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It’s no secret that tithes and offerings are an integral part of the life of the church. Churches of all sizes depend on the giving of their members and attenders in order to pay staff, fund programs and ministries, manage and maintain the facilities, support mission work, and more.
The pandemic saw the end of the passing of offering plates during the service, and many churches never resumed the practice. This has led many church leaders to seek alternatives to “passing the plate” in order to encourage people to give. While churches can still readily accept physical donations of cash or checks, it’s becoming increasingly important to have a way to accept electronic donations. This is where the best tithing apps can come to the rescue.
Common Problems We Face Throughout The Donation Process
“I want to give, but I don’t carry cash or my checkbook on me.” This statement was said to me by a newcomer to our church. She felt the call to give to the church and recognized how giving to the church is an expression of her faith, but she doesn’t carry cash on her and rarely, if ever, has cause to write a check. So her checkbook remains at home in the drawer, forgotten in the Sunday morning rush out the door.
“We weren’t here last week, so we didn’t give.” While this may not be something stated so explicitly, it’s very common for church members and attendees who give weekly to never give the money that they didn’t give the week they weren’t in the building. Especially during the summer months when church members go on vacation, giving can take a back seat, overlooked in the excitement of visiting new places. Sometimes giving is foregone in an effort to have a little extra money for the trip.
Even when funds aren’t coming in, there are still expenses that the church has to pay. Staff members still need paychecks. The building still needs heat and water. Missionaries still need their financial support. Large and small churches alike depend on the giving of tithes and offerings to keep things running, but many small churches are more immediately feeling the pressure to find a giving solution that will remove as many barriers as possible for people to give tithes and offerings. Especially in the face of financial insecurities, inflation, and other challenges, it’s important to help make it as easy as possible to help church members and attendees express their faith through giving.
Utilizing These Online Tithing Apps Can Help Relieve The Stress
Online tithing apps are a great way to offer people the option of giving instantly, even if they don’t carry their checkbooks or cash with them. Even if they aren’t in the building. With a tithing app a credit card, debit card, or bank ACH transfer can be utilized to make online donations, no cash or check needed. Through a tithing app, church members have the option of setting up recurring donations.
There’s no need to be in the building for the money to automatically be sent to the church each week, every other week, each month, or some other interval of time. While many of us have been known to leave the house without our wallets, most of us won’t leave the house without our mobile devices. Small churches can reduce the stress they feel in helping encourage regular giving by capitalizing on the things we can’t leave home without.
Many tithing apps offer flexibility in ways to give, so people have options in choosing a method that is easiest for them to access. Some apps allow people to download a dedicated mobile app that they can keep on their phone and use to give directly. Some apps allow churches to set up a “text to give” number so people can give via text message. The best options for giving apps allow for a variety of modes of giving because the landscape of “giving barriers” varies from person to person, so it’s crucial to give everyone the smoothest path forward.
An important concern to address about online giving is, that regardless of which tithing app you use, there will be something called a “transaction fee.” This fee is the cost involved in processing a credit card, debit card, or ACH bank transfer and it varies from platform to platform. While these transaction fees can take a cut of the donation, it’s important to remember that many who choose to give online would not have given in person.
So, receiving $48 of the $50 someone donated is still better than the $0 they would have given if they were limited to giving by cash or check, neither of which they carry with them. Many tithing apps also give donors the option to pay a little bit more in order to cover that transaction fee, and an average of 40% of donors will choose to do that (and for our church, currently 100% of donors cover that fee).
3 Best Tithing Apps For Your Small Church
1. Planning Center Online and the Church Center App
Why Is This A Great Option?
Planning Center Online (PCO) is a fantastic giving solution for most small churches, especially for those looking for an all-in-one solution that incorporates giving, managing church members/attenders, child check-in, volunteer schedules, events, service plans, etc.
PCO offers several ways to give via a web link or a text-to-give number, or they have a free mobile app that churches can use, called the Church Center App. Church members can download and connect with your church. You have the option of giving online donors the option to cover the transaction fees associated with using a debit/credit card or bank transfer. PCO’s pricing is a la carte and tiered so you only pay for what you need and use, with a base price of $0.
How It Works
PCO partners with Stripe, a major payment processing platform, to process online donations. You don’t have a monthly fee to start, but if you process more than 10 online donations per month, the price on PCO starts to increase ($14 for 75 online donations, $29 for 200 online donations, and so on). Transaction fees are 2.15% + $0.30/donation for credit and debit card donations and 0% + $0.30 per ACH bank transfer donation, and donors have the option of covering this fee so your church gets the full amount donated. Donors can give via the Church Center App, a text-to-give number, or a web link.
How To Use It
PCO has some fantastic help guides and customer service, so if you select PCO, you’ll want to visit their help section here. That being said, here are the basic steps to using PCO for giving:
- Create a PCO account
- Follow their instructions to set up a Stripe account (where you’ll input your banking information so they can deposit your donations. It takes about 3 days for credit/debit card donations and about a week for ACH bank transfers to make it to your bank account.)
- Set up your various funds in PCO that people can give to (general fund, missions, benevolence, etc)
- Share your giving link, app, and/or text-to-give number
- Start receiving donations and furthering the work of God’s kingdom!
How To Teach This To Your Congregation
PCO makes it easy to start giving online. They even have a one-minute video you can share! Share your special app, giving link, and text-to-give number so that people can start giving. Donors can give one-time gifts without creating an account, or they can make an account using a cell phone number or email address so that they can give faster, set up recurring giving, save their payment method, see past donations, etc.
2. Tithe.ly
Why Is This A Great Option?
Tithe.ly is free for churches regardless of how many online giving transactions you process each month. You have the option of giving online donors the option to cover the transaction fees associated with using a debit/credit card or bank transfer so that you get the full donation.
How It Works
Tithe.ly provides several options for donors to give, from a free mobile app to a web link to a text-to-give-number to even providing the option to set up a physical giving kiosk in your church (though this requires you to have a tablet or other device designated for this purpose).
How To Use It
Tithe.ly’s website is loaded with help guides and they have great customer service if you need more help. If you select Tithe.ly, you can get started by visiting their help section here. That being said, here are the basic steps to using Tithe.ly for giving:
- Create an account
- Answer Tithe.ly’s phone call or email to verify your identity so they can finish connecting to your bank account.
- Set up the giving page with your desired funds/designations, logos, etc.
- Share the link, app, and text-to-give number, and start receiving donations!
How To Teach This To Your Conversation
Tithe.ly offers several different options for giving, so once you decide which giving options you’d like to make available, you can start sharing them. This can be done with a QR code or link to the web page or app, sharing the text-to-give number, etc. Donors can give one-time gifts without creating an account, or they can make an account so that they can set up recurring giving, save their payment method, see past donations, etc.
3. Venmo
Why Is This A Great Option?
Most people are familiar with Venmo since it is one of the main peer-to-peer mobile payment apps. Many people in your church may already even have one of these accounts set up because they’ve used it to pay friends and families. This means that people who want to give via Venmo probably already have an account set up, know how to use it, and have their bank or credit/debit card connected so there are fewer steps needed for them to be ready to give. It is free for the church to have a Venmo account. There is no monthly fee. Transaction fees are also lower if you’re established as a Venmo Charity (more on that below).
How It Works
Like individuals, churches create Venmo accounts using an email address, phone number, and username. Churches may also register their 501(c)(3) nonprofit status through PayPal (which owns Venmo), making them a Venmo charity profile. This allows your church to take advantage of lower transaction fees (1.9% + $0.10 per donation received) than a typical business profile. Church members create a personal Venmo account, if they don’t already have one, and send money to their profile using the regular Venmo mobile app.
How To Use It
If your church is established as a 501(c)(3) organization, you have to start with PayPal (Venmo’s parent company) in order to be established as a Venmo Charity. Navigate to PayPal’s Business Tools page for charity profiles, and follow the steps to establish your status as a nonprofit.
Because Venmo is a peer-to-peer mobile payment app, anyone who wants to give has to have their own account, and they have to connect their account to the church. When someone sets up this form of online giving, they will search for your church’s username and select “donate.” Once they donate the first time, your church shows up on their Friends list and they can give whenever they want, but Venmo does not yet support the option to set up recurring donations.
How To Teach This To Your Congregation
Venmo encourages using QR codes and web links to get people directly to your Venmo profile. This code is something you can keep posted around the church (clearly indicating they can scan it with their phone’s camera to give). Like other social media pages, Venmo utilizes the @ symbol to denote a username.
If you can use the same username, called a social media handle, across all social media pages, it makes it easier for people to find you. People have the option of making their donation “public,” meaning it shows up in their public Venmo activity that they gave to the church or they can make it “private” so only they and the church know they gave to the church.
Tips On How To Teach Your Congregation
Before you can teach your congregation how to give, it’s important to teach them why they should give. It doesn’t matter what kind of giving platform you use if your church members don’t understand why they should give. You could have the most beautiful web page or mobile app dedicated to making it as easy as possible for people to donate, but if they don’t know what they’re giving to or how their money can help, it won’t matter.
Talking about finances can feel awkward, but it doesn’t have to be. Introducing a new way of giving can be a perfect opportunity to remind your church why we as Christians give to the church. Introducing one of these best tithing apps can be the perfect time to cast the vision for what specifically your church does to be good stewards of the money church members and attendees are entrusting to the church, and asking them to join you in that mission by giving.
Practical Steps To Ensure Church Members Can Learn Easily
1. Start Small
Choose a few people to ask to give a trial run of the giving app. Have enough people try it so that you can get a good “sample size” and understand what everyone will see and experience when they try to give. That means having at least one person try giving with a credit card, one with a debit card, one with an online ACH transfer, one via text message, one with the app, one with recurring giving, etc. They don’t have to give their whole tithe in order to try it, even $10 should give you a picture of what to expect.
2. Be Excited
Talk up the opportunity to give online. Share how positively this will impact your church and why you’re excited about it. Encourage people to give it a try.
3. Offer Help
Provide the space for people to ask questions. Have someone available for a few Sundays in a row after you’ve launched the mobile giving app who can walk through the steps individually with church members and answer common questions they may have.
4. Promote The New Way To Give
Hang up fliers with a QR code, text-to-give link, and/or the website that givers can access in order to set up online giving. Share about it from the pulpit. Post about it on your social media pages. Talk about it in individual conversations. Put it in your bulletin or newsletter. Send an email blast. The more you share that you have a new giving option available, the more it’ll click with your church members and attendees that this is an option for them. Talk about it until you’re blue in the face and you think you’ve over-promoted it because most people need to hear about something MANY times before it clicks and sticks in their brains.
Eliminate The Barriers
Having the option for people to give online is a critical step to ensuring people can continue to give their tithes and offerings with as few barriers as possible. While checks and cash are not going away any time soon, introducing a way to accept online donations is an important step to take in continuing to help make it accessible for people to give to the church.
Whether you want to encourage everyone who gives by cash or check to switch to electronic giving or you just want to offer another option for people to express their faith through giving, a tithing app is the best solution to expanding the ways someone can give so they can pick a method that is easiest for them.
As with just about any change or addition a church makes, there may be bumps in the road as you embark on this new journey. You may encounter questions you don’t know how to answer. It may take some trial and error to figure out how exactly your specific tithing app works. But keep at it. Providing everyone the opportunity to live out their faith by giving what God has laid on their hearts, is worth it. You can do it! I’m rooting for you.
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First, I’m very grateful for this ministry. I’d like to share some thoughts regarding these tithing apps. Our church first used Planning Center for a few years then we switched to Tithe.ly. After some time, we upgraded to their all-inclusive package. These are good options, but most members complained about the fees. Eventually, we stopped using the Tithe.ly all-inclusive package and downgraded to their free version. Most members have stopped using tithe.ly altogether and switched to giving through Zelle. This ensures that they or the church don’t lose out on fees. In recent months, I have also discovered Zeffy.com, which is a zero-fee fundraising platform for nonprofits. We can use it for donations, events, campaigns, etc. We are also able to find other free resources to replace some of the services provided in the tithe.ly all-inclusive package. These free options have helped us save people and the church money while continuing to offer different giving options. Thanks again!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! So great to keep the information and reviews going!