February 28, 2023
By:
Cynthia McChesney, Missioner for Stewardship and Legacy Giving
Although most churches now offer online giving options, it can still be challenging to encourage parishioners and others to use them. Here are some tips to increase online giving:
- Make it easy to find the online giving link on your website, preferably in the main navigation bar at the top of the page, so it stays visible no matter where you go on the site. If members and visitors have to scroll down or poke around through various menus, they may lose interest.
- Get hands-on experience. If you haven't already, make a gift to your church using your online platform yourself, so you speak from personal experience. To ensure that everyone in the vestry understands as well -- why not hold a quick "show and tell" session at your next vestry meeting?
- Feature the online giving link in all communications, including service bulletins, virtual services, and other written materials. A QR code can make it even easier for people to access the link.
- For virtual services, make the link to your online giving visible and "call it out" during the service. Include the link in the description of each service on YouTube, Facebook, or Zoom.
- Let people know that they can use online giving without credit cards by setting up ACH transactions. This is a convenient service that your church members may not be aware of. If your church is a Vanco client, it's easy to set up.
- Recurring giving is a win/win. Encourage members to set up recurring giving by reminding them of the benefits of automatic payments. Hold a "how-to" session after church to demonstrate how easy it is to set up.
If you are not offering online giving yet, remember that the Episcopal Diocese of Newark has negotiated preferred pricing for Vanco, including no monthly fee and low transaction fees. If you're interested in using Vanco, reach out to Peter Johnson, Senior Giving Sales Advisor at Peter.Johnson@vancopayments.com or 952-352-8136.
