People who give online may go unnoticed if the pastor does not set up systems to remind them to follow-up on first time digital givers, just like first time givers with cash or checks.  Sometimes, because churches use digital giving systems outside of their church database management system, the digital givers could be left out.

As you build your systems, make sure that your online givers receive the same communication that other givers in your church receive.

For what it’s worth, we think every digital donation should receive:

1. An immediate thank you email with relevant links.
2. A hand written thank you note about a week later.  You won’t find a better option than this.
3. A quarterly contribution statement at the end of the next quarter.

It turned out that we were doing most of the right things but weren’t doing them strategically or intentionally enough.  Giving Rocket helped us take what we already had and use it in the most effective and efficient way.

We had 2 online giving systems, both of which were a bit confusing so we simplified this down to one with the option of automating giving on there. We were a lot more intentional about how we spoke about money during our church service. We revamped our first time giving system and redesigned our quarterly giving statements. It was around this time we started running budgeting courses too to help people with their personal finances.Giving Rocket helped us take what we already had and use it in the most effective an efficient way.

Tithes and offerings have consistently increased since we were members. We ended last year above budget on tithes and offerings and the first quarter of this year was up more than 25% on the previous year and April was our highest month on record as a church for tithes and offerings.”

Special thanks goes out to Olly Kiff, Proclaimers Business Manager, for sharing this fantastic story with us! We are truly honored to serve your church.

If you’d like to see what Giving Rocket can do for your church, sign up for the $1 trial membership today!

1. Vision stewardship.   I think the senior pastor is the primary champion of the specific vision. Like an army general, he must rally the troops to accomplish the specific vision and keep the leaders focused on the task at hand.
2. Communicating the Gospel.  In most cases, the senior pastor is the primary Bible teacher.  This is an incredible responsibility that should not be taken lightly.  It means careful attention and time must be given to this task.
3. Building and leading the staff team.  This is another thing that can’t be delegated, even if there are others highly involved in the process.  A church staff that isn’t unified isn’t going to lead a healthy organization.
4. Fundraising. Too many pastors try to delegate this responsibility to an executive pastor or finance team, but it rarely works.  The pastor is the CFO:  Chief Fundraising Officer.

Do you agree or disagree?  Comments are open.

“In all transparency, I would rather people go into debt furthering His Kingdom rather than furthering their own kingdom!”

What do you think? Would you rather people go into debt advancing His Kingdom over building their own? Obviously, God does not want us to get caught up in “stuff.”

What’s the balance?

When attendees of your church engage digital giving, they have the opportunity to establish a gift that repeats on a recurring schedule – weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. If your church teaches financial stewardship classes, consider a component of that class that includes how to set up recurring payments for the resource dollars that are allocated towards “giving.” Also, take time regularly (during a weekend service) to teach your church how to set-up recurring payments.

Consistent givers will carry your church on weekends when attendance may be low, but specifically during the “J” months (January, June & July) when giving can be consistently low.

Take time to focus on building consistent givers!

Click here to find out more about how we can help your church “Automate the Important” .

Digital giving will be an area that soon becomes common in most of our churches, and it is unlikely that people will reminisce about the good old days when they wrote checks for their giving or brought cash from their paychecks.

Don’t get stuck reminiscing about things that do not matter. Turn your attention to the future and consider the best ways to reach the people that God has called you to impact for His name.

Automate the Important is a full-blown initiative to help people in your church automate their giving.  It’s a focus on digital giving, and it’s one of the monthly member benefits for Giving Rocket members.

Today, people want to be able to give in new ways. Cash and checks have been replaced with debit and credit cards, but churches are still resistant to the idea of digital giving. Don’t get left behind when it comes to giving! Implement a digital giving strategy that will grow your church’s budget and engage people in new ways.

This month, we’re coaching all of our Giving Rocket members in the area of digital giving.  If you’ve been thinking about jumping in, this is the time to do it.

Click here to give Giving Rocket a trial run for only $1.

THIS IS A PROBLEM! And we are going on a campaign to fix it.

That’s why we’re inviting you to one of eight identical Town Hall Meetings where we are going to address the issue head-on and tell you how you can fix it. We’re tired of churches being broke and behind budget, struggling to make ministry ends meet.

During the Town Hall meeting, you will learn:

• The 5 Key Influencers to exceeding your church budget
• The three things you can do right now to change the giving economy in your church
• How a real church applied these principles and saw a significant increase in giving

Here are the eight options you have to attend: (All times are U.S. Eastern Time)

1. Wed, 5/9 at 2pm (For line leaders)
2. Thurs, 5/10 at 10am (I’ll take brunch with my webinar)
3. Sat, 5/12 at 9am (For people with day jobs)
4. Sun, 5/13 at 9pm (But it’s 5 o’clock somewhere)
5. Mon, 5/14 at 12pm (Lunch & learn)
6. Tues, 5/15 at 7pm (It’s not Fat Tuesday, it’s Finance Team Tuesday)
7. Wed, 5/16 at 11pm (Workaholics or people on the other side of Earth)
8. Thurs, 5/17 at 6am (For England & old people)

Pick the one that’s most convenient for you and sign up now by completing this form:

While we recognize that many people have abused the subject, we believe it’s time to conquer the fear of talking about money in the church.  I offer these five suggestions.

1. Don’t apologize for talking about money.  It’s not a necessary evil – it’s an important part of the discipleship process.  Jesus said that people’s hearts and people’s finances were connected.  So when you stand to preach on money, you’re not preaching a money sermon; you’re preaching a discipleship sermon.  Never apologize for asking people to follow Jesus.
2. Make it normal to talk about money.  People talk about money all of the time, probably EVERYDAY.  It’s time for this to be a normal topic in the church as well.  This means that you need to talk about spending, savings, debt, retirement, and insurance, in addition to giving.
3. Start talking about money EARLY.  If you’re a church planter, one of the healthiest things you can do in your church is to teach on stewardship and generosity early on.  In fact, talk about generosity with your core group, because what they model will happen on a larger scale.  You’re not going to flip a switch and become a generous church with generous people.
4. Un-churched people aren’t stupid…they know it takes money to run a church.  Pastors are often afraid to talk about money because we’ve all read the books showing skeptics think the church is all about money.  People who don’t go to church need Jesus, but they are not dumb.  They aren’t offended when they are asked to contribute, and they know it takes money to pay people and operate a facility.  Don’t’ let the fact that you’re reaching skeptics keep you from talking about money.
5. People do want help with their finances.  For too long, the church has just asked for money from people, yet offered no practical help in the process.  What would happen if you helped your church WIN with their finances?  Would people in your church respect you if you helped them pay cash for a vacation?  Let’s want something FOR people, not just FROM them.

Let Giving Rocket help you have more money for ministry!
Click here to sign up for our 30-day trial membership for ONLY  $1!