Thanks to everyone who took last week's survey. In these next three posts we're going to look at a few statistics from these churches and their insights related to: 1) end of year campaigns, 2) organizational practices, and 3) individual benefits. I picked up several good ideas and think you will to.
Let's start with these statistics from the survey that show the changes we all know happened in online giving since Covid. 73% of our respondents now receive more than 60% of their giving online compared to 27% in 2019. That's a 270% increase!
Since there are just 6 1/2 weeks left in this year, let's start by looking at four end of year giving campaign ideas that our survey churches shared.
Giving Tuesday. Because of the rise in popularity of Giving Tuesday, one church is adding a new "Giving Tuesday" designation or fund. Their end of year giving to missions will focus on everyone giving on Tuesday, November 30 to this new fund.
Using Text-to-Church to send a text message on that Tuesday with directions to simply text back the amount they want to give would be a simple and effective way to do a one day mass giving effort like this. Note: Be sure to make your "Giving Tuesday" fund the default for that day or few days so that all donations would go directly to that fund. (Giving > Settings > Designations / Funds) That way people would not be required to include the designation keyword in their text message.
No In-Person Services 12/25 and 1/1. Both Christmas and New Year's Day fall on Sundays this year. One church is planning to cancel in-person services those days and do everything online.
We all know that a large percentage of people will choose to stay home or travel those days. Even your staff may want to travel to be with family. This year provides an ideal opportunity to apply the lessons we learned from the Covid shut down. The use of QR Codes and Text Keywords will enable people to give as they normally would even though all services will be online.
Missions Funding. For many churches, end of the year giving focuses on supporting missions and missionaries. Surveyed churches shared about a special bike give-away, a turkey and food box give away for seniors, a property purchase for ministry in Dominican Republic, building a school in India, an outreach campaign, and salary support for missionaries.
100% Goal & Celebration. One church is so convinced of the value of online giving that they have set a goal of moving 100% of their giving to online. When they reach this goal, they are planning a special brunch or family fun day celebration.
My guess is that most of us probably aren't sure about this 100% goal. We've got questions about that and may not think that it's even reasonable. We will address some of those questions in the next two blogs.
At the same time, though, think back. In 2015, we couldn't have imagined close to three out of four churches relying on online giving to provide 60% or more of their contributions. By 2030 it may be so common for churches to receive 100% of their giving online that we're writing blog posts on what to do when people want to give using cash or checks.
