Discussing finances can sometimes feel uncomfortable for church leaders, yet it's imperative for effective church operations. While the Bible warns against the love of money, we can confidently encourage member generosity without succumbing to greed.
Making the donation process easy is key. Online giving platforms offer a convenient solution for collecting, tracking, and reporting contributions.
<a href="#list-1" class="toc-link">Tithely</a>
<a href="#list-2" class="toc-link">Breeze ChMS</a>
<a href="#list-3" class="toc-link">Subsplash</a>
<a href="#list-4" class="toc-link">RebelGive</a>
<a href="#list-5" class="toc-link">Continue to Give</a>
<a href="#list-6" class="toc-link">PayPal</a>
<a href="#list-7" class="toc-link">EasyTithe</a>
<a href="#list-8" class="toc-link">Donorbox</a>
<a href="#list-9" class="toc-link">Givelify</a>
<a href="#list-10" class="toc-link">Pushpay</a>
Many church leaders don’t love talking about money, but it’s an important part of running a church. Sure—the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, but we can ask congregants to donate without falling prey to the love of money.
What’s the easiest way of collecting, recording, and reporting these church donations? A good online giving platform handles these tasks for you. They’ll also allow you to communicate with current members and even reach new donors who may not be able to attend services in person.
Online giving is the new normal for the church and other nonprofit organizations. The vast majority of people give digitally, and that trend is only going to continue to increase in the future. Not having an online giving platform will hold your church back from tapping into this opportunity.
Not only can online giving solutions allow you to accept donations while people aren’t inside your church building, but they also offer a wider range of giving. You open yourself up to donations through text, social media platforms, and even cryptocurrency. You may not fully understand any of those platforms, but some of your members do, and they’ll appreciate the chance to give with them.
Most importantly, online giving simplifies the donation process by automating reports and receipts. Your church staff no longer has to do some of these processes manually. That will free them up to do other responsibilities, including more engagement with church members.
There are plenty of benefits that you’ll enjoy from signing up with a giving solution, but these are the top five features that any church can expect to see.
Each church online giving platform was created with a unique set of features and benefits. Some will be very familiar, and some might be different. Therefore, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for Anglican churches. You much choose the right one for your congregation.
How? Take the time to do your research. Look at a few different options, not just the ones you’ve heard of before. Pick a few trusted staff members or volunteers to consider the choices. Schedule software demos with three or four of your top picks. Make sure you understand what you want to get out of the solution before making your final choice.
Feel overwhelmed by all of the options? That’s why we compiled this list for you to start from.
We took the time to research a few of the best online giving options specifically for Anglican Churches like yours. You’ll still need to take a look at each one to see how it fits your congregation, but this gives you a starting point.
We compiled some important information on each platform, including their usability, top features, a list of benefits, pricing tiers, and pros & cons. Hopefully, this gives you enough details to make the right decision for your church.
Here are some of the Best Online Giving Platforms for Anglican Churches:
Tithe.ly’s QuickGive option allows your church members to make a donation with a single tap. The goal is to cut down on the complexity for donors.
Tithe.ly giving integrates directly with the rest of a suite of tools, which also includes Church Management Software (ChMS), website builder, mobile app, and worship planning.
Tithe.ly’s giving platform has no monthly payment or setup cost. The price is covered in the transaction fees per donation.
Breeze was created to be one of the simplest Church Management Software with a built-in giving service. This makes it ideal for smaller churches.
Breeze is now a part of the Tithe.ly family, making it easier to connect to the rest of their tools. Breeze also has one simple monthly cost that includes all features.
Breeze costs $72 per month.
Subsplash began as a church apps company, so their giving platform is built around an easy-to-use mobile experience.
Similar to Tithe.ly, Subsplash offers a wide range of other products, including ChMS, live streaming, websites, and messaging. All of these work together within Subsplash One.
Subsplash has no monthly cost for giving. The platform is covered by transaction fees.
RebelGive uses Giving Flows to create a seamless user experience to make donations without a mobile app.
RebelGive is based on a flat monthly cost and does not take transaction fees. The benefit is that churches get to keep 100% of their donations.
RebelGive costs $29/month.
Continue to Give has a slightly less modern user experience compared to some of the other options. The appearance is still intuitive but clunkier.
Continue to Give was created for all nonprofits, not just churches. They offer additional reporting and fundraising features beyond just church-giving platforms.
Two options depending on your church size. Silver has no monthly cost, but higher transaction fees, while Gold costs $29/mo with a lower transaction fee structure.
As one of the largest online giving platforms, PayPal is incredibly easy for people to use in a variety of settings.
PayPal is a large technology company that most people will recognize. They offer a quick and easy solution for smaller churches looking to get started fast.
There is no monthly cost for an account, but they do charge higher transaction fees.
It’s right in the name—the goal of easyTithe is to make giving to any size church simple.
EasyTithe also offers a pro option that connects your giving platform to a ChMS and mobile app. They also offer a wide range of external ChMS integrations.
The pricing is based on church size with $19/month for small churches and $49/month for mid-sized churches. The Pro option starts at $75/month for new customers.
Donorbox features a customizable and modern giving form that can be integrated into your church website.
Donorbox is one of the more prominent nonprofit fundraising tools. They’re used by more than 50,000 organizations across 96 countries.
Donorbox offers three tiers: standard, pro, and premium. Standard has no monthly cost, but multiple fees. Pro has reduced fees but costs $139 per month. The premium account is for enterprise-level clients with custom pricing.
Givelify has a very modern branding that is created to be easy to use. Donors can even give directly from Givelify’s website, offering another source of donations.
Similar to Donorbox, Givelify is a general nonprofit donor platform that serves more than 60,000 organizations globally. People can also find your organization and give from their website.
No monthly fees, just based on transaction fees.
Pushpay’s online giving platform is considered relatively easy to use for churchgoers.
Pushpay is built around its giving platform, so more focus is placed on the donations side of the technology.
Pushpay offers three pricing tiers for their ChMS—core, advanced, and complete—based on what features you need.
Churches keep track of donations in a variety of ways, depending on the size and resources of the church. Some churches use simple spreadsheets or accounting software, while others use more sophisticated systems that track individual donors, gifts, and expenses.
No matter how a church chooses to track donations, it is important to have a system in place that is accurate and efficient. This will help the church to keep track of its finances and ensure that all donations are properly recorded.
Giving via text messages is a feature that many online giving solutions offer. There are separate platforms that offer this service as a standalone, as well. Either way, texting-to-give is a popular service that allows churches to engage their congregations in a new way.
The setup process is different depending on each platform, so choosing the right one is the first step. Most of these services give you a simple number that people can text with the amount they’d like to donate. This amount is typically billed directly to their phone bill.
The simplicity of this process, along with the fact that nearly everyone has a text-capable phone, is what makes this service easy to set up for your community.
Most of the focus for church giving is for the church in general. Occasionally, you might have specific building or capital campaigns. But typically all of the funds go into the same big budget. So what about doing more to fund your specific ministry?
There are the usual ideas: bake sale, car wash, yard sale, Christmas tree lot, etc. Take some time with your ministry volunteers to brainstorm some ideas that work for you. What gets them excited? What would your community actually respond to?
Take some time to organize this fundraiser and find ways to promote it within the church. Make sure that you’re not competing against another ministry. Work together to show people why your specific ministry matters and report on what they’re giving towards.
