Stabilized cash flow. Increased visibility into future revenues. And – of course – increased giving.
What church doesn’t have these three items on their “wish list” for 2016?
To turn those dreams into a reality, here’s one place churches can start: borrow a note from successful nonprofits and make recurring giving a focus for 2016.
When it comes to recurring giving, throwing a “Give Now!” button onto your church’s homepage is a start, but it’s not nearly enough. Below are three principles to keep in mind as you consider recurring giving options for your website.
1. Make It Pretty!
Blank and boring forms belong at the DMV, not your church’s website! Work with your webmaster to ensure that your giving forms are branded to match the look and feel of your church’s website. Better still, find a giving provider who will enable the entire giving process to be completed right from your website! (See HERE and HERE for two particularly strong examples.)
Not only does a branded, aesthetically pleasing giving process look better, it actually works better as well! A recent study found that givers are 31% more likely to create recurring gifts on branded giving pages vs. generic ones. The same study discovered that, on average, recurring gifts created on branded giving pages were 43% larger than gifts created on generic giving pages! So ditch that boring PayPal page and make it pretty! The results will be well worth the effort.
2. Make It Easy!
One of the biggest mistakes churches make with their recurring giving is asking givers to first setup an account with the church’s management software and to then come back and create their recurring gift. At one church I attended, I had to wait over two weeks before my account was finally approved. Don’t do this to your givers!
Yes, they’ll likely need to create an account eventually, but why not put that step after the gift has already been setup? Doing this allows your members to create recurring gifts in the moment, and will make the account creation process feel much less onerous.
And – while we’re on the subject – the more flexibility you can introduce into your online options the better. Not everyone gets paid on the same days. Not everyone wants to give with the same frequency. Give your people flexibility with when, how, and how often their recurring gifts are drawn. Give them the ability to manage, modify, or even cancel the gifts after they’re created. Give them options! Remember our goal here is to lower the barriers to giving. The more flexibility the better.
3. Talk About It!
Seemingly the most straightforward task of the three, this is actually the piece that gets missed most frequently by churches. Far too many leadership teams have taken the “Field Of Dreams” approach to their digital giving presence. “If we build it, they will come.” Trust me. They won’t.
If you want people to engage with your church’s digital giving tools, you need to encourage them in that direction! And then do it again. And again. And again. Consistency is key. Especially in the beginning. It’s no different from any other event, ministry, or outreach opportunity: people can’t and won’t participate in recurring giving unless you give them a reason to!
If you want your congregation to take recurring giving seriously, it needs to be more than an “oh by the way” option. Make it fun! Make it compelling! Connect recurring giving with the “felt needs” of the givers in your congregation. Maybe this means monthly “Generosity In Action” emails. Maybe it means social media updates or a banner on your website’s homepage. Maybe it’s a slide or a verbal reminder during the offering next Sunday. Maybe it’s all of the above! Just do all you can to get the word out.
(The post above was excerpted from Mogiv’s latest generosity resource, “What Every Church Needs To Know About Recurring Giving.” CLICK HERE to get FREE access to the rest of the eBook, and to learn how your church can maximize your recurring giving program.)
[Mouse pointer image via gabriel.bitar via Compfight cc & Piece of cake image via appelogen.be via Compfight cc]
Jeremy Smith says
UI design, even if it isn’t software but is paper and pencil. Great 3 points.
Eric Dye says
This was as yummy as the cake. 😛