No Church Is Too Small

The following post appears at https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/no-church-is-too-small

“I don’t think there is any viable reason in 2023 for a church to not offer digital giving. I say that as a millennial financial professional who hasn’t given a physical cash/check tithe in who knows how long. It’s not expensive, and more importantly, it provides protection from potential discrepancies that come with handling cash.”

That was a comment I read in a Facebook group for church professionals that I belong to. The group is comprised mostly of church business administrators, Executive Pastors, and other support-type people. What prompted the comment was a question and poll one of the group members posted. He asked, “Our church has been discussing online giving for years. One main argument is that churches our size do not offer online giving, so help me out and let me know where your church falls.” He then posted a survey with five options. Below are his questions and the answers that were given.

• We have less than 200 people and offer online giving. 52% of the respondents checked this box.
• We have less than 200 people and do not offer online giving. 2% checked this box.
• We have over 200 people and offer online giving. 34% checked this box.
• We have over 200 people and do not offer online giving. 0% checked this box.
• We kind of straddle the 200 mark, and we offer online giving. 25% checked this box.

I’m not surprised by the results. Back in 2014, Lifeway Research polled how many churches offered some form of online giving and found that only 14% of churches did. Now it is more like 14% of churches DON’T offer online giving. What I found fascinating were the comments members posted. Here are my favorite ones:

Christina said, “For demographic purposes, we’re a 15-year-old multigenerational church in a small, conservative Missouri city. We run about 150 and receive less than 25% of our total giving as cash or check in the tithe box/offering plate each week.”

Rebecca said, “Size should not be a factor. Our attendance is between 12 and 20 on Sundays. We’ve had online giving for years.”

Casey said, “We have around 550, and about 60% of our giving is online. Probably jumps to 90% in the under-40 demographic.”

Jarrod said, “We’re around 120, and our primary method churchwide is online giving. We still get two or three checks per Sunday. Really makes our financial team’s job easier.”

Kinzey said, “We have less than 60 people, and over 75% of our giving comes online.”

Dorine said, “We have around 100 people consistently every Sunday. This year, so far, our online giving has been a couple thousand. These are people who probably wouldn’t write a check or carry cash. Completely worth it.”

Annica said, “We have less than 75 in attendance, and we offer online giving. About 1/4 of our offering comes online, and that figure continues to grow. It has helped during the “summer slump” as folks can still give while on vacation.”

David said, “60 as a church plant, and 80% or more of our giving is online. And no, we’re not a predominately young crowd.”

Reading through the results of the poll, and especially the comments, verified what we have found. Online giving is for every church, large or small. And did you catch the last quote above when David said, “…we’re not a predominantly young crowd?” My soon-to-be 95-year-old parents, now confined to an assisted living facility, set up their tithe to be automatically deposited into their home church’s account. So just as the size of a church doesn’t matter, the congregation’s age also doesn’t matter.

Offering online giving at your church does matter to one age demographic, younger generations. Read these comments that buttress our findings:

Keith said, “I don’t think the size of the church matters as much as the age. I’m almost 50 and do not own or use checks. I rarely ever have cash on me, so if you don’t have a digital option, my giving is next to zero.”

Craig said, “If you want the younger generation to give, you must have online giving. They don’t carry cash, and they don’t have a checkbook. We have a QR code on the back of the pews so they can scan it and give.”

Carol said, “Most younger people don’t carry cash nor have checks, so you are missing a lot of potential giving.”

“Missing a lot of potential.” As a stewardship professional, I keep track of giving patterns. One key area of concern is bringing up the next generation of generous church members. Younger generations are lagging behind as our most generous age groups are ageing out. Offering the younger generations of your church a robust online giving platform helps you realize the potential of your next-generation members.

Let me leave you with one thought. It isn’t enough to have an online platform. You must know how to utilize it successfully. Do you? Does your current online provider give the help and support you need to make giving online seamless and easy for your members and attendees? We do! We start with the best onboarding help in the industry. We will show you how to effectively integrate our platform with your existing systems and how to use our platform and tools to save and raise more money. This gives you the fuel to do more missions and ministry.

For a demonstration, contact us at (615) 206-4000 or email us at support@onlinegiving.org. Online giving works for any and every church if you use it wisely. Let us show you how!