Vanco is an online giving tool that integrates with Church360° and Shepherd’s Staff. We know some churches are hesitant to get started with online giving.
If you’re skeptical about the impact of recurring donations for churches, consider the following:
- Monthly givers donate 440 percent more over their lifetimes than one-time donors (Philanthropy News Digest).
- Recurring givers donate 42 percent more in a year than one-time givers (Network for Good).
- Recurring givers make additional one-time gifts 75 percent more often than one-time donors (Classy).
What Churches Using Recurring Giving Can Expect
- More predictable giving: When members of a congregation give a set amount each week or month, there are fewer lulls in gifts.
- More convenience for givers: According to a U.S. Bank survey, 76 percent of Americans carry less than $50 in their wallets at any time. This makes it more difficult for givers to give if they must remember to bring their checkbooks or cash to church.
- Simplified giving for virtual ministry: Many churches have members who winter in warmer climates but still watch church services online.
How Churches Can Encourage Recurring Giving
With nearly thirty years of experience working with churches, Vanco knows what works for churches hoping to encourage recurring giving. These are tested approaches any church can use to boost giving.
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Get Buy-In from Church Leaders
One of the biggest reasons church initiatives fail is that they never received buy-in from church leaders. Before rolling out recurring giving for your church or launching a campaign to expand its use, your senior leadership should have gained consensus on your plan. Your leadership team should agree on every aspect of your rollout or campaign.
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Enlist Church Leaders to Promote Recurring Giving
Within every congregation, some folks take an active role in the church’s activities. When rolling out or launching a campaign to expand recurring giving, churches should ask these folks to model the new behavior.
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Reframe the Ask
Once your church decides to commit to rolling out or expanding recurring giving, you’ll need to reframe the way you ask for gifts to be more specific. This means your church should ask for monthly or weekly gifts. This is perhaps the easiest change any church can make.
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Give Givers a Reason
Many members are averse to change, but if your church explains the value of recurring giving, many will adjust. Churchgoers don’t need to remember to bring their checkbooks or wallets or give their gift electronically every week. Recurring giving only takes a few minutes to set up, and there is no need for them to manage their donations afterward.
Your eGiving platform should collect and collate the data in a way that makes record-keeping and issuing end-of-year tax documents simple.
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Show How Easy Recurring Giving Is
One of the most effective ways to encourage members to sign up is by showing them exactly how easy it is to donate. The most successful of the 25,000 churches Vanco has worked with will demonstrate how quickly members can set up recurring giving.
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Promote Recurring Giving for the Church
Recurring giving for churches needs to be promoted to get new givers on board. There are several ways you can get the word out about recurring giving, including . . .
· Sending emails to promote automatic giving.
· Creating a page on your church’s website promoting eGiving.
· Promoting recurring giving through social media posts.
Creating promotional materials for recurring giving can be a bit of work, which is why we’ve created dozens of templates and samples to help.
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Be Persistent
Getting members to switch to recurring giving won’t happen overnight. That’s why churches need to be persistent. Mention the recurring giving option regularly, especially as you launch your first campaign to get churchgoers to sign up.
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Say Thank You
We saved the most important for last. Your givers make all the good work your church does possible. That’s why you need to thank them routinely. When it comes to giving thanks, it’s important to make sure you give each communication a personal touch.
Personalize your thank-you messages. This could include sending out handwritten letters to your givers quarterly.
How to Get Started with Recurring Giving
As we mentioned earlier, setting up recurring giving is easy. Most eGiving options have a box that allows givers to make their donations recurring. To see how you can set up recurring giving for your church, request a free demo of Vanco’s eGiving options.
