We Don’t Have Clients; We Have Partners
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We Don’t Have Clients; We Have Partners

Tue, Jan 7th 2025 · Mark Brooks

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 Church worked with us to design the Shift Your Gift strategy, which increased recurring giving and reduced fees. Our platform continually evolves based on partner feedback to ensure churches have the best tools to support their ministry.

When Jeff Mitchell at Ward Church looked for a new digital giving solution, he didn’t just want a provider—he wanted a partner who would listen to his church’s unique needs. At OnlineGiving.org, we don't treat churches like clients—we collaborate as partners to create innovative solutions tailored to each ministry's goals. And we love hearing how our tools inspire churches like yours."

Most service providers treat churches as one of many clients. Good luck if you have an idea about how to make their platform work better for you or if you have a special need. In fact, good luck getting anyone to return your call.

We love it when our partners bring their ideas to us! We engage in meaningful conversations and actively listen to understand their needs and how we can fulfill them. By heeding their requests and ideas, we can tailor our platform to better serve them, while providing value to all our partners in the process. Stephen Ballard, co-founder of OnlineGiving.org, shared:

"We are inspired by the stories of how our partners use our tools. These stories are a testament to the power of our community of partners. Often, a partner will bring us an idea, and through collaboration, we transform it into something extraordinary. Now, others in our community of partners can do the same, inspiring and motivating each other.”

Success Story 1: Seacoast Community Church

Problem: Seacoast Community Church in Charleston, SC, with over 14 campuses and an Easter attendance of more than 35,000 people, faced a significant challenge: how to quickly follow up with anyone who made a decision for Christ during services.

Solution: Weeks before Easter, Seacoast reached out to us for help. After brainstorming, we suggested using our chatbot feature integrated with their Ministry Platform (ChMS). This integration allowed us to automatically match each response to a specific campus pastor for immediate follow-up.

Outcome: The chatbot processed 529 responses seamlessly, allowing pastors to reach out quickly while saving the church staff countless hours of data entry. What could have been an overwhelming task became an efficient, personal outreach process thanks to our collaboration.

Success Story 2: Ward Church

Problem: Ward Church near Detroit wanted to make their donor onboarding process more effective, encouraging automated, recurring giving while minimizing transaction fees.

Solution: Jeff Mitchell, Ward Church’s Director of Digital Experience, contacted our team with their goals. We collaborated to design a strategy called Shift Your Gift using OnlineGiving.org’s platform. This strategy made the donor experience seamless while highlighting the benefits of recurring giving.

Outcome: The process not only encouraged recurring donations but was also adopted by other churches inspired by Ward’s success. Jeff shared:
"I’ve noticed since then that other churches are utilizing this same process.”

You can read more about this story here.

Continual Innovation Through Partnership

We live in a fast-paced society where technology is ever-evolving. These changes require us to continuously enhance our platform. Many of our best features have come from stories like Seacoast and Ward Church’s. One partner noted:
"Every time I visit the site and look over the dashboard, I see new things. I see improvements, new features, better reporting, etc."

You can read about some of our many improvements here.

Our collaborative approach ensures that our partners always have the best tools, tailored to their needs, and that we are constantly striving to meet those needs.

Does Your Provider Treat You Like a Partner?

If you’re looking for more than just a service provider, we’d love to partner with you. OnlineGiving.org is committed to helping churches like yours use the best tools available to spread the Gospel. Contact us at support@onlinegiving.org or (615) 206-4000 to learn more.

Written by Mark Brooks
The Stewardship Coach

 

 

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