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 you contact me is when you want money, I will think that you only care about my money.” In other words, don’t treat me like an ATM!
I have found that when it comes to asking for money, the result is often dependent upon the power of the relationship. I advised pastors to start building relationships with their donors before they asked them for money. That is how you utilize the power of relationships to avoid making your donors feel like you view them as an ATM. But how can you do that?
With a name like OnlineGiving.org, you would think that all we did was process money. But that’s not all we offer our church partners. At OnlineGiving.org, we provide you with the tools that will allow you to build relationships with your potential donors. In this post, I want to share with you how, using our many tools, you can create powerful relationships with your donors, showing you care about more than your members' money.
Technically, this is called text marketing. However, “marketing” carries many negative connotations when it comes to church. Think of marketing as how an organization trumpets the value of its offerings. In the Church, we offer hope for the present and eternity. We possess the greatest story ever told, but your members need to hear it unfold before they are motivated to give your church a dime. Text marketing lets you tell your story and build relationships with potential donors.
Church administrators use the Text Marketing Auto Responders feature for text communications. Auto Responders are designed to allow churches to create a series of text message codes (keywords) that can trigger a custom response to inbound messages from a text message (SMS) or chatbot message. Additionally, autoresponders can populate text marketing phone number lists, perform tasks in an external ChMS, and even trigger chatbot intents for rich conversations.
Autoresponders can be used with Text Message Schedules to send text messages based on phone number sign-up date/time or at a specific date/time. Churches can use this feature to market keywords for phone number list sign-ups or to set up a keyword-triggered response message for marketing purposes.
Popular Uses of Text Marketing Auto Responders:
- Special Event Information & Automatic Event Registration for Select ChMS
- Special Group Information & Automatic Group Registration for Select ChMS
- Baptism Sign-Up and Information
- Daily Devotions Sign-Ups
The Online Giving text messaging feature can enhance your church's communication by sending inspirational messages, reading plans, group reminders, and, yes, donation requests to your members. Text message schedules can send out one-time or recurring text messages to a list of phone numbers. The possibilities are endless!
Here is a list of past posts that feature the use of our instant communication process and tools.
https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/the-power-of-instant-communication
https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/show-and-tell-to-increase-generosity
We make using our platform and tools easy! We provide the tools, step-by-step directions, and customer service to produce powerful messages to build relationships with your members and attendees. The story you tell is up to you.
The point is, don’t make all your messages about giving but about adding value for your members and attendees. The same tools you use to collect donations can be the same tools you use to build relationships. By building relationships, you will have a much better chance of gaining the first gift and a lifetime of giving. Building a relationship helps a donor not feel like an ATM.
Does your processing company offer you more than simply processing online donations? This is one of many additional features we provide for churches and ministries because we are more than a processing company. We would love to share more information about how our systems and platforms can aid your church. Contact us today at (615) 206-4000 or at support@onlinegiving.org.
The Stewardship Coach
With great communication tools, churches build powerful relationships with their members and visitors. These relationships let individuals know the church cares more about them than their donations.https://t.co/OQa3SyAatb pic.twitter.com/6mP6bOb6O7
— Online Giving (@onlinegivingorg) February 15, 2024
