I know exactly what you want in church giving software:

Results.

More giving.

Increased revenue.

More resources to do ministry, to do ministry better, and to reach and disciple more people for Jesus Christ.

Here’s the problem:

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the bells and whistles of different digital giving technologies.

You get lost in the marketing resources of 20 different apps until you feel lost and frustrated.

Things you should want from your giving software

Today, I’m going to help you cut through the noise.

Right now, I’m going to walk you through the nine most important things a digital giving software should give you.

If your digital giving solution doesn’t give you more of these nine things, don’t use it.

And the cost of using the wrong digital giving software could drastically decrease the amount of buy-in you get from your church members, which makes your decision to pick the right software very important.

1. More giving

Most importantly, if your digital giving software isn’t increasing your giving, there is a problem with your digital giving software provider.

The average church that uses Tithe.ly increases their giving by 165% in the second year.

Did you catch that?

On average, churches who use Tithe.ly increase their giving by 165% in two years.

This is true of churches of every size and location—rural, urban, suburban, big, and small.

Know what else?

The average gift size made to churches using Tithe.ly is $135.

This isn’t magic.

There’s one super practical reason why this is the case:

We make it ridiculously easy for people to donate with their mobile phone, computer, or tablet.

This is exactly what North Coast Church discovered when their online giving doubled and when St. John Lutheran’s Church overall giving increased 15 percent.

With our giving form, people can donate directly on your site or with their mobile phone.

No unnecessary hurdles.

No third-party site to make a donation.

Just sleek, easy-to-use technology for your givers and admin team.

Talking about mo’ money isn’t about padding your bank account.

Far from it.

Here’s the deal:

The more money you have, the more resources you have to mobilize your members to serve your community, share the gospel, and make disciples.

But we don’t leave you hanging with the latest, greatest technology.

We also provide you with the support you need.

2. More training

You want more than just a product — you want a partnership.

At Tithe.ly, we offer our churches multiple resources for support, including Tithe.ly GROW, in which we walk church leaders through the steps to maximize growth through digital giving — from implementation to launch.

It’s very easy to get a shiny new digital giving software, but fail to launch it well.

Many churches that fail to launch their digital giving software end up failing to increase their giving and blaming it on the software. Oftentimes, that’s not the case at all.

According to a study by Dunahm+Company, smaller churches (less than 200) observed a decrease in online giving even though 80 percent of small churches offer online giving. In short, what they found is that smaller churches are not prioritizing online giving.

Think about it:

Just like everything with pastoral ministry, transitioning your church to digital giving is something that requires intentionality, guidance, and patience.

Transferring your members’ offline tithing (cash and check) to a digital giving software requires just as much shepherding as walking them through a season of life.

Giving to the church is, after all, a crucial aspect of discipleship.

In the end, the online giving provider you use should care just as much about discipling your church members as you do by helping you to prioritize online giving.

3. More online functionality

You don’t want a digital giving platform that only allows members to give money in one place and for one purpose.

You want a software that can be on your custom church app, embedded on your website, used for event registration, and channeled toward specific funds and causes in your church.

Tithe.ly does all of this.

The world is obviously racing toward mobile giving, and if your church wants to grow, you should have a giving software that has a very powerful mobile component.

But you need donation functionality that always puts visitors and members one click away from giving to your church.

For example, at Tithe.ly, we use a simple PIN system when giving with your mobile device. So, after a donor sets up his or her account the first time, they will only have to use their PIN to quickly access their account and make a donation.

With our PIN system, givers do not have to complete a username and password to login into their account, and they don’t have to reauthenticate themselves every time they want to make a mobile donation.

Here’s what I’m talking about:

This might not seem like a big deal.

But here’s what you need to know:

When it comes to online giving, the more steps you require someone to take or if you complicate the giving process, the more likely he or she will not make a donation.

This is why our team focuses on reducing friction and compelling people to give with easy-to-use online giving technology.  

Could we remove the PIN?

Sure.

But the PIN is user-friendly, easy-to-use, and it also provides a layer of security versus keeping givers always logged into their account.

4. More texting capabilities

If your digital giving software doesn’t have true text-to-give, it’s operating in the past and is a red flag that it won’t be innovating in the near future.

Make sure that your digital giving software has a text-to-give feature that allows your members to give through SMS.

At Tithe.ly, we offer a  powerful text-to-give feature.

Make sure that your digital giving software doesn’t just redirect you to the company’s app. This isn’t true text-to-give, and it confuses donors enough to dissuade many from giving through text altogether.

5. Seamless integrations

Make sure that your digital giving software integrates with a church management system (ChMS).

Most digital giving platforms restrict you from using many ChMS solutions so that you are forced to pick from ChMS platforms that aren’t ideal from your church.

Tithe.ly Giving seamlessly integrates with Tithe.ly ChMS, a robust back-end software packed with features that allow you to see data of every member in your church—everything from giving to church attendance to volunteer participation.

6. More time

New church tech can easily be more of a headache than a help.

Your digital giving software should give you time, not take your time.

It’s common for businessmen to say, “Time equals money.”

Those in ministry work with a different kind of currency, and therefore need a different adage:

“Time doesn’t equal money. Time equals ministry.”

The less time it takes to give, the more resources your church has, and the less your church leadership is strained with non-essential tasks.

The less time you spend configuring your church giving software, the more time you have doing the ministry the software enables you to do.

If your digital giving software is a headache, then it’s getting in the way of your calling.

Tithe.ly’s giving platform couldn’t be easier to use—for the church leaders who administrate it and the members who give.

7. More recurring donations

Recurring giving is the heartbeat of the church.

According to one study, the average recurring giver to your church will donate 42 percent more during the year compared to people who make one-time gifts.

In short, when more people in your church automate their giving, then giving in your church will increase. This is a simple—but powerful—equation.  

As a church leader, you need a recurring giving feature in your digital giving software makes giving as easy as possible.

Think about it.

Discipleship is hard enough already—especially discipling people with their money.

Why make faithful giving harder than it has to be?

Why make obedience to Christ harder than it has to be?

Make it as easy as possible for people to give. The church has been behind the ball in making it accessible for people. If it’s not easy, then it’s not going to happen.

Tithe.ly Giving offers multiple recurring donation options and even allows users to set the date when those recurring withdrawals occur so that giving is most convenient for them.

Don’t take our word for it.

Check out what Colin Bullard, senior pastor at First Baptist Church, had to say:

“We’ve seen automated recurring giving increase to nearly 30 percent of the total since we introduced our church to mobile giving.”

Need help in increasing the number of recurring donors?

Our team will show you how.

8. More innovation

There’s nothing worse than an outdated piece of technology.

Make sure that your digital giving provider is often updating their software and adding new features.

Tithe.ly is constantly adding new features—including:

• Evolving digital giving automation software
• Significant updates to our church app
• A full church management suite
• Sleek, new giving form
• Event management software that integrates with ChMS
• And many more features to come
  

If your digital giving software partner doesn’t consistently and regularly update their service to you, they are putting your church’s ability to give at risk.

At Tithe.ly, we have a dedicated team of developers looking at the data, receiving customer feedback, and constantly removing barriers to giving.

We’re going to grow our product to remove as many barriers as possible that inhibit giving. Our features are based on data we pull, and we are constantly innovating.

We have a team that will help you implement and launch your services. We’re not just going to give you a tool—we’re going to show you how to use it, coach you through the launch, and constantly upgrade our services to you.

If you’re already using a digital giving software that doesn’t offer you what we can offer you, we have a dedicated team that will handle the entire migration for you.

9. More customer service

One of the worst experiences in church leadership is investing in a new resource and then being left in the lurch or overwhelmed by its features without the time to learn how to use it.

Tithe.ly’s customer service team is dedicated to serving pastors.

Tithe.ly is founded by pastors for pastors.

Tithe.ly was created by pastors who were called to serve other pastors.

Our customer service team gets that.

Tithe.ly isn’t just making a product—we are offering a lifelong partnership to boost your giving, user engagement, and discipleship capabilities through the roof.

Many smaller churches struggle with the idea of transferring to online giving.

We get it.

It feels intimidating.

But we’ve got your back.

Want to talk things through on the phone?

Check.

Prefer to get support via Live Chat?

No problem.

Need to send a quick email?

That works.

Rather talk to someone on the phone?

Give us a call.

What is more, we created our own success team devoted to helping your church reach its goals and break through its growth plateaus using our state-of-the-art software.

We help pastors learn the best practices for implementing and launching online giving, how to do it in a short amount of time, how to do it on a budget, and how to even overcome the fear of changing providers.

The cherry on top

Oh, and by the way.

We provide our giving software free of charge.

You don’t have to sign a contract.

You don’t have to pay a monthly fee.

You can cancel at any time.

At Tithe.ly, for online giving processing fees, we use what is called a pay-as-you-go business model. Said another way, you don’t have to pay for anything unless you use the services.

Practically speaking, this model can save your church a lot of money.

Like, a lot of money.

For example, at North Coast Church, they saved over $82,000 in one year when the switched to Tithe.ly.

Paying a monthly fee?

Paying a variable processing rate that goes up and down?

If North Coast Church saved that much money, imagine how much money your church could save.

Over to You

So, when picking a digital giving software solutions, remember:

Look for the results.

Don’t worry about the marketing.

Don’t worry about the bells and whistles.

Don’t get stuck reading reviews sites for hours .

We grow giving.

That’s what matters.

Click here to check out Tithely Giving.

It’s free, and you can get started in five minutes.