COVID-19 has closed church doors—but it has flung open opportunities to reach new people online. Attendance has skyrocketed. In fact, 44% of pastors reported higher attendance online than in person.1 (more…)
3 Reasons to Live Stream Your Church Service—and How to Do It with Faithlife
When the coronavirus prevented in-person church gatherings, many churches started thinking about how they should share their services online. The question pastors and church leaders asked: is it better to live stream or to prerecord your sermon? [Read more…]
Online Giving: Keep Your Giving Steady When Your Pews Are Empty Due to COVID-19
Church attendance skyrockets at Easter and Christmas. Other times, it dips. And sometimes, it plummets—whether because of flu season, coronavirus, or summer vacations.
Of course, church isn’t about numbers. It’s about ministry. But you’ve got to keep the lights on so you can keep the doors open . . . and keep serving. Even if you’re not sticking to your regular Sunday schedule or are having church online, you’ve got to stick to a regular budget (more or less). [Read more…]
It’s No Secret Church Giving Platforms Are Businesses
When it comes to giving, I want a giving platform that’s safe, secure, and has first-rate features so my church can collect recurring and other gifts with confidence. [Read more…]
These Giving Stats Will Make You Do a Double Take
Faithlife Giving has been serving churches throughout the United States for just over a year and, already, the giving stats we’re seeing are staggering. The biggest lesson coming out of all of it is this: If you’re only collecting gifts on Sunday morning, you’re missing out on a lot of giving for your church.
But that’s not all. Wait until you see the impact recurring giving has on above-and-beyond giving (gifts given outside of a recurring schedule that’s already been set up). [Read more…]
Online Giving: Where Does Your Church Fall in This Debate?
“To cover fees or not cover fees, that is the question.”
While Shakespeare never debated the benefit of giver-covered fees, it is a debate in churches.
Before we look at the “why” behind giver-covered fees, let’s break down the “what.”
What is a processing fee?
A processing fee is an amount it costs to process or facilitate a gift. Processing fees apply to credit/debit transactions and ACH transactions.
For credit and debit cards, a processing fee is an amount charged by the credit card company that issued the card. Most card processing fees are around 3% plus a small fixed amount for each gift. (For example, Faithlife Giving’s premium rate is 2.49% plus 30 cents.)
For ACH transactions, a processing fee is usually a smaller percentage with a fixed amount. (Faithlife Giving’s premium ACH transaction fee is 1.0% plus 30 cents per gift.)
Every time you swipe a card or make an ACH payment—even when you’re buying groceries—someone is paying a processing fee to your bank or card issuer (Visa, Mastercard, etc.).
The question is, should a church pay the processing fee for online gifts or make it optional for a giver to cover the fee as part of their gift?
2 views on online giving
Theologically, churches hold different positions on giving and so also differ on whether to cover fees or not. They fall into two main camps:
- Churches should make giving as easy as possible, so they give people many giving methods, including online giving.
- Churches have a moral obligation to keep 100% of each gift that comes in. That means they directly oppose online giving because there’s a small processing fee deducted from each gift.
No matter where you fall in the discussion, Faithlife Giving could be a great fit for your church. That’s because our goal is not to tell you how your church should give but provide you with an online giving platform that supports your goals and mission.
That’s where one of our customers’ favorite features comes in.
Giver-covered fees
If your church is using Faithlife Giving, you can enable givers to cover processing fees. This means that your regular givers can increase their gifts to include processing fees, so the church gets 100% of what your giver intended you to receive. (Note: The entire gift, even the portion covering the fees, is tax-deductible.)
It’s fun to see how giver-covered fees are working out for churches using Faithlife Giving:
- Over 70% of churches with Faithlife Giving have giver-covered fees enabled
- Nearly 30% of churches with Faithlife Giving have 100% of their fees covered by givers
For our customers who make it optional for givers to cover fees, givers choose to pay them 60% of the time.
What makes Faithlife Giving different?
Options.
With Faithlife Giving, givers can choose to pay the processing fees in addition to their gift amount, ensuring your church receives the full gift amount.
Or you can choose for your church to cover processing fees.
Either way, Faithlife Giving gives you peace of mind so you can focus on serving people.
Learn how Faithlife Giving can make online giving an enjoyable, seamless experience for your church.
How to Set Up Text-to-Give for Your Church
You’re probably noticing, like the rest of the world, that people are hardly carrying cash or checks anymore. Most transactions are happening from our phones.
That’s why having text-to-give in your church is so important. (Though passing the plate is, too, for those who still use cash and as a visual reminder about giving.)
Online Church Bulletins: How to Create More Engaging Services
Every week, your church uses an ancient technology to collect contact information and track attendance: paper bulletins.
In addition to supporting the recycling and waste management services in your community, those paper bulletins create a lot of tedious work for your staff (or a very patient volunteer who deserves some appreciation). Someone has to collect all those bulletins and manually enter the information into spreadsheets—because what good is all that information if it isn’t organized?
That’s why Faithlife just made your bulletins digital. Collecting and organizing that information gets a whole lot easier, and your congregation stays more connected.
While you may not be ready to ditch your printer, technology is becoming increasingly valuable to churches. As of a year ago, about two thirds of your congregation has smartphones. The epitome of convenience is filling your pews every weekend. Your church can use that to your advantage.
Digital bulletins turn smartphones into assets, not distractions.