to think seasonal. In my gazillion years of ministry, there is one thing I can count on. Every summer is a challenging time for giving. So, I work to help you plan ahead of time. We need a strategy to stay ...

Funding the Vision Starts With the Offering. “Just when we really get going in worship, then it is time for the offering, and it interrupts the flow of worship!” I actually had a staff member tell me that once when I attempted to help their church reverse a decline in giving. That s...

4 Learnings from Nonprofits. “Donate now and change a child’s life forever.” “Our research leads to treatments that improve lives.” “You Can Make a Difference. Your financial gift helps people affected by disasters, big and small.” Th...

Today’s Church Bulletin Board. As a kid, I remember my grandfather’s small church had a bulletin board at the entrance. Members would post all kinds of things, from announcing a baby shower to appeals for helping clean the church flower beds. If you wanted to know what was h...

Make a May Push for Recurring Giving. A recent Lifeway Research poll of active church members found that only 8% of the respondents had made their giving recurring! This May would be a great time to increase the average number of your members setting up their giving to be recurring. A r...

How People Give. A recent Lifeway Research poll found that 62% of the respondents had never used any digital format when giving to their church. How do people give? That was a question that Scott McConnell, the executive director of Lifeway Research, shared with the...

Boost Mission Trips with Social Media. 59% of the world's population uses social media and the average daily usage is 2 hours and 31 minutes. 1. If you want your story heard, you need a social media presence. Social media has now become the front porch of America. The Church mu...

A 21st Century Outreach Tool. “We’ve never done it that way before.” You probably heard that saying if you have been in church for some time. Those words can be thought of as the seven last words of a church if that church, like many, is postured to resist all c...

Summer-Proof Your Generosity. For you and your church, recurring giving can help take the worry out of summer giving! In 2013, I wrote a blog about the importance of accepting giving online. At the time, only 14% of churches accepted giving online, according to a Lifeway Research...

Share the Vision with Social Media. Did you ever throw a party, and no one showed up? Jesus tells the story of a man throwing a party to which no one comes. Luke 14:23 says, “And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that...

What to Do in the Days After Easter. The tendency after Easter is to pass out on the couch in order to rest up. Yet, if you want to keep your giving tank full, you need to continually be thinking about your generosity plans. To that end, let me share with you my 5 key post-Easter strate...

Saving You Time and Money. You have probably heard the saying that there are only two commodities, time and money. At OnlineGiving.org, we are committed to saving our church partners both money and time. Here is how. First, since our founding, we have been adamant that church...

The Power of Instant Communication. In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg changed the world by inventing the printing press. While printing existed years before Gutenberg, he adapted existing technologies and created his invention, thus forever becoming known as the creator of the printing press...

How to Talk Giving on Easter. Won’t a focus on the offering for Easter turn guests away? That is probably the biggest pushback for any discussion emphasizing giving on Easter. We’ve been told for decades that the reason non-Christians don’t like the church is be...

7 Reasons to Make Summer Giving Plans. As we post this, we are days away from Easter. So, why would we be talking to you about summer giving? We will give you seven reasons. If any applies to you, then keep reading. We recommend summer giving plans for the following reasons: 1. The Post-...

How Today’s Tech Advances a 2,000-Year-Old Story. How would you follow up on 529 salvation decisions this Easter? That is the problem that our church partner Seacoast Community in South Carolina, experienced on a recent Easter. Thirty-five thousand people worshiped at one of Seacoast’s fourtee...

Making Your Easter Offering Impactful. I know you are slammed right now, but have you given any thought to your Easter offering? If you are the typical church, with all the other Easter planning you have been involved with, the offering has slipped your mind. So I thought I would use thi...

Creating a Giving Segmentation Strategy. How is your church funded? The obvious answer is tithes and offerings from members and others who believe in your church’s vision. But have you ever considered where those funds came from? For instance, do you know the age demographics of your ...

The Value of Retention. “Our giving during the pandemic actually went up!” I heard that often last week from stewardship leaders at the Christian Stewardship Networks annual meeting. It would answer my question, “How is giving going at your church?” ...

The 3.0 Church. James Emery White has a new book out entitled Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church in a Post-Christian Digital Age. Here is a quote from an email his organization sent out. It is time to put forward a simple but provocative thesis: the church must r...

The Over-Under Split. Do you know what your over-under split is? As I work with churches to help them increase generosity, I always ask, what percentage of your donors are over fifty years of age, and what percentage is below that age? We call this the Over-Under Split. ...

The Power of Saying Thank You. I wish churches understood the power of saying thank you as non-profits do. My wife’s charitable giving showed me how powerful a “thank you” is. Here is the story of how… “Do you want to see how non-profits treat ...

Good News: Here Come the Millennials. Millennials have taken a beating in the last few years. The caricature portrayed is all too often one that looks less than flattering. Selfish is a word often used to describe Millennials, but according to a new study by Giving USA titled “Givi...

Don’t Just Send Receipts; Tell a Story. Are emails an effective means of communicating with your congregants? Yes, but only if they open your emails. Corporate America spends millions of dollars studying the open rates of emails. The open rate is a term that describes the percentage of ema...

How Digital Giving Open Doors. According to a new study, “Meet the Digital Donor,” produced by the Barna Group, a digital pastor is thinking strategically about how digital giving opens doors. They found that 68% of pastors strongly agree that it’s important to o...

Overcome Attendance Trends. Do you order more takeout? If so, you are not alone. 85% of all orders placed at fast-food restaurants in 2022 were taken to go, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. The Takeout Revolution is Just Beginning was the headline of th...

A Seamless Onboarding Experience. Do you know you need to change your digital donation provider, but you hate to think about the onboarding process of moving to another platform? This is the major reason why many churches endure poor service. Changing digital donation providers is of...

Start Planning Now For Your Best Easter Offering. It’s early February, and everyone is talking about the upcoming Super Bowl. Did you know that Easter is the church’s equivalent of the Super Bowl? Think about it, Easter is like the Super Bowl for churches in that typically, it is our hig...

Caution Areas in Giving Growth. Churches often make two, simple mistakes with their donors. Take caution in these areas, but be encouraged to know that both are easily correctable!  We’ll address these two mistakes and show you how our platform can help you avoid them. ...

Plan the Path to Generosity. Does your digital donation provider give you a plan for how to use their tools to increase giving? How effective is a platform if you don’t know how to use it? Sadly, few companies show you how to use their tools to build a culture of generosit...

Church-Honoring Support. What quality of support is your church receiving from your current digital giving provider? When you need help or answers to your questions, does your provider respond promptly? At OnlineGiving.org, we are passionate about providing Church-Honoring S...

Make It Quick and Easy. If you want to increase giving and attract more givers in this 21st century, you must set up giving as a quick and easy process. What is our solution? Providing our church partners with a passwordless experience, because today’s giving experien...

Receiving the Second Gift. 85% of donors say a thank you would convince them of a second gift.1.  The Red Cross understands this. Recently after donating blood, I received the following email that said, Thank you for giving blood with the American Red Cross on December 1...

Being Prepared for Future Surprises. “Almost all on Wall Street and in Washington got 2022 wrong.” That is the opening line of a December 27, 2022, article in the Wall Street Journal. The article was entitled “Wall Street, Fed Flopped in Trying to Predict 2022.” ...

The 24-Hour Offering. Was it a slim attendance at your church on Sunday, January 1, 2023? Churches across America are reporting smaller attendance than normal. When attendance is down, giving typically declines as well. But it doesn't have to be that way. Recently, a chu...

Making Budget This Year. You can make your budget this year if… Right now, you are full of optimism and enthusiasm at the start of the New Year. You might be consoling yourself that even though Sunday’s offering was off, it’s still the Holidays. Next week ...

Systems to Tell Your Story. “To effectively communicate your message, you’ll need to stop building your strategy exclusively around physical attendance.” Why? As my friend, Dave Anderson, says, “Church attendance is not decreasing. It’s decentraliz...

OnlineGiving.org now supports Google Pay and Apple Pay as part of over 15+ methods of using the OnlineGiving.org platform. Is your church prepared for new givers that no longer carry wallets?.   OnlineGiving.org now supports Google Pay and Apple Pay as part of over 15+ methods of giving provided by our platform.   Is your church prepared for new givers that no longer carry wallets?   In the age of convenient intelligent...

Chatbot for Church Growth. “What’s a chatbot?” If that is your reaction to this title, don’t feel bad. In today’s fast-paced world, it’s hard to know the meaning of every technical term. So, first, let’s define chatbot using Wikipedia&...

Starting Strong in the New Year. How important is it that your church gets off to a good start in the upcoming New Year? Consider that ¾ of NFL teams leading after the 1st quarter go on to victory. I realize that is football, and we are talking church, but in my experience, t...

3 Keys to an Effective Giving Page. “Preachers are packrats.” I was at a conference many years ago and heard Pastor John MacArthur make that comment. He meant that pastors often file away what they see others doing and then put that to work in their church. When I started i...

There’s Still Time to Plan Your End-of-Year Appeal. “I took your advice and sent an end-of-year email on December 31st, and over $15K was donated in five hours.” That was from a pastor a few years ago who had read one of my articles where I gave four last-minute tips to increase giving. Ev...

Maximize Gifts and Reduce Rates with ACH. Americans are in love with acronyms. Our government certainly loves them. Think FBI, IRS, CIA, DIA, and on and on. The military goes crazy over acronyms with WMD, IED, and many others. Each of these organizations uses countless acronyms for shortenin...

Four Reasons We Don’t Require Contracts. “We don’t require our church partners to sign contracts with us,” I remember when I first heard Stephen Ballard, the co-founder of OnlineGiving.org, make that statement. I’ve been in and around the digital giving industry sinc...

How to Promote Daily Prayer. The New Great Migration of Americans has led to explosive growth in cities like Charleston, SC. This is the story of how one church saw this growth as an opportunity for the Gospel. It’s also the story of how our platform features can help you,...

The Value of Showing Gratitude. “When is showing gratitude ever inappropriate?” That was my wife Valerie’s response after I returned home from meeting with a pastor who had asked me to write a series of letters for him. I wrote a thank you letter to donors for the...

Keep Members Connected and Inspired Year-Round. How wide is the backdoor of your church? Church leaders spend much time discussing and planning ways to close the proverbial backdoor of membership. We know that if members don’t get connected and keep connected, they will soon be out the back ...

Three Reasons to Increase Recurring Giving. “What percentage of your giving comes through recurring gifts?” That was my question recently as I met with the executive staff of a church that has just been named one of the fastest-growing churches in America. The answer they gave me b...

Give Your Church an End-Of-Year Giving Strategy. A good end-of-year giving strategy can help you close out the current year strong and set you up for a great New Year of giving. But let's start with this reality: From now until the end of the year, your members will be receiving multiple requests f...

Why You Shouldn’t Discount Checks. How many checks a month do you write? How many checks do you write in a year? Either way, the answer is the same, few. For those under twenty, we might have to explain checks. The rest of us will probably need to hunt for our checkbooks. The reality ...

What the Church Can Learn From Black Friday. In my over twenty years of helping coach churches in stewardship, I have learned to pay attention to Black Friday. Why? Because how Americans like to shop is how they will also give. Retailers spend millions of dollars studying buying habits to have ...

Are You End-of-Year Ready?. Have you weatherized your house yet? I have never had to worry about that for most of my life, as I have lived where cold weather is an oddity rather than a constant reality. Now living in Oklahoma, I’ve already been forced to think about freez...

The Importance of Knowing Your Giving Metrics. Here is a question we ask every church leader. “How is giving at your church?” We follow that up by asking, “is giving growing not only by amount but by the number of people giving?” Then we ask, “do you have many new gi...

Fortify Church Giving In a Shaky Economy. Is the economy hurting your church? Lifeway Research decided to put that question to American pastors. Here is a summary statement. “2022 marks the first time since 2016 that more than half of pastors feel the economy is having a negative impa...

Predicting the Future of Your Giving. Just because it’s in the budget doesn't mean it’s in the bank. That is a lesson every church leader must learn. Church budgets are typically set months before events are scheduled to happen. How can you predict whether the funds for that ...

This Church is Seeing Crypto Success. How One Church is Using Crypto to Increase Giving “Experts say crypto is here to stay, and organizations that continue to ignore the asset class do so at their own peril.”1. That advice comes from one of the leading nonprofit publication...

Be Glad You Had a #GivingTuesday Strategy. “Based on our analysis, we predict that $3.2 Billion will be raised on #GivingTuesday 2022. This will be an 18% or $500 million increase over 2021’s record-breaking $2.7B.”1. The above prediction by a leading non-profit t...

How to Avoid a Titanic Crisis. On its maiden journey in 1912, the Titanic sank due to its crew’s negligence. Navigating around and through ice flows was a standard practice during that era that, unfortunately, the crew of the Titanic failed at. They reacted to what was seen ...

Why Your Church Should Accept Cryptocurrency Gifts. “No one in our church is interested in cryptocurrency as a means of giving.” Don’t be so sure. The same church leaders who say this about cryptocurrency are often the same ones that said no one would use online giving. Many churches...

Announcing Our New Check Scanning Capability. “OnlineGiving.org’s remote deposit system has allowed us to overcome both of these challenges quickly. We now save time on making a physical trip to the bank and get access to our funds faster” – Chris Giddens, Beth...

It’s Time to Think About End of Year Giving (and we can help). Have you received an appeal asking for a Christmas offering gift yet? If you have ever given a penny to a non-profit or attended one of their events, likely, you are starting to receive end-of-year appeals. Why is that? Because that is when most of t...

How Our Phone Obsession Could Help Your Church. 344 times a day is the amount the average American checks their phone; that’s once every four minutes! That is the average. This means some are checking their phones even more than that; in fact, 47% of Americans consider themselves “addi...

Adapting to our New Reality. In 2011 only 14% of churches utilized some form of online giving. By 2015 that number rose to 42%. 75% of churches offered some online giving by 2018.1. Then came COVID and the lockdowns, and overnight nearly every church in America now offers online...

How Online Giving Can Help Turn Bad News into Good News. How Online Giving Can Help Turn Bad News into Good News Remember that old saying; I have good news and bad news? When it comes to the giving landscape of America, that is the findings in a new Barna report entitled, “The Giving Landscape: Who ...

How to Raise Your Giving in Less Than 2 Minutes. The single most important thing you can do to increase giving at your church is to change how you take up your offerings. Yet tragically, the offering time has been one of the most neglected parts of worship. Now, post-Covid, many churches have stopp...

How to Recession Proof Your Offering. “Are we about to go into recession?” A pastor texted me that question a few days ago. Ironically, a few days before I received this question, I had asked my long-time banking expert the same thing. Without pause, he responded, “Aren...

How to Avoid a Giving-to-Budget Crisis. “Our attendance is 50% below pre-Covid numbers, and we are entering into July $70K behind budget. Can you help us close the gap?” That was what a pastor recently asked me. Does that sound familiar? The amount might not be your amount. For...

Is Your Church Website Guest Friendly?. Nearly every guest that enters your facility for the first time has already visited your church. Some visited your church in the dead of night, while others visited during office hours. The interesting thing about these visits is that you never saw t...

The Three Day Weekend. I hated three-day weekends as a pastor!  Consider this… Three-day weekends are killers for offerings! Why? Your people are at the lake, beach, or ball game. When attendance is down, giving is down too. Falling behind makes i...

The Value of a $50 Check. Every month my 93-year-old parents write a $50 check to their former dentist, who now makes dental mission trips worldwide. $50 might not seem like much, but my parents have been doing this monthly since 1985. To date, they have given over $21,000 to...

Easter is Over, Now is the Time to Start a Summer Giving Plan. You survived another Easter! Now it’s time to get ready for the summer slump in giving that is heading your way by developing a summer giving plan. The lack of planning is one of the biggest mistakes churches make as they approach the summer mo...

The Seasonal Giving Strategy. Does your church have a giving strategy? Most churches don’t, so they struggle to be financially stable. They fall behind early in the year and struggle to get through the summer months. The typical church has more missions and ministry in the ...

The New Loose Plate Offering. Before Covid, on average, 5% of a church’s annual giving came through loose cash put in some offering receptacle. That was then, this is now, and even though churches are back on campus, few, if any, are passing a traditional offering plate. Wh...

No, Offerings Are Not Dead. “We will never pass an offering plate ever again.” That was a comment a pastor made to me about four months into the Covid pandemic. That comment was surprising at first, but the number of churches that pass a traditional offering plate h...

3 Things to Help You Overcome Objections to Crypto. Over 112 million people watched the Super Bowl this year. Many of those millions didn’t care who won or lost or even much if anything about the game. They watched the Super Bowl for the commercials. In fact, according to a study, 37% of Super B...

You Can Pass the Plate This Easter. Have you thought about how you can share your church's vision on Easter in such a way that it increases the number of people who give and the amount of money given?   Right now, you might be thinking, who thinks about the offering for East...

Now is the time to start accepting cryptocurrency donations. With digital currency popularity skyrocketing globally, now is the time to start accepting cryptocurrency donations. Your church may be wondering, what is cryptocurrency? Is it legit or something The Church should even be considering?  Wha...

Introducing ChMS Integrated Church Custom Form Actions. Continual platform enhancements, including extending our ChMS integrations, are a top priority at OnlineGiving.org. We believe that technology never stops growing and improving. Our development cycle is continuous, and updates get deployed daily. We...

The Passwordless Experience. With one hundred fifty million people using passwordless logins each month, it's safe to say the age of the passwordless experience is now (ZDNet). New research shows that over 70% of people choose passwordless login over traditional usernames and pa...

Say Hello to the Giving Chatbot. The future is now; chatbots are now part of our everyday interactions, from finding information or completing an order. Forty percent of millennials engage with chatbots daily (Mobile Marketer). Thirty-five percent of people use chatbots to resolve a...

Adding a Giving Touch with Touch ID. With the broad adoption of smartphone and tablet devices, churches are looking for methods to transfer the personalization and ease of use that smart devices bring into their digital giving.  Mobile accounts for approximately half of the web tr...

MinistryPlatform 2020 Integration Highlights. Continual platform enhancements, including extending our ChMS integrations, are a top priority at OnlineGiving.org. We believe that technology never stops growing and improving. Our development cycle is continuous, and updates get deployed daily. Di...

Measuring The Whole Picture with Donation Metrics. One of the many benefits of partnering with such amazing churches is the valuable feedback we receive on stewardship tools. Our internal development motto is never to stop building while at the same time honoring the biblical principle that haste mak...

The 16 Weeks of Summer. The 16 weekends of summer are crucial towards whether you are fully funded this year or not. There are sixteen weekends from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Summers have typically been one of the slowest times of giving for churches. With giving alre...

Your Come From Behind Giving Strategy. Admit it, that headline got your attention. Right now, just about every church in America is behind where they want to be in terms of giving. We are still feeling the impact of COVID19 and will, for many more weeks, if not months. You are probably as...

COVID19 First Time Giver Plan. COVID19 has created a lot of stress and tension for churches, particularly in the area of finances. Yet, at the same time, COVID19 is showing churches how to continue forward in very non-traditional ways. One church leader summed it up well by saying...

Don't Forget The Offering. "I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen vision connected to the offering." That comment was made by a denominational leader to me recently. He revealed what I have long known; the offering is the least prepared moment of our worship ...

Standing Strong Through COVID19. Let’s do the math. How much of your giving before the outbreak of COVID19 was electronic? That ratio will tell you a lot. Most of my clients see around 50% of their giving come through some electronic format. My church has an incredib...

We Can Help. "I could potentially lose $300,000 in offerings the next eight weeks." That was the comment a pastor made to me in a 7 AM call this past week. He is wondering if we cannot meet, can we sustain our missions and ministries? He is worried that givi...

In Times of Crises. Everyone is talking about the Coronavirus. From government to Wall Street to Main Street, everyone is trying to figure out how best to respond to this growing crisis. While at present, we do not know the full extent of its potential spread or harm, ...

How a Chatbot Can SERVE Your Church. Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN, used a church chatbot provided by their online giving partner, OnlineGiving.org, to address a challenge that every church faces. How do you get people from just attending your weekend services to plugging in and s...

Headed in the Right Direction. Growing up, I used to hear my mom complain that my dad would never ask for directions. He would reply that he was making good time. Eventually, we arrived where we were supposed to. Yet how much time was lost because we were heading in the wrong dire...

The Future of Giving. “In ten years, we might not pass an offering plate during our services as all commerce will be electronic.” That was a comment a pastor of one of the fastest-growing churches in America made to me last week. We were meeting to talk about ...

Easy to Find and Easy to Use. If you want to increase online giving, you must make it easy to find and easy to use. People can't use what they can't find and don't understand. One of the biggest mistakes I see churches making when it comes to digital giving is making the process ...

Now is the Time to Start Planning Your Easter Offering. Easter is only weeks away, and now is the time to start planning your Easter offering. The last thing the average church is thinking about right now, if they are thinking about Easter at all, is the offering. The typical church uses Easter as a ...

Maybe It's Time to Review Your Contract. "We don't require our customers to sign contracts with us." Those were the words Stephen Ballard, the co-founder of OnlineGiving.org, made to me in a conversation with him recently. After overcoming my shock, I asked a simple question, "Why, not?" Ba...

Seven Times Seven Could Increase Your Online Giving. “You have to inform a church member seven times in seven different ways for them to get your message.” That was what a capital campaign consultant told me once as we were attempting to raise mega dollars at the church where I was the past...

Use The IRS to Increase Giving. The Internal Revenue Service requires churches to send giving statements to anyone who has contributed $250 or more in the past calendar year to a church. Right now, your Treasurer or Financial Secretary is working on getting those statements out to ...

The Anatomy of a Great Offering. Boring and dull. Those are the words that come to mind when you think about the offering time in the typical church across America. Is it any wonder that giving is in decline? Changing how you view and approach the offering is the easiest and most e...

Start Strong. In my experience, the first six weeks of the New Year set the course for how the rest of the giving year will go. Do nothing, and I can assure you that six weeks into the New Year, you will be behind your budget numbers by at least one offering. That...

End of Year Giving Guide. "Using your end of year plan, we raised over $12,000 on the last day of the year!" That was an email note that a pastor sent me after following my advice. I have helped hundreds of churches raise millions of dollars with a simple four-step process fo...

Write the First Check to God. “My New Year resolution is to put God first and start giving to our church.” As we approach the New Year, scores of your members are thinking of making a resolution just like that. They mean well, but most Americans fail to uphold their N...

Start a Successful Year of Giving. Every December, I do two things for my clients. I help them close out their year on a high note. I also start their planning for a successful giving year to come. I do this first and foremost because I believe in the mission of the local church. No o...

Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket!. Do you remember that old phrase, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket?” When it comes to increasing giving, this is the advice I give my clients. As you approach building out your end of year giving plan, this adage is one to keep...

Five Lessons From Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Don’t look now, but Black Friday is almost here! I have five lessons from Black Friday and Cyber Monday for you and your church. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when shoppers typically crowd stores and begin their Christmas purchase...

Does Online Giving Increase Overall Giving?. “How much does online giving increase a church’s overall giving?” That was the question a church without online giving asked us recently. It’s a difficult question to answer for many reasons. First, not all churches have ...

How Show and Tell Can Increase Your Offerings. Do you remember show and tell from your school days? You brought something from home, showed it to the class, and told the story behind that thing or object. The better the story, the more engaged your classmates were, and the better your grade. The...

TouchPoint Church Management Software Integrates with OnlineGiving.org. The Online Giving team is pleased to officially announce our advanced direct API integration with TouchPoint Church Management System (ChMS). TouchPoint is a powerful web-based church management software that helps leaders grow disciples. The new dir...

How to Use Email to Increase Giving. How many emails do you get a day? While I don't know the answer for you, I know I get a lot. A better question might be, how many of the emails you get do you click open? You might not know the answer to that question, but I can assure you that whate...

How to Pick the Right Online Giving Partner. How do you pick the right online giving partner for your church? With all the different firms out there, it can be confusing. Every day you get blasted with emails and calls, all promising you incredible returns and fantastic service. So how do you k...

Get Ready for Giving Tuesday. First, there was Black Friday, then there was Cyber Monday, and now we have Giving Tuesday! Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, where Americans spend a ton of money on Christmas shopping. Then Cyber Monday came along the Monday after Thanksgi...

How to Boost Your End of Year Giving. Don't look now, but the end of the year is just around the corner. Do you have your end of year giving plan in place? The right end of year plan can make the difference between making your budget or not. I will show you in this post how to boost...

Because of Your Generosity. "Because of your generosity, we were able to disciple and share the gospel with 349 middle schoolers, 389 high schoolers, and volunteers at Elevate Summer Camp this July." Donors at The Summit Church in Durham, NC, receive an email confirmation like ...

Give on the Go. We have seen a considerable shift in church attendance patterns across this country. Americans are on the go more than ever before in our history. Our calendars are packed full. Nights and weekends are no longer considered downtime, but rather the bu...

Seacoast Church Uses Text Giving to Support Hurricane Relief. Seacoast Church in Charleston, SC knows a thing or two about hurricanes. When you live on the coast, it is not if a hurricane will come but when. As a result, Seacoast has had its share of hurricanes. While Hurricane Dorian ultimately passed by Charl...

How Can You Avoid a Weather Impacted Offering. As I write this, Hurricane Dorian is spinning off the eastern coast. Where and when it will, land is no one knows. Already up and down the eastern seaboard evacuations have begun. For many Floridians, the evacuation began early on Saturday days befor...

Take the Hassle Out of Onboarding!. "Changing online companies is just too much of a hassle that it's not worth it." That is the first thing my clients say to me when I talk to them about switching their online giving partners. In their minds, the pain of transferring line after...

From Beginning to End, How To Maximize Online Giving. To maximize your church's online giving, you need to begin with your end goal in mind. In other words, decide the outcome you desire and then work towards that achieving that goal. That is good advice. The problem is we often do things a...

How Online Giving Can Boost Your Labor Day Weekend Offering. As a pastor, I hated three-day weekends but then back in my day, there wasn't anything like Online Giving. Online Giving is one of the critical ways I help my clients avoid a slump in giving when a three day holiday weekend comes. Don't look ...

How to Make The 21st Century Offering Worshipful. "Digital offerings will be the end of the offering as worship." That is what someone wrote to me a few years back when I wrote a post encouraging churches to set up online giving. Ten years later, my response is still the same that I gave then, t...

Are you Ready for Spontaneous Generosity?. When it comes to giving at your church, are you ready for spontaneous generosity? The answer to that question could well determine if your church survives into the future. Because like it or not several recent papers from leading think tanks have...

4 Common Mistakes to Avoid With Giving. If you want to make giving work for you, then avoid making these 4 common mistakes. Digital giving is on an upswing in churches across America. Now, most churches have some form of online giving. However, many churches are making mistakes in how to...

Online Giving is the Key to Younger Donors. Online Giving is the Key to Younger Donors If you want to build out the next generation of givers to your church, you must have an online strategy. Relentless Church, an OnlineGiving.org client, understands this well seeing over 60% of their givi...

What Should You Be Tracking in Terms of Giving?. "What should I be tracking in terms of giving?"  A pastor recently asked me this question.  His church has gone through some significant changes that appear to have disrupted his giving.  We are starting to work on plans to reverse ...