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March 19, 2008
Revisiting E-giving
I've had several conversations recently about churches and e-giving. I thought it might be helpful to review some of what we've already discussed.
Is online giving a growing trend?
The results of online giving are in...
Electronic Giving Part 1: The Forbidden Conversation
Electronic Giving Part 2: Future or Fad?
I think people like talking about e-giving because it's new and "cool." I also think its a response by churches to address two cultural trends: 1) how we exchange funds and 2) the fact that the average regular attender in church today comes two times a month.
But the reality of service fees, transaction fees and implementation challenges will keep many churches at bay until it becomes more mainstream. Plus, most churches will need to become more sophisticated in their reporting and financial management tools before they will be able to provide enough data to identify e-giving as the source of increased contributions over time.
I still find myself coming to the same conclusion as I did in my previous posts. It will eventually become a hybrid model where e-giving is just one more option churches make available to its members. Just as printed newspapers and books didn't disappear with the advent of the internet and eletronic file transfers, neither will traditional means of cash and check contributions disappear from churches with the introduction of e-giving.
I'd be interested to hear from you. What has your experience been with e-giving in churches?
Posted by bstroup at March 19, 2008 1:22 AM
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Comments
Good Morning Ben, Just finished reeading Richard McPherson's book Digital Giving. It should be must read material for anyone asking the Egiving question. Just started into new book "People to People Fundraising (Social Networking and Web 2.0 for Charities). To quote Len Sweet "the surf (of change) is up" Best thing to do is catch the wave and ride it not collapse beneath it.
Posted by: Don Campbell at March 19, 2008 6:56 AM