Electronic Giving to the Church

[Marsha Gupton]

My church offers online giving through the church website. I'm not sure what company they use. I like it because I can use my debit card and its not a debt on a credit card. Its convenient.

[Rich Schmidt]

As I ponder the discussion so far, the focus has been on "how to" issues such as mechanisms and receptivity.
What of a perpendicular dimension of how does this relate to God's intended purpose(s) that we give back to Him what He has given us?
(far beyond things like keeping the salaries & real estate going)
Both Old and New Testaments address a spiritual purpose of giving/sharing/caring for each other that goes deep into why we should give at all.

Since our objective is to make disciples of Jesus (not mere perpetuation of an organization),
we need to address how silent, faceless electronic giving can be respond to the Scriptural basis of giving (e.g., with demonstrable public joy, of shared praise to Him that we are able to give back to His purposes).

Our local church doesn't pass baskets or anything like that. We have an offering box by the door. So electronic giving wouldn't be much different than someone dropping their gift in that box (or mailing a check to the church).

As for publicly celebrating what we are giving to God, we do that from time to time when there are special giving projects going: like when we've raised money for clean water wells during Lent or given to the local food pantry or the local Christian crisis pregnancy center or to Operation Christmas Child or had a special Easter or Christmas offering, etc. We've reported on the results of those offerings in the bulletin, and I (as pastor) have stood up front and publicly announced and celebrated the difference we're making with our giving. The method in which the offerings are given wouldn't alter our ability to publicly give thanks to God for the privilege of being used by him in these ways.

Remember that right along with examples of gifts being given "with demonstrable public joy," Scripture also includes admonitions to give in secret, not letting the left hand know what the right is doing.

Does that answer the question you're asking?

[Landon DeCrastos]

I use the Stewardship Technology EGS software and it is tremendous.... One thing I have noticed is that I can now accept donations all week long instad of only at the offering time on Sunday morning. For many people that tithe check is the only one they write every week, and we are helping to release their inhibitions to worshiping if we give them every method we can....

I would say that even the regular give that writes the same check every weeks can become rote and faceless.... The way i read it, giving is an apect that is a personal exercise of spiritual maturity and not one that is meant to be surrounded in public pomp and circumstance.....

[Jon Twitchell]

EGS looks good... I REALLY wish that they did a better job listing the costs somewhere upfront on the website. I've been digging around on there, and can't find any place in the FAQ or support documents that tells how much it costs. I realize that they want to sell people on the idea before revealing the cost structure, but it seems a bit disingenuous...

We need some visionaries who would help underwrite the costs of a year's worth of Electronic Giving for local churches who are interested... I suspect most church boards would be reluctant to do this without knowing whether or not people would utilize it.

[Jon Twitchell]

EGS looks good... I REALLY wish that they did a better job listing the costs somewhere upfront on the website. I've been digging around on there, and can't find any place in the FAQ or support documents that tells how much it costs. I realize that they want to sell people on the idea before revealing the cost structure, but it seems a bit disingenuous...

We need some visionaries who would help underwrite the costs of a year's worth of Electronic Giving for local churches who are interested... I suspect most church boards would be reluctant to do this without knowing whether or not people would utilize it.

I'm bumping this.
And adding some information.

I just emailed EGS to ask about the fee structure... and got an email back saying that they'd be happy to give me the fee structure, if I call them.

If I'd wanted to call, I would have called. The number is listed on their website, after all. I didn't want to call, instead, I sent an email.

Seriously, it shouldn't be difficult to list the fee structure in black-and-white. I realize that there may be a variety of factors that affect the price, but it still shouldn't be difficult to quickly provide an example price structure.

I understand that this is the denomination's preferred vendor, but it STILL seems a bit disingenuous to make the pricing structure so hard to find. I didn't want a phone call... I don't want a hard sell... I wanted to do research by collecting information and comparing it.

Honestly, it feels a little like the guy who goes into the funeral home, only to discover that the actual cost of the funeral seems to be based primarily upon the director's guess as to his wealth and ability to pay. Or the guy who can't get a straight price out of the used car dealer...

[Billy Cox]

I understand that this is the denomination's preferred vendor, but it STILL seems a bit disingenuous to make the pricing structure so hard to find. I didn't want a phone call... I don't want a hard sell... I wanted to do research by collecting information and comparing it.

Didn't you get that memo? Doing business with Nazarene-owned businesses is worth spending a little more money (or a LOT more money if you're the GMC).

I agree that one should not have to put oneself on a salesperson's radar just to get a description of fees and services.

[Rich Schmidt]

I just emailed EGS to ask about the fee structure... and got an email back saying that they'd be happy to give me the fee structure, if I call them.

...

Seriously, it shouldn't be difficult to list the fee structure in black-and-white.

...

Honestly, it feels a little like the guy who goes into the funeral home, only to discover that the actual cost of the funeral seems to be based primarily upon the director's guess as to his wealth and ability to pay. Or the guy who can't get a straight price out of the used car dealer...

Car dealer was what was in my head as I read your post. I still remember years ago, when my wife and I were shopping for our first car, how sleazy it seemed when the (new, not used) car dealer wouldn't give us a price in writing. We ended up buying a Saturn, because they were up front with their prices, their profit, everything.

Assuming you end up calling them... I hope you'll let us know what you find out.

[Jon Twitchell]

Car dealer was what was in my head as I read your post. I still remember years ago, when my wife and I were shopping for our first car, how sleazy it seemed when the (new, not used) car dealer wouldn't give us a price in writing. We ended up buying a Saturn, because they were up front with their prices, their profit, everything.

Assuming you end up calling them... I hope you'll let us know what you find out.

I drove an hour away to purchase our truck... simply because I knew that it was a "this-is-the-price-you-pay" sort of dealership.

I don't particularly care that I might have haggled a local dealer down to a slightly lower price... it wasn't worth the effort to me.

I want to walk into a dealership and know what I'm going to pay before I pay it.

[Jon Twitchell]

Well... a little sheepishly, I failed to realize that the EGS owner(?) has already posted on this thread.

While my critique of not revealing the price structure remains, I could have been more gracious in addressing it, so I wish to apologize to Gerry for posting my frustration in this manner.

As you may have guessed, Gerry spotted this post, and has emailed me the additional information that I had requested. Since they've chosen not to publish their (attractive, I might add) pricing structure, I don't think it appropriate for me to post it here. However, if you are interested, I'll share it with you by PM or email.

I do appreciate their desire to be in relationship with churches in order to ensure that the EGS program will meet the needs of the church.... which probably drove their decision to not post pricing. However, as I'm just in the preliminary information-gathering stage, the decision wasn't particularly beneficial to me. As you might expect, I categorically ruled out ANY company that didn't list its prices on its webpage. The only reason I made an exception and took the extra step to contact EGS was because they were recommended by the denomination.

[Craig Laughlin]

However, as I'm just in the preliminary information-gathering stage, the decision wasn't particularly beneficial to me. As you might expect, I categorically ruled out ANY company that didn't list its prices on its webpage. The only reason I made an exception and took the extra step to contact EGS was because they were recommended by the denomination.

Just FYI - We went this way awhile back and reevaluate periodically. We currently use pay-pal. - A company that does not post price/services doesn't get considered. - I suspect our approach is pretty common. The younger generation especially is going to be sensitive to posting online all the information one needs to make a choice. In most churches it will be the younger generation pushing this and probably carrying the ball for making it happen.

[Rich Schmidt]

Just FYI - We went this way awhile back and reevaluate periodically. We currently use pay-pal. - A company that does not post price/services doesn't get considered. - I suspect our approach is pretty common. The younger generation especially is going to be sensitive to posting online all the information one needs to make a choice. In most churches it will be the younger generation pushing this and probably carrying the ball for making it happen.

Just wanted to say I agree with this 100%. Any company that doesn't post this information gives the impression that they're hiding something / trying to pull a fast one. They'd better be comfortable with (1) giving that impression and (2) losing a growing number of customers.

At least, that's how things look to this 37-yr-old pastor of a 12-yr-old church that will probably start offering electronic giving sometime in the next year or two.

Now we have an interesting case study on our hands. We know at least one company is watching this thread. How will they respond to this kind of feedback?

[Billy Cox]

Just wanted to say I agree with this 100%. Any company that doesn't post this information gives the impression that they're hiding something / trying to pull a fast one. They'd better be comfortable with (1) giving that impression and (2) losing a growing number of customers.

At least, that's how things look to this 37-yr-old pastor of a 12-yr-old church that will probably start offering electronic giving sometime in the next year or two.

Now we have an interesting case study on our hands. We know at least one company is watching this thread. How will they respond to this kind of feedback?

When I shop online and find a site that doesn't advertise its pricing, I can usually find it elsewhere. If I can't, then there are likely a dozen other companies that see the openness of the Internet as an opportunity and not something to fear.

[Gina Stevenson]

Tell you what ... (pit stop post, btw) ... I tend to think something is not in B&W because that way it is changeable, depending on who is asking. Not good.

[Houston Thomas]

I'm reviving this really old thread to mention that our church recently added to our giving options. We have online giving and about 35% of the congregation uses it. The benefit is that you can give anytime and set up recurring giving anytime (yeah - I know you can do that with your bank as well...)

The negative is that a lot of people only think to give when they are in the church facility. Also, we occasionally host events in our facility that function as fundraisers for various projects where we ask people to donate. Again, we were running into people not having cash or carrying checks and were looking for ways to facilitate debit card payments without creating a merchant account for point of sale transactions.

This past Sunday we added another option: Square. It's a simple and fantastic service. Square provides a card reader that attaches to an iPad as well as the software to facilitate it. Swipe your card, enter the amount that you want to give, sign on the iPad with your finger, voila. Square's fee is 2.75% of every swipe.

We set up the iPad on a counter in the foyer using a stand similar to this
. So far, so good.