SecureGive

Thanks for your help Christopher !

2008-05-31T21:21:00.003-04:00

Over the last several months, Christopher Rivers has been a burst of energy in the SecureGive office. His contagious energy has been an inspiration to all of us. He is an effective salesman. In his career, whether selling real estate or mortgages, Christopher has risen to the top. I smile when I think about his enthusiasm. If I remember correctly, during a two week period he had contacted around 200 potential clients.

Christopher has transitioned away from our company. We wish him well in his new endeavors. One thing for sure, he will rise to the top of the mountain very soon. It's just in him.

Be blessed Christopher .... you have been a blessing to SecureGive and our clients.

Sincerely,

Patty Baker
patty.baker@securegive.com

SecureGive Options.

2008-05-22T09:11:00.002-04:00

I have found that many churches have a preconceived notion about the service that we offer. Did you know we have churches that only have Debit only on their On Site Donation kiosk?

Another thing, we have tested several churches and have found that 85-90% of all the transactions each month are debit only. So even for the churches that do offer all types of credit even the majority is debit.

If the main reason you do not want to be a candidate is because you do not want to encourage people to go into debt, could this debit only solution bring it back to the table? If anything reconsider this information. Our culture lives their life with their debit card. Why should church be any different?

Questions Answered

2008-05-21T08:25:00.005-04:00

Recently, I had someone ask me some questions in regards to Securegive and our On site Donation Kiosk. I thought I would post these questions as they do pop up from time to time....

1. Do you integrate with Shelby?
It's a bit of a stretch to say SecureGive integrates with Shelby and other Church Management Software companies.... We are in the process of working on a "true" integration with Fellowship One. We can import membership data and export contribution data for your church if you use Shelby. We do this through a .csv file. Our software is robust.

3. Have you established a two way sync or a periodic overwrite with any ChMs?
Two way manual sync...import member information....export donation information.

4. Are your batches /entries based on deposit date or transaction date?
Deposit date.

5. Do your kiosk offer anything other than giving?
At the moment we have found that the kiosk best use is for giving only.

SecureGive Keeping the Old School Style

2008-05-20T08:43:00.003-04:00

This past week Marty and Patty Baker went over to Texas to the F1 conference and had a blast showing people what the On Site Donation Kiosk can do. Patty mentioned to me that there was a kiosk there that looked like an old school pulpit. We don't have any churches that buy kiosks that look like this, but it got me thinking. Humor me a little and let me expand on this.

Last night some good friends came over, and we had some coffee and listened to Steven Furtick's most recent message online from this past weekend. He is doing a series called Old Time Religion. It got me thinking about how church is done. Church is changing in so many ways. At one time Furtick asked a question to the effect of," What if back in the day Paul or the apostles had video streaming? What if they had the ability to talk to so many people with the technology we now hold?" This multi site thing is moving so rapidly through churches, and it is gaining large popularity.

As an example for the month of June, Craig Groeschel and some other lead pastors are going to be doing a series called One Prayer. This message is going to be done by video stream and over 500,000 people are going to hear the message of the gospel. There is no doubt that churches are doing things that are different from back in the day.

SecureGive is not doing anything different, but I guess in way we are. At one time people brought their crops and animals and gave them to the Lord. Then they started bringing in something called money. Can you imagine the stink that came when people started bringing something called a paper check. It is just a piece of paper. But in those times the culture gave what they had and it was up to the church to grasp it. Not to long ago churches started offering online giving. What an amazing resource for a church to have. However, there are still churches that are struggling with this concept, but the culture lives their life this way. We have everything from house payments, gas bill, and cell phone bill auto drafted, and we pay our bills online more than we did 10 years ago. SecureGive has brought to market a solution to those who feel prompted to give at church but don't have their checkbook, who don't have any cash, or they just forgot. Securegive has brought churches a solution: people just don't have an excuse anymore not to give.

For the church that is worried about people going into debt, we have Donation K iosks that only take debit cards. For the Church that doesn't have a building we have Donations Kiosks that are wireless. For the church that is worried about having a machine in the lobby of their church we have online giving. SecureGive is committed to the local church. Securegive has found a way to help the church receive donations and save money in doing so. This act of worship has not changed from back in the day. It's just Old School religion just done modern style.

Securegive Table Top Unit

2008-05-19T08:50:00.003-04:00

SecureGive is committed to helping the local Church reach its stewardship potential. Although about 75-80% of our churches purchase our Stand alone Kiosk with Graphics, a table top unit is just as effective and cost less. You could get started with one of our table top units for around $3400. If you are thinking about getting a On site Donation Kiosk this is a great place to start.

Merchant Accounts

2008-05-16T08:36:00.003-04:00

Many people ask us if their Church can use their existing merchant account if they get an On Site Donation Kiosk from us. The answer is we cannot. Let me explain:

1) What separates us apart from most On line Tithing companies is that we offer a card present-pin based debit application. So in order to except a transaction like ours you need a merchant account that takes a card present-pin based debit transaction. This is a good thing and it provides the church with a huge savings in bank fees. For example, a $1,000.00 donation given through an online company costs a church over $30.00 to process that gift. With SecureGive, a $1000.00 PIN-based debit donation would costs the church only .85 cents. Debit transactions are a flat fee so it does not matter how large the donation is, the cost to process it remains the same. Our studies show in churches we have tested that 85-90% of these donations are debit card gifts. I'm sure SecureGive could find a way to let you use your existing merchant account, but then you would still be getting charged for the % of every transaction instead of just $.85 cents.

Think about it this way. Lets say you get charged 1.9% to process a debit card now and I am being very conservative. If someone donated to you guys with there debit card it would probably cost your church $3.33 if they gave you $175. If someone gives with a debit card on our software it would cost you .85 cents. Last year on average Stevens Creek Church received $213k in debit card transactions on their On Site Donation Kiosk. If they had used a online version of processing like most churches are starting to do, we would have paid out around $3063 more than they had to in just processing charges......... That is Huge....... 213k x 1.9%= $4097......... 213k / $175(average donation)= 1217 transactions.....1217 transactions x $.85 cents= $1034......See what I mean....

2) Another reason in which is a very positive one is we are the gateway for every merchant account we set up. Bottom line is we don't provide this merchant account through some third party. If you have a issue or you need to have help you call us and we can get involved. We take great pride in this.

Fellowship One Conference

2008-05-15T07:31:00.002-04:00

If you are in Texas today or have anyone at your church attending the Conference come check us out. We will be dispaying our software and will be talking about the integration and features we are now using with F1. See you at the show.

SecureGive/Fellowship One Announcement

2008-05-14T08:45:00.006-04:00

For all the churches out there that use Fellowship One for your Church Management Solution it was announced by them a couple of days ago that we are working together now with our integration for our On Site Donation Kiosk.They have certainly spelled it out. Have they sent you the memo? I believe with the implementation of our software in your church and the integration we offer now with F1, your church has a great opportunity to maximize your stewardship potential through our On Site Donation Kiosk. The sky is the limit for churches now using F1. We are very grateful to be invited into their circle of influence. Thanks guys....

One Word to describe SecureGive?

2008-05-13T08:33:00.004-04:00

I read a cool post titled Brand Magic by Seth Godin. He is going to be at the Catalyst Conference this year and if you don't know anything about him he is certainly worth checking into. We will be there as well so stop by if you are interested in seeing what we are all about. I got to thinking after this post that I read. I wonder what is one word that describes SecureGive. There are so many things that I could say about our company that would describe who we are, but to sum it up in one word is pretty hard. Its powerful marketing at its best. SecureGive does so many things which is what makes it hard to spell it out. We help people give to their church or non-profit with what they have which is mostly their bank card. We save churches money in that we are cheaper than online giving. Our innovation is just cool. We offer a no-excuse-policy to giving. A pastor told me the other day we are just convenient. So people I am stumped on a one word phrase that describes us other than our name. Any one have any ideas out there?

Also, Marty Baker and Patty Baker are going to be at the Dynamic Church 2008 Fellowship One Conference this week in Frisco, TX. Stop by if you have any questions.

SecureGive Client Administration Video

2008-05-12T15:57:00.002-04:00

SecureGive Onsite Donation Kiosk Software

2008-05-12T15:34:00.003-04:00

Third party information

2008-05-12T09:02:00.002-04:00

If you are wondering about a church to call that would give you some good third party information about our donation kiosk you could call any from our list below but maybe our large SecureGive church in South Carolina would be a good place to start.

Someone Let Russell Woodbridge Know We Have Made It Profitable

2008-05-09T08:44:00.007-04:00

I read this article by Russell Woodbridge titled, "Online Giving- Is it Profitable". I know that we are new and there are many that don't even know we exist, but someone let Russell know that SecureGive has made it easier than even Online Giving. How is that you say? I think that we brake down many barriers that people have. Some people just aren't organized. Some people just forget their checkbook. Most people just carry around their debit card and that is it. When a church offers one of our On site Donation kiosk, people can give with what they have.

So you may ask is our On site donation kiosk profitable to the church? Absolutely!! Patty Baker, President of SecureGive, showed me the numbers at SeaCoast yesterday. Once again, we found that 90% of the people that gave last month were debit card contributers. The month before 87% of the people that gave were debit card givers. The is big here so if you have a piece of paper you might want to right this down. When someone gives with their debit card on our On site Donation Kiosk it only cost the church $.85 cents. It doesn't matter how large the contribution is. That is big savings for the church. Wow, I think Dave Ramsey would be impressed.

I was talking to a lead pastor the other day. He told me that the reason they were getting a kiosk is that it is just convenient. The fact of the matter is people feel prompted to give sometimes. Lets face it, not everyone in the church is going to use our service, but when you look at our statistics you would be surprised at how many people use an On Site donation kiosk on a typical Sunday. You would be surprised at how many people will just come over to the church to tithe at the kiosk during the week. Yes, it is SO important that we give God our first fruits, the choice cuts as Perry Noble talked about last weekend. Giving God our best has never been so easy.

The Online Giving Trend can Change for the Better

2008-05-08T08:36:00.004-04:00

I read a pretty cool article this morning. The article talks a lot about how in 2006 Non-Profit organizations benefited greatly with use of online giving services. The reason organizations do so well is because it has everything to do with convenience. I can easily go to the United Way website for example and give with my bank card. The question is, how do people get prompted to do just that. I believe it is the events that these organizations provide in their local community that help people feel that giving is important. Face to face contact is everything. You can move mountains when you have the opportunity to touch people were they are.

I believe that SecureGive can help this trend go even farther than what online giving has gone. People just don't carry a lot of cash anymore. Open your wallet or your purse. Most of us just carry these plastic cards that pay for everything we do these days.

Imagine if at these events there was a on site donation kiosk present. Our on site donation kiosks are perfect for events and capturing people were they are. I have been to these events before. I have seen organizations offering things like a little box that I can put my cash in. Or I have seen people offering little pieces paper where I can write down my bank card numbers so that I can give with my bank card. How unsafe is that? How many people go to these events and feel prompted to give and say to themselves, "when I get home I will go on line and give," and then don't? Lots of them. Now those same people can have the opportunity at these events to do just that. Pearl Harbor is a great example of an organization that has capitalized on what we are offering. If someone feels prompted to give there and they don't have any cash now they can give with their bank card on their Pearl Harbor Donation Kiosk.

SecureGive in the News

2008-05-07T08:35:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, Patty Baker our President emailed me and let me know we were in the news again. We were on the cover of the LA Business Journal. The picture has two kiosks on it. The one on the right is the new Bank of the West Kiosk. To view the whole kiosk that Bank of the West has check out the front cover of Church Executive for the month of April. This organization is incredible and has built a strong reputation in the industry for helping churches and small to large business get off the ground running. If anyone out there is thinking about doing business with a Bank to get your church facility larger or even you just want to grow call these guys. They might even throw in one of our kiosks for doing business with them. Pretty cool!!

The Solution

2008-05-05T16:50:00.002-04:00

Note to all churches that are using electronic giving. Your Online giving presence is awesome and I am sure you are reaching people with this service. Our on site donation kiosk are even better and they reach people were they are in day to day lives. People just don't carry alot of cash or checks anymore. Anyone can have a Point of Sale terminal in the atrium of your church and anyone can take some one's credit card information and then manually process it through your online giving service. But, here is what we can help you with and why we are so passionate about what we are doing.

1. 90% of the people that gave on our on site donation kiosk last year were debit givers only. That is big let me explain. Lets say you get charged 1.9% to process a debit card donation from your current online giving service, and I am being very conservative. If someone donated to you guys with there debit card it would probably cost you guys $3.33 if they gave you $175. If someone gives with a debit card on our on site donation kiosk software it would cost you .85 cents. See last year at my local church we received around $213k in debit card transactions on our on site Kiosk. If we had used a online version of processing like most churches are starting to do, we would have paid out around $3063 more than we had to in just processing charges. That is HUGE. 213k x 1.9%= $4097......... 213k / $175(average donation)= 1217 transactions.....1217 transactions x $.85 cents= $1034......See what I mean.

2. Integration with ChMs for example, and software innovation would be the other thing that makes our software so easy to use.

In a day and age were churches need to do what they can to save here is a solution.

Donation Kiosk

2008-05-05T09:23:00.002-04:00

Here is another cool article that was written about our services. Check it out here.

Prayer

2008-05-01T08:52:00.002-04:00

Our hope and prayer for the churches using our services and churches period is that God will richly bless you spiritually, mentally, and financially. We are praying for you that God will give you dynamic leadership, that you will have the ability to speak truth into people's lives, that walls will be broken down, and that families will be restored.

We are praying for you today and appreciate your ministry and the effect you are having in your community....Press On....

Getting it Right

2008-04-29T21:52:00.004-04:00

Marty Baker, the man with dream and vision for taking churches to the next level when it comes to offering a service like the donation kiosk, has worked around the clock with our software team to get our application right. Yesterday, I met with some fine people who flew here from Independence, MO. Durring our time together I was reminded again that our software is truly awesome and something that every church could benefit from.

What I am finding is that there are many people out there that can not get there head wrapped around what we are doing. When you as a church have a data base of thousands of members and you have multiple systems working together in your own way I can see how you would think that we are just another online giving company. I understand you think you have a system down. And you might have a system down.

BUT, we are so much more than just a company that offers e-commerce. People, we invented the Donation Kiosk. We have not only developed it but God has blessed us in our process to bring to market an unbelievable software capable of so many things. We have developed integration that is custom to whatever application you are currently running. I sent an email to this guy this week and asked him what he thought about a much larger concept of mixing e-giving and the church together. Even he was confused and he has a blog that talks about innovation in the church world.

Please understand that we are not just another online tithing company. If you truly took the time to investigate what we can do you would be surprised and sold like the crew that came here from MO.

Here are couple of questions that if you asked yourself and you answered yes to you need are System:

Do I want a application that offers integration with my ChMs with the click of a button?
Do I want the cheapest rate possible if I am going offer my church members something under the umbrella of electronic giving?
Do I want a system that actually increases stewardship and new contributers in the church?
Do I want a application that offers giving that is something I have control over.
Do I want to have a system that is not only innovative but reaches people were they are in their day to day life?

Saving Money and Saving Time

2008-04-29T13:37:00.002-04:00

How many churches do you think in the USA have a little card reader at a table in their church atrium that takes credit card donations for the church? Let me tell you tons of them.

So to all you churches that have the concept in place but want to take the next step call us today. Did you know that with each church that gets a donation kiosk or online giving gets a client administration site that allows you to have a custom application that not only integrates with your ChMs but records membership data and contribution data with the click of a button.

On Average

2008-04-28T08:53:00.002-04:00

Stevens Creek Church was one of the first churches that had one of our donation kiosks. If you have received our statistics, you will see that those statistics were done at this church. SCC averages about 1300 attendees on a Sunday. We have three services and on average we receive around 30 to 35 donations per Sunday. Durring the week we might get 2 to 3 donations, but we have found with this church that we are receiving around 125 donations per month. SCC has three kiosks. We have a stand alone with full graphics and two table top units.

Integration with Church Management Systems

2008-04-25T08:41:00.004-04:00

Many people ask, "can you integrate with my church management System that I use?"
So here is the deal we can import your membership data and we can export the contribution data.
We do this through a .CSV file. We are working with some Church Management groups to make this process even more superb than what it is.

We are at the CMA

2008-04-22T16:31:00.001-04:00

Come see us at our booth 308. We will be here for three more days.

New Client Administration Video

2008-04-22T08:25:00.005-04:00

I will be done with this today. Everyone that has online giving with us or a donation kiosk has access to their own client administration. This application is very similar to applications like Blogger or Wordpress.

Let us know if you would like me to send it to you.

Christopher

Looking back over last week

2008-04-21T08:32:00.003-04:00

Thursday and Friday of last week were just great for our Company. Marty let us give away 10 free online giving accounts paid for by us for one year. We had an overwhelming response to the challenge to give our amazing software away for free. Were you one of the churches that got it? If not you can still if you let us know.

It is hard to give stuff away. Not everyone, but most people think there are strings attached. THERE ARE NO STRINGS ATTACHED. If you can believe it we have not yet fulfilled the 10 free online giving accounts. If you want to have this service all I need is a letter of intent sent to me by the end of the month and it is yours.....

Call me with any details....bottom line is this is the way people operate their lives these days. Check out this article we were in over the weekend.

Let us know if we can help.....