Why Church Giving Providers Charge a Transaction Fee

Learn how churches get immense value from using a digital giving solution.

CHURCH TECH PODCAST

Why Church Giving Providers Charge a Transaction Fee

Learn how churches get immense value from using a digital giving solution.

Tithely media icon
TV

Why Church Giving Providers Charge a Transaction Fee

Learn how churches get immense value from using a digital giving solution.

Modern Church leader

Why Church Giving Providers Charge a Transaction Fee

Learn how churches get immense value from using a digital giving solution.

Category
Church Growth
Publish date
April 17, 2020
Author
Frank Barry

Hey, church leader. Frank here with Tithe.ly.

I wanted to take a few minutes to talk a little bit about why church giving providers like us at Tithe.ly, who provide mobile giving, text giving, website giving, and administrative gift entry tools charge a fee on transaction.

If you go to our website, you're going to see a per transaction fee, so every time someone gives it's 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for credit and debit and it's 1% plus 30 cents a transaction for ACH. There's a lot more going on with technology as compared to sending a simple church donation letter.

Those are common. If you were to go to any other church giving provider, you're going to see fees, not too dissimilar, not too far off from those. If you go to church management providers, if they do giving, you're going to see fees. If you go anywhere outside of the church space and you go to some sort of payment processing entity or software provider, there's going to be fees.

I think there's two main things to understand here about those fees. Number one is there's actually a hard costs that us church giving providers are paying. So Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, they all have fees that they're charging, the card networks and the banks and other entities that exist in that chain of processing a payment all have fees associated with it. So there's some hard costs that come into play automatically. Even if you didn't have the tools on top of all of those elements, the card brands and things like that, those elements would be charging fees.

The second part of the equation is you need software that's built on top of the payment processing engine that sits on top of the networks and works with the card brands and all those kinds of things. So there's time, energy, people and resources put into building the software, right, to get a nice mobile giving app, to get a great online a website giving experience, to get text giving, to get all the reporting, the deposit reporting, the tax receipting, just the individual transaction reporting, to get all the tools that come as part of a giving solution or a suite of products. There's people building those things, right? So there's hard costs in terms of the employees and the other software we're using and the staff and all of that stuff that's put into place, right?

There are fees from the networks and card brands. There are costs in our business to build the software. So oftentimes what you'll see is a company like ours, bundling all those fees into the transaction, which is a model that essentially lets you get in at no risk, there's no upfront fees, there's no monthly fees, there's no fees that come at the end of the month for other things like PCI security or deposit reports or anything like that. You just pay the per transaction fee. That's a pay as you go model, right? So if nobody gives you pay nothing, right? If somebody gives $100 you're going to pay a couple of bucks for that. And it scales up with you as you grow. So hopefully that gives you a little bit of insight into like why we charge fees so that we can both pay our costs and we can keep the lights on as a business and make a little bit of revenue. So that we can have a sustainable company that's serving churches and innovating in the church space for a long time to come.

Show Notes

Read the full blog of this episode here: https://get.tithe.ly/blog/why-church-giving-fees

Today on Modern Church Leader, Tithe.ly COO Frank Barry explains how churches get immense value from using a digital giving solution.

Sign up for Tithe.ly Sites here: https://get.tithe.ly/

Never miss a show, subscribe via:

Subscribe for cutting edge tools and strategies for church leaders.

Is your church in financial trouble? Do you wish you had more resources to reach people for Christ?

‍Subscribe to Modern Church Leader to get daily tips on how to increase giving, remove the stress from managing your church, and grow your church with the latest digital tools.

Grow Your Church For Free With Tithe.ly

What is Tithe.ly?

Tithe.ly is the global leader in digital giving, church engagement, and church management software. Tithe.ly serves over 13,000 churches in 50 countries, and is trusted by churches and ministries such as Hillsong, North Coast Church, Rock Church, and Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

AUTHOR
Frank Barry
https://get.tithe.ly

Frank Barry, a former youth pastor of five years, is a founding team member and COO at Tithe.ly. Prior to being at Tithe.ly, Frank spent nearly 15 years helping churches, charities, and nonprofit organizations leverage technology to advance their mission. When Frank's not helping churches use technology to advance the kingdom of God, he’s spending time with his triplet boys and their superhero mom.

Hey, church leader. Frank here with Tithe.ly.

I wanted to take a few minutes to talk a little bit about why church giving providers like us at Tithe.ly, who provide mobile giving, text giving, website giving, and administrative gift entry tools charge a fee on transaction.

If you go to our website, you're going to see a per transaction fee, so every time someone gives it's 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for credit and debit and it's 1% plus 30 cents a transaction for ACH. There's a lot more going on with technology as compared to sending a simple church donation letter.

Those are common. If you were to go to any other church giving provider, you're going to see fees, not too dissimilar, not too far off from those. If you go to church management providers, if they do giving, you're going to see fees. If you go anywhere outside of the church space and you go to some sort of payment processing entity or software provider, there's going to be fees.

I think there's two main things to understand here about those fees. Number one is there's actually a hard costs that us church giving providers are paying. So Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, they all have fees that they're charging, the card networks and the banks and other entities that exist in that chain of processing a payment all have fees associated with it. So there's some hard costs that come into play automatically. Even if you didn't have the tools on top of all of those elements, the card brands and things like that, those elements would be charging fees.

The second part of the equation is you need software that's built on top of the payment processing engine that sits on top of the networks and works with the card brands and all those kinds of things. So there's time, energy, people and resources put into building the software, right, to get a nice mobile giving app, to get a great online a website giving experience, to get text giving, to get all the reporting, the deposit reporting, the tax receipting, just the individual transaction reporting, to get all the tools that come as part of a giving solution or a suite of products. There's people building those things, right? So there's hard costs in terms of the employees and the other software we're using and the staff and all of that stuff that's put into place, right?

There are fees from the networks and card brands. There are costs in our business to build the software. So oftentimes what you'll see is a company like ours, bundling all those fees into the transaction, which is a model that essentially lets you get in at no risk, there's no upfront fees, there's no monthly fees, there's no fees that come at the end of the month for other things like PCI security or deposit reports or anything like that. You just pay the per transaction fee. That's a pay as you go model, right? So if nobody gives you pay nothing, right? If somebody gives $100 you're going to pay a couple of bucks for that. And it scales up with you as you grow. So hopefully that gives you a little bit of insight into like why we charge fees so that we can both pay our costs and we can keep the lights on as a business and make a little bit of revenue. So that we can have a sustainable company that's serving churches and innovating in the church space for a long time to come.

Show Notes

Read the full blog of this episode here: https://get.tithe.ly/blog/why-church-giving-fees

Today on Modern Church Leader, Tithe.ly COO Frank Barry explains how churches get immense value from using a digital giving solution.

Sign up for Tithe.ly Sites here: https://get.tithe.ly/

Never miss a show, subscribe via:

Subscribe for cutting edge tools and strategies for church leaders.

Is your church in financial trouble? Do you wish you had more resources to reach people for Christ?

‍Subscribe to Modern Church Leader to get daily tips on how to increase giving, remove the stress from managing your church, and grow your church with the latest digital tools.

Grow Your Church For Free With Tithe.ly

What is Tithe.ly?

Tithe.ly is the global leader in digital giving, church engagement, and church management software. Tithe.ly serves over 13,000 churches in 50 countries, and is trusted by churches and ministries such as Hillsong, North Coast Church, Rock Church, and Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

podcast transcript

(Scroll for more)
AUTHOR
Frank Barry
https://get.tithe.ly

Frank Barry, a former youth pastor of five years, is a founding team member and COO at Tithe.ly. Prior to being at Tithe.ly, Frank spent nearly 15 years helping churches, charities, and nonprofit organizations leverage technology to advance their mission. When Frank's not helping churches use technology to advance the kingdom of God, he’s spending time with his triplet boys and their superhero mom.

Hey, church leader. Frank here with Tithe.ly.

I wanted to take a few minutes to talk a little bit about why church giving providers like us at Tithe.ly, who provide mobile giving, text giving, website giving, and administrative gift entry tools charge a fee on transaction.

If you go to our website, you're going to see a per transaction fee, so every time someone gives it's 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for credit and debit and it's 1% plus 30 cents a transaction for ACH. There's a lot more going on with technology as compared to sending a simple church donation letter.

Those are common. If you were to go to any other church giving provider, you're going to see fees, not too dissimilar, not too far off from those. If you go to church management providers, if they do giving, you're going to see fees. If you go anywhere outside of the church space and you go to some sort of payment processing entity or software provider, there's going to be fees.

I think there's two main things to understand here about those fees. Number one is there's actually a hard costs that us church giving providers are paying. So Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, they all have fees that they're charging, the card networks and the banks and other entities that exist in that chain of processing a payment all have fees associated with it. So there's some hard costs that come into play automatically. Even if you didn't have the tools on top of all of those elements, the card brands and things like that, those elements would be charging fees.

The second part of the equation is you need software that's built on top of the payment processing engine that sits on top of the networks and works with the card brands and all those kinds of things. So there's time, energy, people and resources put into building the software, right, to get a nice mobile giving app, to get a great online a website giving experience, to get text giving, to get all the reporting, the deposit reporting, the tax receipting, just the individual transaction reporting, to get all the tools that come as part of a giving solution or a suite of products. There's people building those things, right? So there's hard costs in terms of the employees and the other software we're using and the staff and all of that stuff that's put into place, right?

There are fees from the networks and card brands. There are costs in our business to build the software. So oftentimes what you'll see is a company like ours, bundling all those fees into the transaction, which is a model that essentially lets you get in at no risk, there's no upfront fees, there's no monthly fees, there's no fees that come at the end of the month for other things like PCI security or deposit reports or anything like that. You just pay the per transaction fee. That's a pay as you go model, right? So if nobody gives you pay nothing, right? If somebody gives $100 you're going to pay a couple of bucks for that. And it scales up with you as you grow. So hopefully that gives you a little bit of insight into like why we charge fees so that we can both pay our costs and we can keep the lights on as a business and make a little bit of revenue. So that we can have a sustainable company that's serving churches and innovating in the church space for a long time to come.

Show Notes

Read the full blog of this episode here: https://get.tithe.ly/blog/why-church-giving-fees

Today on Modern Church Leader, Tithe.ly COO Frank Barry explains how churches get immense value from using a digital giving solution.

Sign up for Tithe.ly Sites here: https://get.tithe.ly/

Never miss a show, subscribe via:

Subscribe for cutting edge tools and strategies for church leaders.

Is your church in financial trouble? Do you wish you had more resources to reach people for Christ?

‍Subscribe to Modern Church Leader to get daily tips on how to increase giving, remove the stress from managing your church, and grow your church with the latest digital tools.

Grow Your Church For Free With Tithe.ly

What is Tithe.ly?

Tithe.ly is the global leader in digital giving, church engagement, and church management software. Tithe.ly serves over 13,000 churches in 50 countries, and is trusted by churches and ministries such as Hillsong, North Coast Church, Rock Church, and Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

VIDEO transcript

(Scroll for more)

Hey, church leader. Frank here with Tithe.ly.

I wanted to take a few minutes to talk a little bit about why church giving providers like us at Tithe.ly, who provide mobile giving, text giving, website giving, and administrative gift entry tools charge a fee on transaction.

If you go to our website, you're going to see a per transaction fee, so every time someone gives it's 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for credit and debit and it's 1% plus 30 cents a transaction for ACH. There's a lot more going on with technology as compared to sending a simple church donation letter.

Those are common. If you were to go to any other church giving provider, you're going to see fees, not too dissimilar, not too far off from those. If you go to church management providers, if they do giving, you're going to see fees. If you go anywhere outside of the church space and you go to some sort of payment processing entity or software provider, there's going to be fees.

I think there's two main things to understand here about those fees. Number one is there's actually a hard costs that us church giving providers are paying. So Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, they all have fees that they're charging, the card networks and the banks and other entities that exist in that chain of processing a payment all have fees associated with it. So there's some hard costs that come into play automatically. Even if you didn't have the tools on top of all of those elements, the card brands and things like that, those elements would be charging fees.

The second part of the equation is you need software that's built on top of the payment processing engine that sits on top of the networks and works with the card brands and all those kinds of things. So there's time, energy, people and resources put into building the software, right, to get a nice mobile giving app, to get a great online a website giving experience, to get text giving, to get all the reporting, the deposit reporting, the tax receipting, just the individual transaction reporting, to get all the tools that come as part of a giving solution or a suite of products. There's people building those things, right? So there's hard costs in terms of the employees and the other software we're using and the staff and all of that stuff that's put into place, right?

There are fees from the networks and card brands. There are costs in our business to build the software. So oftentimes what you'll see is a company like ours, bundling all those fees into the transaction, which is a model that essentially lets you get in at no risk, there's no upfront fees, there's no monthly fees, there's no fees that come at the end of the month for other things like PCI security or deposit reports or anything like that. You just pay the per transaction fee. That's a pay as you go model, right? So if nobody gives you pay nothing, right? If somebody gives $100 you're going to pay a couple of bucks for that. And it scales up with you as you grow. So hopefully that gives you a little bit of insight into like why we charge fees so that we can both pay our costs and we can keep the lights on as a business and make a little bit of revenue. So that we can have a sustainable company that's serving churches and innovating in the church space for a long time to come.

Show Notes

Read the full blog of this episode here: https://get.tithe.ly/blog/why-church-giving-fees

Today on Modern Church Leader, Tithe.ly COO Frank Barry explains how churches get immense value from using a digital giving solution.

Sign up for Tithe.ly Sites here: https://get.tithe.ly/

Never miss a show, subscribe via:

Subscribe for cutting edge tools and strategies for church leaders.

Is your church in financial trouble? Do you wish you had more resources to reach people for Christ?

‍Subscribe to Modern Church Leader to get daily tips on how to increase giving, remove the stress from managing your church, and grow your church with the latest digital tools.

Grow Your Church For Free With Tithe.ly

What is Tithe.ly?

Tithe.ly is the global leader in digital giving, church engagement, and church management software. Tithe.ly serves over 13,000 churches in 50 countries, and is trusted by churches and ministries such as Hillsong, North Coast Church, Rock Church, and Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

AUTHOR
Frank Barry
https://get.tithe.ly

Frank Barry, a former youth pastor of five years, is a founding team member and COO at Tithe.ly. Prior to being at Tithe.ly, Frank spent nearly 15 years helping churches, charities, and nonprofit organizations leverage technology to advance their mission. When Frank's not helping churches use technology to advance the kingdom of God, he’s spending time with his triplet boys and their superhero mom.

Special Offer

Live Event

See What's Coming Next in Church Tech!

We'll share HUGE product updates coming to Tithely and you can win big prizes like $500 to Amazon, iPad, and trips!

Register Now

Search the Blog

You Might Also Like

•
20 Bible Verses for Father’s Day
•
How to Start a Thriving Singles Ministry
•
A New Definition of Prayer
•
Delivering Captivating Announcements
•
How To Plan Your Church’s Social Media Calendar In Half The Time

More Resources

book resources

From increasing giving, managing your congregation, and engaging your church, our collection of resources will keep up to date on the latest church and ministry trends.

Free REsources
•
10 Best Church Website Platforms
•
Online Giving for Churches: Top 10 Best Platforms
•
Top 10 Best Mobile Giving Platforms for Churches
•
Top 10 Best Church Apps
Category

Why Church Giving Providers Charge a Transaction Fee

Church Growth
May 25, 2023

7 Ways for Churches to Reach Gen Z

Are you looking to inspire and connect with the next genertion of believers? Here are 7 ways for churches, pastors, and believers alike to reach Gen Z.

Written by
Bryn S. Elliott
Church Growth
April 21, 2023

Is Church Marketing Biblical?

"Church" and "marketing" don't go together very well for many Christians. But at its core, church marketing is all about bringing people closer to Jesus.

Written by
Travis Albritton
Church Growth
March 28, 2023

9 Ways to Grow a Small, Struggling Church

With God's grace and the church's help, you can salvage a struggling church through the right approaches and strategies. Here are nine practical ways to help your small and struggling church grow:

Written by
Travis Albritton
Church Growth
March 27, 2023

What Happens When Churches Use Tithely + Financial Peace University?

What happens when churches leverage the resources of both Tithely and Financial Peace University?

Written by
Tithe.ly
Church Growth
March 21, 2023

11 Signs of a Healthy Church

What are the marks of a healthy church? Look no further than the book of Hebrews.

Written by
Chuck Morris
Church Growth
March 1, 2023

Online Giving for Small Churches: The Benefits and Best Practices

Online giving can be a great way for small churches to collect donations and increase generosity. Here's why.

Written by
Tithe.ly
Church Growth
February 28, 2023

What Does it Really Take to be a Church Planter?

If God is calling you to become a church planter, then He is more than capable of giving you the grace and faith you need for the journey. But there are qualities and characteristics you can identify and cultivate that will certainly help you through the ups and downs of starting a church in a new place.

Written by
Kelsey Yarnell
Church Growth
February 23, 2023

How to Plant a Church From Scratch, According to 4 Church Planters

Over the last 2,000 years, followers of Christ from all over the globe have followed suit. Starting churches in places from Akron to Azerbaijan, Christians continue to follow the example of Jesus and His disciples. But it’s not always easy.

Written by
Kelsey Yarnell
Church Growth
February 16, 2023

5 Easy Ways to Make Your Church Visitors Feel Valued—And Want to Come Back

You have new visitors at your church–awesome! Here's how to make them feel known and valued, so that they want to come back.

Written by
Travis Albritton

Related Blog Posts

Church Growth
May 25, 2023

7 Ways for Churches to Reach Gen Z

Are you looking to inspire and connect with the next genertion of believers? Here are 7 ways for churches, pastors, and believers alike to reach Gen Z.

Written by
Bryn S. Elliott
Faith
May 24, 2023

17 Bible Verses for Memorial Day

While Memorial Day is not a Christian holiday, it is important to acknowledge and remember those who have died so that we might live in a more free country. And as Christians, we can also use this day to celebrate and remember the Biblical values of sacrifice, courage, and love.

Written by
Tithe.ly
Leadership
May 23, 2023

Writing Captivating Announcements

Every Sunday, churches have a chance to call their congregation to incredible opportunities of service and growth for themselves and the Kingdom of God. And every Sunday, these opportunities are missed because the announcements were presented poorly.

Written by
Ben Stapley
Terms of ServicePrivacy PolicyHelp
Close

What size is your church?

Button Text
Tithely Pricing
Church Growth

Why Church Giving Providers Charge a Transaction Fee

Learn how churches get immense value from using a digital giving solution.
April 17, 2020
Modern Church Leader and Why Church Giving Providers Charge a Transaction Fee

Hey, church leader. Frank here with Tithe.ly.

I wanted to take a few minutes to talk a little bit about why church giving providers like us at Tithe.ly, who provide mobile giving, text giving, website giving, and administrative gift entry tools charge a fee on transaction.

If you go to our website, you're going to see a per transaction fee, so every time someone gives it's 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for credit and debit and it's 1% plus 30 cents a transaction for ACH. There's a lot more going on with technology as compared to sending a simple church donation letter.

Those are common. If you were to go to any other church giving provider, you're going to see fees, not too dissimilar, not too far off from those. If you go to church management providers, if they do giving, you're going to see fees. If you go anywhere outside of the church space and you go to some sort of payment processing entity or software provider, there's going to be fees.

I think there's two main things to understand here about those fees. Number one is there's actually a hard costs that us church giving providers are paying. So Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, they all have fees that they're charging, the card networks and the banks and other entities that exist in that chain of processing a payment all have fees associated with it. So there's some hard costs that come into play automatically. Even if you didn't have the tools on top of all of those elements, the card brands and things like that, those elements would be charging fees.

The second part of the equation is you need software that's built on top of the payment processing engine that sits on top of the networks and works with the card brands and all those kinds of things. So there's time, energy, people and resources put into building the software, right, to get a nice mobile giving app, to get a great online a website giving experience, to get text giving, to get all the reporting, the deposit reporting, the tax receipting, just the individual transaction reporting, to get all the tools that come as part of a giving solution or a suite of products. There's people building those things, right? So there's hard costs in terms of the employees and the other software we're using and the staff and all of that stuff that's put into place, right?

There are fees from the networks and card brands. There are costs in our business to build the software. So oftentimes what you'll see is a company like ours, bundling all those fees into the transaction, which is a model that essentially lets you get in at no risk, there's no upfront fees, there's no monthly fees, there's no fees that come at the end of the month for other things like PCI security or deposit reports or anything like that. You just pay the per transaction fee. That's a pay as you go model, right? So if nobody gives you pay nothing, right? If somebody gives $100 you're going to pay a couple of bucks for that. And it scales up with you as you grow. So hopefully that gives you a little bit of insight into like why we charge fees so that we can both pay our costs and we can keep the lights on as a business and make a little bit of revenue. So that we can have a sustainable company that's serving churches and innovating in the church space for a long time to come.

Show Notes

Read the full blog of this episode here: https://get.tithe.ly/blog/why-church-giving-fees

Today on Modern Church Leader, Tithe.ly COO Frank Barry explains how churches get immense value from using a digital giving solution.

Sign up for Tithe.ly Sites here: https://get.tithe.ly/

Never miss a show, subscribe via:

Subscribe for cutting edge tools and strategies for church leaders.

Is your church in financial trouble? Do you wish you had more resources to reach people for Christ?

‍Subscribe to Modern Church Leader to get daily tips on how to increase giving, remove the stress from managing your church, and grow your church with the latest digital tools.

Grow Your Church For Free With Tithe.ly

What is Tithe.ly?

Tithe.ly is the global leader in digital giving, church engagement, and church management software. Tithe.ly serves over 13,000 churches in 50 countries, and is trusted by churches and ministries such as Hillsong, North Coast Church, Rock Church, and Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Frank Barry
https://get.tithe.ly

Frank Barry, a former youth pastor of five years, is a founding team member and COO at Tithe.ly. Prior to being at Tithe.ly, Frank spent nearly 15 years helping churches, charities, and nonprofit organizations leverage technology to advance their mission. When Frank's not helping churches use technology to advance the kingdom of God, he’s spending time with his triplet boys and their superhero mom.

Hey, church leader. Frank here with Tithe.ly.

I wanted to take a few minutes to talk a little bit about why church giving providers like us at Tithe.ly, who provide mobile giving, text giving, website giving, and administrative gift entry tools charge a fee on transaction.

If you go to our website, you're going to see a per transaction fee, so every time someone gives it's 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for credit and debit and it's 1% plus 30 cents a transaction for ACH. There's a lot more going on with technology as compared to sending a simple church donation letter.

Those are common. If you were to go to any other church giving provider, you're going to see fees, not too dissimilar, not too far off from those. If you go to church management providers, if they do giving, you're going to see fees. If you go anywhere outside of the church space and you go to some sort of payment processing entity or software provider, there's going to be fees.

I think there's two main things to understand here about those fees. Number one is there's actually a hard costs that us church giving providers are paying. So Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, they all have fees that they're charging, the card networks and the banks and other entities that exist in that chain of processing a payment all have fees associated with it. So there's some hard costs that come into play automatically. Even if you didn't have the tools on top of all of those elements, the card brands and things like that, those elements would be charging fees.

The second part of the equation is you need software that's built on top of the payment processing engine that sits on top of the networks and works with the card brands and all those kinds of things. So there's time, energy, people and resources put into building the software, right, to get a nice mobile giving app, to get a great online a website giving experience, to get text giving, to get all the reporting, the deposit reporting, the tax receipting, just the individual transaction reporting, to get all the tools that come as part of a giving solution or a suite of products. There's people building those things, right? So there's hard costs in terms of the employees and the other software we're using and the staff and all of that stuff that's put into place, right?

There are fees from the networks and card brands. There are costs in our business to build the software. So oftentimes what you'll see is a company like ours, bundling all those fees into the transaction, which is a model that essentially lets you get in at no risk, there's no upfront fees, there's no monthly fees, there's no fees that come at the end of the month for other things like PCI security or deposit reports or anything like that. You just pay the per transaction fee. That's a pay as you go model, right? So if nobody gives you pay nothing, right? If somebody gives $100 you're going to pay a couple of bucks for that. And it scales up with you as you grow. So hopefully that gives you a little bit of insight into like why we charge fees so that we can both pay our costs and we can keep the lights on as a business and make a little bit of revenue. So that we can have a sustainable company that's serving churches and innovating in the church space for a long time to come.

Show Notes

Read the full blog of this episode here: https://get.tithe.ly/blog/why-church-giving-fees

Today on Modern Church Leader, Tithe.ly COO Frank Barry explains how churches get immense value from using a digital giving solution.

Sign up for Tithe.ly Sites here: https://get.tithe.ly/

Never miss a show, subscribe via:

Subscribe for cutting edge tools and strategies for church leaders.

Is your church in financial trouble? Do you wish you had more resources to reach people for Christ?

‍Subscribe to Modern Church Leader to get daily tips on how to increase giving, remove the stress from managing your church, and grow your church with the latest digital tools.

Grow Your Church For Free With Tithe.ly

What is Tithe.ly?

Tithe.ly is the global leader in digital giving, church engagement, and church management software. Tithe.ly serves over 13,000 churches in 50 countries, and is trusted by churches and ministries such as Hillsong, North Coast Church, Rock Church, and Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

podcast transcript

(Scroll for more)
Frank Barry
https://get.tithe.ly

Frank Barry, a former youth pastor of five years, is a founding team member and COO at Tithe.ly. Prior to being at Tithe.ly, Frank spent nearly 15 years helping churches, charities, and nonprofit organizations leverage technology to advance their mission. When Frank's not helping churches use technology to advance the kingdom of God, he’s spending time with his triplet boys and their superhero mom.

H1 What’s a Rich Text element?

H2 What’s a Rich Text element?

H3 What’s a Rich Text element?

H4 What’s a Rich Text element?

H5 What’s a Rich Text element?
H6 What’s a Rich Text element?

The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

H4 Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

H4 How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

  • List Item 1
  • List Item 2
  • List Item 3

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

Special Offer

Blog

Why Church Giving Providers Charge a Transaction Fee

7 Ways for Churches to Reach Gen Z
Are you looking to inspire and connect with the next genertion of believers? Here are 7 ways for churches, pastors, and believers alike to reach Gen Z.
May 25, 2023
Is Church Marketing Biblical?
"Church" and "marketing" don't go together very well for many Christians. But at its core, church marketing is all about bringing people closer to Jesus.
April 21, 2023
9 Ways to Grow a Small, Struggling Church
With God's grace and the church's help, you can salvage a struggling church through the right approaches and strategies. Here are nine practical ways to help your small and struggling church grow:
March 28, 2023
What Happens When Churches Use Tithely + Financial Peace University?
What happens when churches leverage the resources of both Tithely and Financial Peace University?
March 27, 2023
11 Signs of a Healthy Church
What are the marks of a healthy church? Look no further than the book of Hebrews.
March 21, 2023
Online Giving for Small Churches: The Benefits and Best Practices
Online giving can be a great way for small churches to collect donations and increase generosity. Here's why.
March 1, 2023
What Does it Really Take to be a Church Planter?
If God is calling you to become a church planter, then He is more than capable of giving you the grace and faith you need for the journey. But there are qualities and characteristics you can identify and cultivate that will certainly help you through the ups and downs of starting a church in a new place.
February 28, 2023
How to Plant a Church From Scratch, According to 4 Church Planters
Over the last 2,000 years, followers of Christ from all over the globe have followed suit. Starting churches in places from Akron to Azerbaijan, Christians continue to follow the example of Jesus and His disciples. But it’s not always easy.
February 23, 2023
5 Easy Ways to Make Your Church Visitors Feel Valued—And Want to Come Back
You have new visitors at your church–awesome! Here's how to make them feel known and valued, so that they want to come back.
February 16, 2023
Inside a Successful College Ministry w/ Shelby Holloway
What it takes to build and sustain a successful on-campus college ministry for 30+ years.
February 6, 2023
Should Churches Have Fundraisers?
Fundraising events can be a fun opportunity for your community to gather together for the sake of giving back. In other words, fundraisers make generosity exciting. Combine that with showing your church members how giving can help your church impact the community, support missionaries, and advance Biblical justice, and you create lasting momentum towards giving.
February 2, 2023
Planting a Church? Here's What to Know First
Church planting can be a fulfilling endeavor that brings growth, blessing, and an increase of God’s kingdom to new communities. But church planting can also be one of the most challenging works that any church leader will face. If you're serious about planting a church, you must invest in complete knowledge that will allow the seeds you plant to bear fruit.
January 28, 2023
Finding Work-Life Balance as a Bi-Vocational Pastor
Balancing one job alongside your personal life can be challenging enough, but the life of a bi-vocational pastor requires much more time management than most realize.
January 19, 2023
Church Growth: A New Member Checklist
Got new church members? Awesome news. Here's a checklist to make sure they get plugged into your community.
January 9, 2023
Church Visitor Follow-Up Strategy for New Members
​​Growing a church congregation is difficult. With so many people busy building their careers and distracted by weekend entertainment, regularly going to church might not be their biggest priority. Here are a few strategies for following up with new church visitors.
December 29, 2022
How to Say Thank You to Your Year-End Giving Donors
Your end-of-year giving campaign doesn’t end on December 31st. When your timeline for giving ends, you’ll want to follow up with donors after they’ve made generous contributions.
December 19, 2022
A Plan To Help You and Your Church Hedge Against Inflation
Pastors, we know when we give back to God a portion of what He has blessed us with, we are affirming our trust in Him. He is faithful to provide for us, and through our generosity, we can be assured that He will continue to do so during these uncertain times.
December 15, 2022
How to Reach and Retain More Families During Christmas and Easter
Here's how to reach more families during one of your biggest opportunities of the year: Christmas.
December 14, 2022
Starting A Church In Your Home
Do you want to establish a place of worship in your house? Do you want to offer a new way for Christians to gather? Here’s everything you need to start a church in your home.
December 13, 2022
How to Use Fiverr and Upwork to Outsource Your Small Church's Needs
It's time to start outsourcing your church admin and marketing. Here's how to use Fiverr and Upwork to take some of the load.
November 26, 2022
7 Steps to an End-of-Year Giving Campaign That Really Works
This December, don’t miss out on the opportunity to build a culture of giving during the most generous season of the year. Here are 7 ideas for an end-of-year giving campaign that really works.
November 18, 2022
The New Role of Church Buildings
Does the future of church growth look like multiple campuses?
November 15, 2022
What is the Church Hybrid Model?
Hybrid church isn't just putting a sermon online. Hybrid church is about creating an online experience that reaches potential churchgoers right where they're at.
November 8, 2022
Bring People To Church Through Digital: Lessons from Target Corp.
Does online church rob from in-person engagement? Nope. To create an effective hybrid strategy, take your cues from Target.
November 1, 2022
7 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Church Coffee Shop
Thinking about starting a coffee shop at your church? Ask these questions first.
October 28, 2022
How to Increase Engagement and Build Community in Your Church
In today’s episode we hear from Peter Haas, the Founder and Lead Pastor of Substance Church, on how his leadership model changed through personal discipleship and true friendship.
October 27, 2022
10 Ideas for Celebrating Halloween at Your Church
Today, Halloween is widely treated as a secular holiday celebrated with harmless traditions including trick or treating, bobbing for apples, and dressing up in costume. That being said, many churches will want to throw their own Halloween- or fall-themed event–a way for church members to celebrate the holiday without any of the spooky stuff.
October 11, 2022
Raising Funds for a New Church Building? Try This Strategy
If God has given you a promise or a dream of owning your church building, there are ways to pursue that goal–including strategic fundraising. In the following article, we’ll talk about one overlooked strategy that can help you generate funds for a building…and see your dream of having your own church home become a reality.
October 7, 2022
How Thinking Smaller Can Have a Greater Impact
A Modern Church Leader Episode Featuring the Pedaling Pastor, Rev. Travis Norvell
September 26, 2022
Top 10 Ways to Grow Your Church Without a Big Investment
There are many ways to grow your church, but all of them start with making sure you are doing everything possible to help people feel a sense of belonging and community.
September 22, 2022
Best Banks for Nonprofit Organizations
As with all nonprofits, churches need to work with a bank so they can receive donations, store funds, and purchase goods and services that the church needs. To ensure smooth financial operations, you need to choose the best bank for nonprofit organizations – one that is experienced with religious organizations.
September 16, 2022
Building God’s Kingdom: How to Get Donations for a Church Building
Do you need a new church building? Fundraising for an expensive construction project is easier than you think.
August 30, 2022
The Secret to Church Revitalization with Cody Evans
At the core of all successful churches is the love and service they offer to their community. So, if you’re looking to revitalize your church or just want to have a better understanding of what it really means, this episode will give you some great insights!
July 12, 2022
Why ‘Cool Church’ is no longer working with Millennials and Gen Z
With Millennials and Gen Z drifting from local churches, an instinctive reaction is often that we need to make our churches cooler, improve our social media, and present a younger image.This is really a misread on what these generations actually want. They have been marketed and advertised to at an unprecedented rate their entire lives. So, what do they want? This weeks article explores exactly like.
May 20, 2022
Circles not ladders: 3 relational habits to win with Millennials and Gen Z
A new generation is here, and they think, relate, and live differently than any other generation before them. Millennials and Gen Z are optimists, talented, creative, and collaborators. They are also driven by a thirst for significance. They are relational, and have an inbuilt desire for authenticity. In this week's article are some ideas to help you relate to new generations.
May 20, 2022
5 Ways to Strengthen Your Online Church Presence
Using technology in smart and effective ways can help churches strengthen their online presence in a way that feels real and personal.A key part of this is being intentional about how you use technology to reach your community. We’ve put together a quick list of 5 ways to strengthen your online church presence and connect more deeply with people online.
May 12, 2022
5 Ways to Have Online Church Without Losing the Sense of Community
Many people are concerned that having a church online will mean that they lose the sense of community that's supposed to be a big part of the church. But is that really the case?A virtual church doesn't mean there isn’t community — it may just mean that the community is no longer represented by the church building itself. In this blog, we discuss five ways you can make an online church more like an actual brick-and-mortar church.
April 26, 2022
How Churches Can Use Social Media to Attract Millennials
One of the goals of church leaders is to pass on the faith, devotional mission, and the gospel over to succeeding generations. Ultimately, using social media gives you more opportunities in reaching out to the younger population than you could offline.But here’s the good news, you don’t have to be a social media guru and trailblazer to maximize its benefits. In this new article we share how to attract millennials using social media.
April 19, 2022
2023 Church Marketing Strategies
Sustaining a church has certainly presented challenges during these critical times, but props to the continuously-innovating technology. There are numerous user engagement and marketing strategies to implement simply by embracing these digital resources. Today, we’ll discuss some of the best church marketing strategies and how to use them to promote your church and spread the gospel over a wider canvas.
March 31, 2022
Salt That Watermelon
“Let your conversation be seasoned with salt.” We should always be prepared to give an account of how Jesus has changed our lives. And in regard to a church setting, constantly reflecting on how we can better reach the un-churched for God’s Kingdom. Why? Because most non-Christians don’t read the Bible. They are reading you like a book, every day. Even if they don’t realize it. Even when YOU don’t realize it. Why is that important to know? We share some helpful insights in the newest blog post below.
March 22, 2022
Why Every Church Needs a Digital Discipleship Plan
We live in a digital era. Digital devices and online networks change how we communicate and who we communicate with. So why should the church be left behind?The benefits of having an effective digital discipleship plan are endless. As churches adopt technology into their ministries, they can now reach more people than ever before with the gospel.In this blog post, we discuss why it's more important than ever for churches to have a digital discipleship plan in place.
January 25, 2022
Getting the Best Ideas From Your Team Blog
Organizations rise and fall based upon the quality of their ideas. This is why it’s vital to get the best ideas for your team.We explore ways you can support a creative environment in this recent article.
December 28, 2021
How to Measure Church Growth With a Hybrid Worship Service
While opinions on hybrid services and worship vary, most agree that it can benefit people who may not attend such services regularly. The challenge is, how do you measure or track growth in such a set-up? In this article we provide some standards and best practices to follow when selecting how to measure and track church growth for in-person and virtual church members.
December 16, 2021
Insights After Six Months of Being Reopened
Like a lot of other church leaders, this church was hoping to just maintain their online attendance.The past six months of being reopened has given them seven insights into where their church is at and how they need to continue pivoting. With continued investment and intentionality they have not maintained, but have grown their online campus. In this article they share those seven insights.
December 14, 2021
Coming Home Again - How to help returning members feel engaged & involved
Are people in your church community coming back to in-person services for the first time in a while? Whatever the reason, there are ways to help people re-engage with the heart and mission of your church. Here are 3 ways to get started.
November 9, 2021
How to Use TikTok as an Effective Outreach/Branding Tool for Church
TikTok is incredibly popular and impactful. It has a ton of influence, especially on younger generations. It’s an effective way to spread information quickly. And it’s engaging, fun, and entertaining.But is it a tool for churches?
October 25, 2021
What is the Sabbath? Finding Rest in a Time of Chaos
Most Christians think of the Sabbath as falling on Sunday. However, “Sabbath” comes from the Hebrew word “Shabbat”, which refers specifically to Saturday.The idea of Sabbath is still very much a part of weekly rhythms in the church. But in a culture defined by busyness and distraction, what does a “day of rest” really mean? In the following article, we’ll take a look at what Sabbath is, as well as strategies for adopting this practical habit in a time of hurry, stress, and chaos.
October 19, 2021
How to Create a Stronger Bible-Reading Routine
Reading the Bible is essential to every believer’s walk with Christ–and should be done consistently.We’re called to know the Bible, meditate on it, and look to it as a source of wisdom. We’ll talk about how to develop a stronger Bible-reading routine, as well as how to actually read the Bible to get the most out of it in this article.
October 12, 2021
How to Build a Culture of Commitment & Consistency at Your Church
Most church leaders want to build communities that last, with members that stick with them through thick and thin. Without commitment and consistency from members, the church remains more of an event or activity than an actual community.In the following article, we’ll talk about how to build a culture of commitment and consistency at your church–putting down deep roots, helping people to become more like Jesus, and even seeing lasting change in your community at large.
September 14, 2021
How to Practice Gratitude
Ingratitude is a part of the human condition. Even more so, our 21st century world does not create an environment that helps us to practice gratitude. So, how do we change this? We explore some practical tips for how to practice gratitude in our recent blog post.
September 9, 2021
14 Last-Minute Fun Youth Group Activities & Games | Tithe.ly
Looking for youth group activities? We'll highlight 14 of the best last-minute ideas for fun & meaningful youth group activities & games. Read below!
August 6, 2021
How to Make Your Church’s Social Media Look Clean and Professional: 12 Strategies to Boost Growth and Engagement
Use these 12 tools to transform your church's social media from a low-return vanity project to a high-engagement faith community.
August 5, 2021
How to Pick Curriculum for Your Kids & Student Ministry
The top consideration for choosing a church is the quality of the children’s ministry. If you want your church to grow, you need to consider how well you are discipling the youngest in your local mission field. We walk you through the top 3 considerations to keep in mind when choosing a curriculum for your kids and student ministry.
July 20, 2021
Independence Day in Church: 8 Tips for a Meaningful, Growth-Boosting Sunday Service
Independence Day Sunday is an opportunity to reflect deeply on the freedoms we're afforded as Americans. Here are 8 tips to celebrate Independence Day in your church with class.
July 2, 2021
How To Keep Your Church Connected in a Virtual World
Love it or hate it, our world is becoming increasingly virtual. Figure out how to keep your church connected and growing despite the changing landscape.
June 29, 2021
How to Keep In-Person & Virtual Guests Coming Back Each Week
In a day and age when creating a welcoming church environment is more important than ever, we came up with six tips for you to make virtual and in-person church guest friendly.
June 8, 2021
7 Steps to Creating a Must-Read Church Bulletin
People ignoring your church bulletin in-person or online? Follow these 7-steps to turn your bulletin into a must-read document.
May 25, 2021
The Church That Went Online - How ELCA’s Solution to 2020 Will Live On
Along with streaming worship services, ELCA needed to stay connected with their congregation and provide a way to give. That’s where Tithe.ly stepped in.
May 11, 2021
Jesus’ Revolutionary Regard for Women
Jesus’ interactions with women tell us a great deal about the heart of God.
April 5, 2021
The Other Resurrections in the Bible
At Easter, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, but His is not the only one in Scripture.
March 29, 2021
A Primer on the Fruit of the Spirit
One of the best-known passages in Scripture may not mean what you think.
March 22, 2021
8 Easter Ideas During COVID
Thinking about how to celebrate Easter as a church during a pandemic? Here are a few creative ideas.
March 1, 2021
How to Start an Online Ministry—and Why It’s So Important
Wondering how to make a kingdom impact online? Here’s a simple guide to help!
February 25, 2021
Dedicated Church Apps: Stewardship for the Great Commission
Wondering if your church needs its own app? Here are some reasons to consider it.
February 22, 2021
Why Your Church Should Observe Lent This Year (If It Isn’t Already)
Not sure what to make of Lent? Here are a few tips to get you started.
February 18, 2021
A Short Guide to Inductive BIble Study
Learn the inductive Bible study method to get more out of your time in God’s Word.
February 8, 2021
A Primer on the Not-So-Minor Minor Prophets
Looking to read and understand The Minor Prophets? Check out this short guide with all the basics.
January 28, 2021
Church Communications: A Biblical Guide
How to Use Texts and Emails to Build up the Body of Christ
January 25, 2021
Beyond the New Year’s Slump: Encouraging Your Church to Daily Grow in Christ
Taken from the writings of the apostle Paul, here are three ways to encourage your church in their walk with Jesus when their New Year’s resolutions fall apart.
January 18, 2021
How to Pray for the Sick: 3 Powerful Prayer Principles
Are you praying for the sick as part of your ministry? Here’s a short, biblical guide to encourage you as you step out in faith.
January 11, 2021
4 of the Best Bible Study Apps for Daily Scripture Reading
Looking for a way to help your church stay connected to God's Word in the busyness of life? We’ve assembled a list of the best Bible study apps for iPhone and Android devices.
December 23, 2020
4 Sermon Ideas to Start the New Year Right
Looking for New Year's sermon ideas? Here are four approaches to help your church start the year off right.
December 21, 2020
The Importance of Worship Backgrounds for Your Church
Searching for more information on worship backgrounds? ✓ We detail why worship backgrounds are important, visual trends, and best practices. Click here!
December 16, 2020
Christmas Eve Service: 4 Steps to Creating a Plan
The Christmas Eve service is a favorite time of worship and outreach for churches. Follow these 4-steps to get ready.
December 3, 2020
Church Hospitality: A Short Guide
Church hospitality isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s essential. Here are 4 practical ways to prepare for the 2 types of guests you should expect.
November 18, 2020
COVID-19 and Church Tech: Changes You Need to Know
COVID-19 has changed the church in many ways—including giving and engagement. See how churches have partnered with church tech companies to continue the work of the Kingdom of God.
September 21, 2020
How to Study the Bible: A Master Toolset on Bible Study for Beginners
Studying the Bible can feel overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be. Use this process to enrich your study of God’s word.
September 2, 2020
Is Money Messing with Your Marriage? Try These 5 Money Management Tips
Money and marriage is challenging. It can be a source of blessing. Or it can be a struggle. Here are five tips you and your spouse can use to manage your money well.
August 26, 2020
The Ultimate Guide to Digital Connect Cards
Digital connect cards are essential to connecting with your community. Here’s a step-by-step guide to show you how.
August 24, 2020
Why Christian Memes Matter & The 10 Best Accounts
Looking for Christian memes? We'll explain why Christian memes are taking over the internet & explain where to find the best ones. Find out here!
August 21, 2020
14 Ways To Reach People In Post-Christian America | Tithe.ly
Want to reach out to post-christian America? We'll explain 14 of the best ways to meaningfully engage with those who have left the church. Read here!
August 21, 2020
The Ultimate Church Business Meeting Playbook
Looking for church business meeting tips for success? We'll highlight 14 practices to follow to professionalize your business meetings. Read here!
August 21, 2020
Church Staff Salaries Guide With Real Numbers
Curious about church staff salaries? We'll explain how pastor salaries can change depending on location, if they are ordained & more. Read here!
August 21, 2020
How To Get People To Volunteer At Church
Wondering how to get people to volunteer at church? We'll highlight our 5-step model to convert attendants into active volunteers. Find out here!
August 21, 2020
How to Write a Check Explained in This Simple Step-by-Step Guide
Trying to figure out how to write a check? Don’t sweat it. You’re not alone. Here we break down the steps you need you to take.
July 21, 2020
30+ Bible Verses About Investing & Saving Money | Tithe.ly
Looking for Bible verses about investing & saving money? We'll highlight over 30 verses to help you understand what the Bible says. Read here!
July 20, 2020
7 Best Examples of Anglican Church Websites
Does your church website need a boost? Read below to see the 7 Best Examples of Anglican Church Websites.
July 7, 2020
“The Unforgivable Sin”: A Definitive Guide | Tithe.ly
The unforgivable sin has been debated ever since Jesus spoke it. Check out this definitive guide to better understand this often misunderstood teaching.
July 1, 2020
7 Church Fundraising Lessons from Billion Dollar Nonprofit Organizations
Here is how to take the fundraising principles from Billion Dollar Nonprofit Organizations and apply them to your church. Read here!
June 29, 2020
Fundraising Tips from the Most Successful Nonprofits in the World
The top 100 charities raised $51.5 billion dollars in 2019. And there are several fundraising tips your church can learn to raise more money for your mission.
June 22, 2020
19 Bible Verses About Greed And Wealth | Tithe.ly
Looking for Bible verses about greed? We'll highlight verses about greed to enrich your understanding of wealth, generosity & discipleship. Read here!
June 22, 2020
Make Your Father’s Day Sermon Memorable | Tithe.ly
Want to make your Father’s Day Sermon memorable? We'll highlight the top 7 tips to make your church's service memorable & meaningful. Read here!
June 22, 2020
26 Bible Verses About Technology | Tithe.ly
Looking for Bible verses about technology? We'll highlight verses about technology to help guide the use of technology in your life & church. Read here!
June 22, 2020
How Christian Entrepreneurs Change The World | Tithe.ly
Wonder how Christian entrepreneurs teach the Word of God? We'll explain how entrepreneurs can use their business to make disciples. Read here!
June 22, 2020
100 Bible Verses About Making Decisions | Tithe.ly
Looking for Bible verses about making decisions? We'll highlight passages about choices & wisdom to guide & support your decision making. Read here!
June 22, 2020
Charitable Giving Statistics To Raise More Money | Tithe.ly
Researching charitable giving statistics? We'll explain 9 stats to help you raise money & make a greater impact in your community. Read here!
June 22, 2020
How To Create A Church Social Media Strategy | Tithe.ly
Want to create a church social media strategy? We'll explain how to plan your social media strategy to develop an online presence. Read here!
June 22, 2020
Raise Money in Difficult Times, Why Church Growth Plateaus and Boosting Engagement
This week on Modern Church Leader, we spoke with one of the top 10 fastest growing churches, shared giving appeal advice, and small group engagement tips.
June 19, 2020
12 Powerful Prayers For Your Church | Tithe.ly
Looking for a powerful prayer for church? We'll highlight 9 powerful prayers from the Bible for your church, for perseverance, for generosity & more. Read here!
June 19, 2020
3 Ways to Engage Church Members with an App
How you engage your church has changed. What used to work doesn’t work anymore. How do you stay connected? Simple. With a church app. Here’s how.
June 18, 2020

Up Next

Faith

20 Bible Verses for Father’s Day

Fatherhood is a divine calling, and fathers have a responsibility to lead and guide their families with love, compassion, and humility. Here are 20 Bible verses that are relevant to Father’s Day.
June 13, 2023
Leadership

How to Start a Thriving Singles Ministry

There’s a growing need coming from singles who are really looking to connect with one another both socially and spiritually, yet not finding the places to do that.
June 6, 2023
Faith

A New Definition of Prayer

Prayer is not some practice we will one day perfect or a method we can eventually master, but instead a lifelong journey of our hearts awakening to the reality that God is with us.
June 3, 2023
Leadership

Delivering Captivating Announcements

Announcements can be the lamest time during the service. But they don’t have to be. If you have great content and a great communicator, then the announcements can be a lively, worshipful and engaging element.
June 1, 2023
Why Church Giving Providers Charge a Transaction Fee

Learn how churches get immense value from using a digital giving solution.

April 17, 2020

Show notes

Hey, church leader. Frank here with Tithe.ly.

I wanted to take a few minutes to talk a little bit about why church giving providers like us at Tithe.ly, who provide mobile giving, text giving, website giving, and administrative gift entry tools charge a fee on transaction.

If you go to our website, you're going to see a per transaction fee, so every time someone gives it's 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for credit and debit and it's 1% plus 30 cents a transaction for ACH. There's a lot more going on with technology as compared to sending a simple church donation letter.

Those are common. If you were to go to any other church giving provider, you're going to see fees, not too dissimilar, not too far off from those. If you go to church management providers, if they do giving, you're going to see fees. If you go anywhere outside of the church space and you go to some sort of payment processing entity or software provider, there's going to be fees.

I think there's two main things to understand here about those fees. Number one is there's actually a hard costs that us church giving providers are paying. So Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, they all have fees that they're charging, the card networks and the banks and other entities that exist in that chain of processing a payment all have fees associated with it. So there's some hard costs that come into play automatically. Even if you didn't have the tools on top of all of those elements, the card brands and things like that, those elements would be charging fees.

The second part of the equation is you need software that's built on top of the payment processing engine that sits on top of the networks and works with the card brands and all those kinds of things. So there's time, energy, people and resources put into building the software, right, to get a nice mobile giving app, to get a great online a website giving experience, to get text giving, to get all the reporting, the deposit reporting, the tax receipting, just the individual transaction reporting, to get all the tools that come as part of a giving solution or a suite of products. There's people building those things, right? So there's hard costs in terms of the employees and the other software we're using and the staff and all of that stuff that's put into place, right?

There are fees from the networks and card brands. There are costs in our business to build the software. So oftentimes what you'll see is a company like ours, bundling all those fees into the transaction, which is a model that essentially lets you get in at no risk, there's no upfront fees, there's no monthly fees, there's no fees that come at the end of the month for other things like PCI security or deposit reports or anything like that. You just pay the per transaction fee. That's a pay as you go model, right? So if nobody gives you pay nothing, right? If somebody gives $100 you're going to pay a couple of bucks for that. And it scales up with you as you grow. So hopefully that gives you a little bit of insight into like why we charge fees so that we can both pay our costs and we can keep the lights on as a business and make a little bit of revenue. So that we can have a sustainable company that's serving churches and innovating in the church space for a long time to come.

Show Notes

Read the full blog of this episode here: https://get.tithe.ly/blog/why-church-giving-fees

Today on Modern Church Leader, Tithe.ly COO Frank Barry explains how churches get immense value from using a digital giving solution.

Sign up for Tithe.ly Sites here: https://get.tithe.ly/

Never miss a show, subscribe via:

Subscribe for cutting edge tools and strategies for church leaders.

Is your church in financial trouble? Do you wish you had more resources to reach people for Christ?

‍Subscribe to Modern Church Leader to get daily tips on how to increase giving, remove the stress from managing your church, and grow your church with the latest digital tools.

Grow Your Church For Free With Tithe.ly

What is Tithe.ly?

Tithe.ly is the global leader in digital giving, church engagement, and church management software. Tithe.ly serves over 13,000 churches in 50 countries, and is trusted by churches and ministries such as Hillsong, North Coast Church, Rock Church, and Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

video transcript

(Scroll for more)