20 Creative Ways To Use Text-To-Give In Your Church

Unless you've been living in a Hobbit hole (please invite me over), you know that the giving landscape has changed dramatically for churches over the past decade. Whereas once there was only really one way to give to a church - physically with checks or cash - now there are many different ways you can give.

Text-to-give is one of those new-ish ways.

You may be on the fence about using text-to-give, wondering if it's really worth it for your church to use it. 

Let me emphatically say that, yes, it really is worth it.

Because here's the thing. Text-to-give isn't limited to only collecting tithes and offerings.

In fact, there are at least 20 different ways you can use it in your church. 

General Tithes and Offerings

Most obviously, you can use text-to-give to collect your general tithes and offerings.  This simple, convenient method allows your members to give any time, anywhere, using their mobile devices. 

Studies have shown that when you offer multiple ways to give, people tend to be more generous. It's not hard to see why. The reality is that many people simply do not carry cash or a checkbook with them on a regular basis. By providing a text-to-give option, you remove any barriers to giving and make it easier for your members to be generous in their giving.

Special Offerings

Text-to-give is perfect for special offerings. People often want to give spontaneously to special offerings. If you don't have a text-to-give option, a lot of people won't be able to be as generous as they would like to be. By offering text-to-give, you give your members the opportunity to give in the moment while their hearts are moved and they feel compelled to be generous.

Fundraising Campaigns

If you're running a fundraising campaign for a special project, you can create a unique keyword that members can use to give towards that specific campaign. This makes it easy for them to designate their donation and track the progress of the campaign. It also allows you to promote your fundraising efforts on various forms of media, such as social media or during church announcements.

Event Registrations

Do you want the maximum number of people to come to a paid event? Then offer a text-to-give option for payment. It's not uncommon for people to decide at the last minute that they want to attend an event, and by offering text-to-give, you remove any barriers to registering. It can also be helpful for those who may not have easy access to a computer or may not feel comfortable with online registration.

Support For Specific Ministries

Each ministry in your church (youth, worship team, etc.) can have its own special keyword for text-to-give donations. Members can easily designate their donation towards the specific ministry that they want to support. It also allows you to track which ministries are receiving the most support and adjust your budget accordingly.

Holiday and Seasonal Giving

During the holidays, attendance at your church will probably be higher and many people will be in a generous mood. You can take advantage of this attendance surge and generosity by letting people give via text. Doing this can be especially effective for holiday-specific giving, such as Christmas or Thanksgiving offerings. You can also use text-to-give during other seasons, such as back-to-school time.

Missionary and Outreach Support

If your church supports specific missionaries or outreaches, text-to-give can be a great way to collect donations for these causes. You can set up specific keywords for each missionary or outreach, making it easy for members to give directly to the cause they want to support. It also allows you to easily track donations and communicate with supporters about the impact of their donations.

Recurring Giving

Recurring giving can be beneficial for your church. It can create a steady income stream and make it easier for members to budget their giving. With text-to-give, members can set up recurring donations with just a few text messages. This makes it convenient for them to give regularly without having to remember to do so.

Visitor Engagement

You probably don't want to do this with people visiting your church for the first time, but you can encourage those who have visited several times to give a small amount via text-to-give. Even this small action can help them become more committed to your church. It can be a symbolic act that they're behind the church's mission and want to support the church financially.

Sponsorships and Scholarships

There are probably some kids in your church who would like to participate in church activities, such as summer camp or mission trips, but they can't due to financial challenges. Text-to-give can be a great way to raise funds for sponsorships or scholarships, allowing more kids to participate in these activities and grow in their faith.

Emergency Relief

In times of natural disasters or other emergencies, text-to-give can be an effective way to quickly collect donations for relief efforts. It allows members and even non-members to easily give towards a specific cause, helping those in need and showing the love of Christ through tangible actions. You can also set up a specific keyword for emergency relief donations, making it easy for people to know where their money is going and how they can contribute.

Memorial Giving

If a long-term, highly involved member of your church passes away, you may want to set up a memorial fund in their honor, which can be used to support different activities. You can make it easy to give to this memorial fund through text-to-give options. This allows members to honor their loved one's memory and contribute to causes they were passionate about.

Church Merch and Resource Payments

If your church sells merch like t-shirts or hoodies, or you sell resources like books and Bible studies, you can use text-to-give to take payments for those things. This can be especially helpful for churches that may not have a physical store or online shop set up but still want to make their merch and resources available to the members of their congregation.

Mission Trip Fundraising

Mission trips can be expensive, and raising funds for them can be a challenge. Text-to-give provides an easy way for members of the church to contribute towards mission trip expenses. You can even set up different keywords for specific mission trips or team members, making it simple for people to specify where their donations should go.

Support For Local and Global Causes

Your church probably supports local and/or global causes that are closely related to its mission. For example, maybe you partner with your community to give away food or help the homeless. Or maybe you help people get access to resources they couldn't otherwise, like clean water or medicine. You can make it easy to raise funds for these causes by offering text-to-give options to your church.

Encourage Spontaneous Acts of Generosity

There may come a moment during a sermon or event when you want to encourage your church to give spontaneously. This is difficult to pull off using only physical methods of giving. But with text-to-give, you can flash the number on the screen for people to give at that moment. It's much easier and more convenient than asking people to write out checks or find cash in their wallets.

Gamify Giving For Young Adults

You can encourage youth to give by gamifying the process with text-to-give. You could create giving challenges that are only available through text-to-give. Or you could ask the youth leaders to share the number with their community and challenge them to see who can give the most.

Offer Matching Challenges

If you have a generous donor in your church willing to match donations from other members, you could set up a matching giving "challenge" for your church. This becomes much easier through text-to-give. You can send a text message alerting members about the challenge and provide them with the number to give. This is a great way to encourage larger donations and boost overall giving.

Provide Subscription-Based Support

Have you noticed how everything is set up as a subscription these days? You can even "subscribe" to products on Amazon and have them sent to you regularly. Consider taking this model and implementing it with various ministries in your church. 

You could offer people the option to "subscribe/give" monthly to a particular ministry, like the worship team or an outreach initiative. You could offer small rewards to subscribers, like having them come to a worship practice and see how it's done.

Church App and Live Stream Integration

Last but not least, you can also integrate text-to-give options into your church app and live stream (if you have either). Doing this makes it incredibly simple for people to give to your church as they watch your church online. In fact, without text-to-give or similar options, there is no way for those watching a live broadcast to give to your church.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you can see the value text-to-give can bring to your church. More than anything else, it makes giving simple. Isn't that what you ultimately want? To break down any barriers holding people in your church back from giving generously.

Only God can truly make the people in your church generous. However, using a text-to-give platform like Tithely can make it much easier for people to act when God prompts them to give.

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