Matt Morris > Will E-Giving Ever Take the Reigns?

Recently I had the honor of speaking at the AIM Conference in San Diego, California to a group of pastors, executive directors and Director of Missions all across the country.

I was asked to speak about all things technology in the church space. The most question-filled period of time during the three hours of me speaking revolved around e-giving.

It’s no secret that e-giving is becoming more prominent in our churches today. It seems like everywhere we turn we see new companies popping up that offer that service to churches. Numerous solutions in the marketplace must mean one thing: companies see e-giving as a way to serve churches because there has been traction as of late.

Four years ago LifeWay commissioned a research study. One of the questions in the study was “Does your church currently offer e-giving giving?” The answer: only 14% of the 1,003 churches surveyed offered it. 86% did not. Furthermore, 50% of the churches who did not offer e-giving giving had no plans of ever offering it. When we looked at the data on church size and how that correlated with e-giving, we saw that the majority, 86%, of the churches who were offering e-giving were over 200 members, with 55% being over 500 members. Obviously, larger churches were the early adopters. But do the same statistics hold true four years later?

The Tides are Changing

I’ve talked to church planters over the last year and a half who start with e-giving right off the bat. Most church planters are younger, but not all of them. So why are most church planters choosing to implement e-giving from day one? The number one reason is convenience. It provides an easy way for members to give outside of the constraints of a church building.
A few weeks ago I was in Dallas for the Catalyst Conference. It was held at Gateway Church, a megachurch with multiple campuses. I had lunch with Lawrence Swicegood, Gateway’s Director of Communication. 72% of their tithes and offerings are through e-giving. The discussion that followed that stat was a great one. Obviously, I had a lot of questions as to how they built such a strong e-giving following in their congregation, but my first question was “how did you get your members to engage?”

The following morning I had breakfast with a good friend of mine, Jeff Pelletier. Jeff is the Executive Pastor at Milestone Church in the Dallas area, another megachurch with multiple campuses. 46% of the congregation at Milestone is giving electronically. Again, I had the same first question for Jeff.

Both Lawrence and Jeff had the same answer: education.

Gateway and Milestone have implemented a communication plan to their congregation to educate their members on the benefits of giving electronically. I’d like to share some of their strategies with you. Obviously, both are megachurches, but their communication plans can be implemented by a church of any size to increase tithes and offerings.

1. Introduce your members to e-giving

Tell them what it is, why your church is choosing to do it, and why it benefits the church.

2. Lead by example

The churches who see a large percentage of their members give electronically are those who’s pastors and staffs give electronically as well. When the pastor gets up in front of their members and says “this is the way your church leadership is giving” it sets the tone.

3. Keep the idea of e-giving in front of your church

Include verbiage in your bulletin about e-giving. Tell your members how to give electronically, whether it is on your church website, through your mobile app, a kiosk in the lobby or via text-to-give.

4. Keep it coming

Don’t just limit your communication to one week. Keep it constant. The communication shouldn’t be limited to just a bulletin. Make it part of everything you do. E-mails, letters, text messages, call campaigns, social media, etc. Make sure your members are being made aware multiple times in different mediums about your new e-giving implementation.

5. Make it personal

When someone gives electronically for the first time, have your Executive Pastor write a handwritten note to that member. In an age of electronic communication, a personal note goes a long way.

Regardless of your church size, a communication plan similar to this can be implemented to educate your members on e-giving. We have seen the percentages of churches offering e-giving start to rise. Smaller churches and church plants now offer e-giving. The churches who said they would never offer e-giving are starting to adopt the idea, but if you are going to implement e-giving at your church, make sure you have a strategy to engage your members. We don’t give keys to a 16 year old and tell them to drive a car, we teach them first. We lead by example.

What are some of the ways you have communicated e-giving to your members that have led to engagement and increased tithes and offerings? I would love to hear from you.

Join the conversation About Matt Morris

Matt leads works for Ministry Brands, a technology company that serves and equips churches, ministries and nonprofits with top-tier, Kingdom-minded solutions—including church management software, online giving, mobile apps, financial software and websites. Matt has authored church technology blogs for LifeWay, Pastors Today, Preaching Magazine, and Church Tech Today. He has also been featured in publications including ChurchMag, Church Executive, Facts & Trends, Baptist Press and various business journals.

Matt is married to Carmen, and they have two children: Hudson and Harper. He and his family attend First Baptist Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Follow him on Twitter.